The African American employment numbers in the weather, water, and climate communities continue to be alarmingly low, despite the collective efforts to enhance diversity. The significant contributions from various sectors, including the weather, water, climate industries, and academia, have yet to yield substantial results, while we have witnessed improvements in other demographics' employment numbers. Our panel discussion is a collaborative platform where we will collectively explore the reasons behind this disparity and devise innovative strategies to improve African American employment in these sectors.

The coastal environment is at the intersection of society with the world’s oceans. It is along our coasts where long-term global change often manifests as punctuated impacts on local scales. Sea level rise is leading to more frequent and more severe coastal floods, increasing water temperatures are having dramatic consequences on coastal ecosystems, and coastal communities are realizing these and other stressors as impacts on their economies, infrastructure and safety. It is in this context that federal science agencies pursue and support state-of-the-art research and seek to deliver actionable coastal science products. In this panel, hear from representatives from several federal science agencies as they discuss recent advancements and successes in coastal science. We discuss how these science advancements are meeting the challenges of global change as realized along our coastlines and consider what role federal agencies will play as we seek to build resilient coastal communities and a thriving planet.

In the U.S., college and university atmospheric sciences and meteorology programs often strive to ensure that students completing B.S. degree programs meet the qualifications outlined by the Meteorology 1340 Series (i.e., the “GS-1340” series). This series outlines the specific coursework that students must complete to be eligible for positions within the National Weather Service (NWS) as well as other government sector atmospheric sciences positions. While the series provides a predetermined set of coursework that a department can adapt within a meteorology degree program, three challenges have emerged within the past decade: 1) students often seek private sector or academic positions that may require coursework or skills not considered within the Meteorology 1340 series, 2) the skillset required of government sector meteorologists has evolved, and 3) the rise of both artificial intelligence and machine learning will require future meteorologists to be familiar with the use of such tools within the context of weather analysis and forecasting (which are not a focus within the current series). Motivated by the above, the authors of this submission propose co-hosting an AMS town hall to allow discussion of the above topic amongst AMS community members. Specifically, this session would include a very brief discussion of the history of the series and reasons for advocating for any changes, updates on the current movement within the AMS Board on Higher Education (BHE) to create an ad hoc committee to accomplish the above, and ample time for discussion about best practices to consider in proposing any series changes.

The Gulf Coast includes the country’s most climate vulnerable counties and census tracts in the United States. With high rates of economic, racial, and health inequities, the dangers faced from flooding, hurricanes, industrial pollution, and extreme heat compound.  In this town hall, Gulf Coast environmental justice community leaders working regionally and in partnership with the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine will share their perspectives on the role of climate science  in their advocacy and how scientists can best collaborate with them. Following short talks (8 mins), the panelists will engage in round table conversations, moderated in partnership with the Thriving Earth Exchange fellows, regarding their experiences in conducting or seeking geospatial data, community science, and more generally in working with Gulf Coast communities.The intention of the conversation is to spark community-engaged and community-led transdisciplinary research collaborations and partnerships ahead of next year’s American Meteorological Society meeting in Houston. This conversation combines climate, environmental, and health sciences across disciplinary boundaries to identify environmental and health injustices, examine societally relevant scientific questions, and collaborate in and with frontline communities for solution-oriented decision making at all scales. As part of this effort, we look to community leaders to understand how they view the role of science in their environmental justice advocacy and what makes for positive community engagement.

The U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Program (U.S. CSSP) is a community-focused program with a research portfolio that encompasses carbon and pertinent biogeochemical cycles across land, water, air and society. Over the last three decades, the U.S. CCSP has led and coordinated community input from the U.S. and the international carbon cycle community and captured them in two seminal U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plans (1999, 2011). The U.S. CCSP is now embarking on the development of an updated, new science plan for U.S. carbon cycle science, identifying challenges and priorities for the next decade (~2025-2035). The Third Decadal U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan will build on the two previous plans and aim to increase engagement between the research, U.S. federal agency partners, and stakeholder communities. This Town Hall, hosted by the lead authors of the Third Decadal U.S. Carbon Cycle Science Plan, will outline the overall scope and strategy for the plan, solicit feedback on strategic planning needs and priorities and a Q&A. We will also seek community inputs on the growing role of the private sector, the urgent need for decision-making support related to carbon management and discuss coordination capabilities and opportunities with the international carbon cycle community.

One of the goals of the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is to coordinate climate change research across the federal agencies, including efforts to build and run climate and Earth system models. Beginning in 2015, the USGCRP Interagency Group on Integrative Modeling began to host an annual Climate Modeling Summit, to foster federal-wide strategic planning and collaborations across the NOAA, NASA, DOE, and NSF (NCAR) modeling centers. The Summit normally has two representatives from each of six modeling centers: NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL CM/ESM); NOAA Climate Forecast System (CFS); NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GIS Model E); NASA Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-5); NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM); and DOE Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM). Since 2017, each summit has included a topical workshop whose theme was identified as important to address by all modeling centers. Together, the Summit and workshops have helped inform the federal agencies of the research gaps and opportunities for collaborative efforts and set priorities for the future. At this Townhall, we will highlight successes of the ten years of USCMS, and while inviting input from the broader community on issues to consider as we move forward into the next decade.

This panel will feature members in operational roles in both government and private industry across aviation, range, and aerospace meteorology. Each panel member will present a brief summary of what they believe are the biggest technical challenges in their focus area. Audience members will then be able to discuss and ask questions of the panel on potential ways to tackle these challenges from both operational and research/academic means.

With the increasing frequency of natural hazards across the globe and heat records now being surpassed on almost a monthly basis, it has never been more important that authoritative and actionable early warnings of hazardous events be made available to people and communities across the globe. The UN Early Warning for All (EW4All) initiative aims to ensure that every person on earth is protected by early warning systems by 2027. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) co-lead the initiative, and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) lead vital elements of the work. A number of partners support achievement of this goal. The EW4All Townhall at AMS, would convene a multi-disciplinary sciences-to-services panel of leading experts to gather insight from the scientific community on areas of innovation and possible solutions in support of the EW4All’s humanitarian goal. This event will explore questions such as what constitutes an effective Early Warning System, what progress has been made so far on the Initiative, what are the persistent gaps and challenges as well as the innovative opportunities to accelerate implementation. This session will provide an overview of the priority activities being undertaken by the WMO and its partners to ensure that everyone on the planet, in particular the most vulnerable, is protected by an Early Warning System. It will also seek to forge new working relationships to accelerate implementation towards this goal.

NSF NCAR provides world-class cyberinfrastructure supporting Earth system science. Each year, NSF NCAR provides computing resources, services, and support to over 1,500 users at over 500 U.S. universities and research institutions. As part of NSF NCAR’s mission, data services, community software tools, and other products and resources are provided at no cost to tens of thousands of researchers worldwide. We invite you to join us for a Town Hall that will highlight some of the most exciting new developments in NSF NCAR cyberinfrastructure for empowering earth system science. We will provide high-level overviews, plans for future directions, links for more detailed information, and we graciously ask for feedback from the earth system science community. Box lunches sponsored by: NCAR

The weather enterprise, made up of organizations in the government, academic, and private (including NGO) sectors, has been very successful in providing weather information, warnings, and other services to the nation for many years. The weather enterprise became even more effective in the most recent two decades following the 2003 release of the National Research Council report “Fair Weather: Effective Partnership in Weather and Climate Services,” with the American Meteorological Society (AMS) taking on a leadership role in providing venues to resolve tensions among the sectors. In 2023, the AMS Policy Program initiated a major study to look at the changing nature of the weather enterprise 20 years after “Fair Weather” with the goal of providing findings and recommendations to the community and beyond to ensure the continued success of a robust weather enterprise in the coming decades. This town hall will focus on discussing the key findings coming from the study as it continues in its second year. We seek input from the community on these findings and broader discussion about the sorts of recommendations these findings might inform.

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2024-2033 Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics)—an effort involving 80 members of the solar and space physics community who served on the steering committee or one of five study panels— presents a prioritized strategy of basic and applied research to advance scientific understanding of the Sun; Sun-Earth connections and the origins of space weather; and the Sun’s interactions with other bodies in the solar system, the interplanetary medium, and the interstellar medium. The survey also includes an assessment of the health and vitality of the profession. Public release of a prepublication version of the survey report is anticipated in September 2024. Members of the survey steering committee will be on hand to provide an overview of the survey report and to answer questions from town hall attendees, both in-person and online. The survey is sponsored by NASA (SMD-HPD), NOAA (NESDIS), NSF (GEO/AGS-Geospace Section and MPS-AST), and DoD (AFOSR). Information about the survey, including its task statement, membership, and past events (with links to all public presentations) may be found on the project’s website: https://www.nationalacademies.org/ourwork/ decadal-survey-for-solar-and-spacephysics- heliophysics-2024-2033.

The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events pose significant challenges to urban infrastructure and community resilience in the built environment. As a city that has been frequently impacted by extreme precipitation events, New Orleans offers a perfect venue for us to discuss the impacts of natural hazards on the built environment's resilience, adaptive capacity, and vulnerability, aligning with the AMS 2025 theme “Towards a Thriving Planet”. During this town hall, we will navigate through research findings, real-life case studies, and community insights on the repercussions of hydrometeorological extremes such as floods, storms, hurricanes, and droughts for critical infrastructure. By fostering dialogue among scientists, engineers, policymakers, and local water agencies, this town hall aims to cultivate actionable strategies for building a more climate-ready community, not only in New Orleans but also in cities worldwide. Join us for an engaging conversation on the challenges of a changing climate in our urban areas.

Radars are critical assets to protect the public and the Nation’s economic security. The current Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) program has been one of the most impactful weather technologies, providing critical information to support the saving of lives and livelihoods for more than 30 years. However, NEXRAD, deployed in the 1990s, has exceeded its original design life putting the Nation at increasing risk of radar outages and gaps in key areas.The Radar Next Program was established to ensure the National Weather Service can continue to deliver and improve upon critical weather data to support the Nation. The program aims to design and deploy the next-generation network of weather radars to ensure continuity of radar data, address current gaps in radar coverage, and enhance performance and capabilities.This town hall is intended to discuss the needs of the future radar solution. Following an update on the progress of Radar Next and the Broad Agency Announcement solicitation, the panel will feature a few radar users from across the weather enterprise to discuss their needs for the next radar system both to protect the public sectors through enhanced Impact-Based Decision Support Services and sectors of the economy that rely on radar data. This town hall will encourage an open dialogue with all participants to better understand what is needed from the future radar solution and how Radar Next intends to meet those needs.

The National Weather Service (NWS) is making a continuing effort to improve the process to develop requirements and implement them into solutions, in terms of models, systems, technologies, and methodologies in order to effectively reflect forecasters’ needs into policies and requirements. The NWS Governance guides us to first develop requirements independently of the developers (but share with them for a validity check in a later stage), and then formally deliver them to the developers after going through the NWS validation process. While this process itself is now widely understood and received, its application to actual situations is currently not considered optimal since the process is taking rather too long and the needed resources to implement the validated requirements is not sufficiently discussed and assigned. As a result, the validated requirements tend not to be systematically implemented into the solutions, and thus the field's needs are not properly and promptly addressed by the solutions. The Analysis and Forecast Branch (AFS11) within the Analyze, Forecast and Support Office of the NWS has been making an effort to improve this situation. We are organizing a Town Hall Meeting to continue discussing ways to improve this situation and improve the NWS’ analysis and forecasting.

NWS Director Ken Graham will provide an update on NWS’ transformation into a more nimble, flexible, and mobile agency that is eye to eye with decision makers. He will be joined by other NWS leaders who will discuss key agency initiatives, priorities, and activities. Come hear important updates and have an opportunity to interact with NWS leadership!

As the Earth faces escalating environmental disruptions, ranging from extreme weather occurrences to enduring stressors like droughts and rising sea levels, the imperative for collective action becomes increasingly urgent. Small businesses at the forefront of weather and climate science are uniquely positioned to drive innovations that foster sustainability and mitigate environmental risks. In alignment with the overarching theme of "Towards a Thriving Planet: Charting the Course Across Scales," this presentation will provide a platform for discussing the pivotal role of entrepreneurs and technology innovation in addressing climate change and weather-related challenges. We will spotlight the NOAA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, emphasizing its role as a catalyst for innovation and resilience within the weather, water, and climate communities. With support from federal agencies through programs like SBIR, these enterprises offer novel solutions and technologies that bolster resilience and enhance our capacity to confront climate-related adversities.This forum will serve as a space to exchange insights and share experiences to support the advancement of climate and weather solutions. We will invite representatives from Federal agencies and small businesses to share their experiences and discuss opportunities. We will facilitate a discussion aimed at charting a course toward a world that is resilient in the face of environmental uncertainties and poised for sustainable growth.

As climate services rapidly expand to meet growing societal needs, fundamental questions about quality assurance, accountability, and sector roles remain unresolved. The American Meteorological Society (AMS) Policy Program has initiated a community-wide effort to examine these critical challenges facing the climate enterprise. This town hall will feature a cross-sector panel exploring two key questions: How can we ensure the reliability and trustworthiness of climate products and services in an open market? And what is the optimal balance between public, academic, and private sector responsibilities in delivering climate services? Through structured discussion and audience engagement, we will examine potential frameworks for quality assurance, consider the role of professional certification, and explore whether the traditional weather enterprise model provides an appropriate template for climate services. Join us to contribute your insights on shaping an effective and responsible climate services ecosystem that best serves both national and global needs.

The Forecast Improvement Group will host its 3^rd Panel Session with experts from the AI Weather Forecasting Community and the NWP Community to discuss trends and upcoming changes driven by the rapid adoption of AI Forecasting.

The Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological Services (ICAMS) plays a crucial role in coordinating federal efforts for improved weather forecasting. This Town Hall brings together key stakeholders from the Earth system science community focused on developing and delivering effective meteorological services to share updates on ICAMS activities and discuss opportunities provided by technological advancements. The session seeks community input on best ways to integrate diverse technological capabilities, enhance equity of services, and foster a culture of collaboration across agencies with different missions. From using multi-sensors, quantum systems, exaflop computing, and social crowd datasets to employing Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML), phased array radars, to name a few, the session will look at how collaboration enhances scientific endeavors, promotes resilience, and informs policy. It will explore how effective interagency coordination not only maximizes the impact of technological innovations, but also confronts global climate issues. By bringing together representatives from ICAMS agencies, this session aims to seek input on best practices and strategies that enable effective coordination and improving services. The session's objectives are as follows: (i) Explore the benefits and challenges of interagency collaboration in advancing Earth system and meteorological services.(ii) Discuss how collaboration can leverage rapid technological advancements.(iii) Identify opportunities for streamlined data sharing and improved service delivery.

Sponsored by: BAE Systems. Outdoor air pollution is a leading cause of premature fatalities, resulting in more than four million early deaths every year. To make informed decisions about how to effectively address air pollution, high quality global data at a high cadence are critical to understand the pollutants, their evolution over time, and measure the efficacy of mitigations. A global air quality monitoring concept is now becoming a reality, with two satellites on-orbit (TEMPO and GEMS) and one launching later this year (Sentinel-4), in the northern hemisphere. Satellites covering the Middle East/North Africa region, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South America are critical components in building the Southern Hemisphere portion of the Global Network. Partnerships to develop these missions will include satellite development, mission operations control centers, and the respective regional science teams. We invite all those interested in supporting mission development, across all components, regions and phases, to join our global collaboration.

This town hall will feature a moderated panel discussion with government officials on the planning, execution, and findings of the May 2024 Space Weather Table Top Exercise coordinated and hosted by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (APL). This exercise – cosponsored by NASA, NOAA, NSF, and FEMA - unfolded over the course of two days and included key stakeholders across dozens of federal, local, and state department and agencies. The TTX focused on a hypothetical scenario involving a series of solar events that drove a range of adverse space weather effects on Earth and in near-Earth space. The TTX scenario incorporated solar and geomagnetic activity that resulted in multiple hazards, including intense radiation exposure to satellite, astronauts, and commercial aviation; radio communications outages and disruptions; loss of functionality or degraded performance of GPS; satellite failures; and local- to regional-scale power outages. The TTX studied a scenario that would hypothetically take place over approximately 8 days of scenario time from late January to early February 2028.

Coordinated federal government climate adaptation action is needed to not only protect federal facilities, but to provide U.S. citizens with accurate climate information to inform resilience efforts across the country. The aims of this Town Hall are to share the climate adaptation programs undertaken by U.S. federal agencies and present opportunities for participation and collaboration. The Federal Adaptation and Resilience Group (FARG) of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) will describe the coordination activities now in place to bring together climate adaptation within federal agencies. This Town Hall will focus on four ways that federal agencies are engaging with climate adaptation, a different federal agency presenting on each of the types of engagement: Conducting Research on Adaptation, Providing Data and Tools for Adaptation Decision Makers, Funding Local Adaptation Efforts, and Providing Technical Assistance for Adaptation Planning. Plans for the Sixth National Climate Assessment will be presented, with a focus on climate change data and scenarios. USGCRP, NASA, NOAA, and EPA will present their climate adaptation activities within their agencies and beyond. A lightning round will enable other agencies to give short presentations about their activities. Discussion with the audience will focus on sharing best practices and ways AMS members can be involved.