Synergizing NOAA’s Value Tree to OSE, OSSE, and FSOI Studies to Better Inform NOAA’s Observing System Investment Priorities.

By incorporating objective metrics for observing system preference and performance, we expect a higher quality analysis resulting in greater confidence in how the NOAA value tree will inform NOAA’s observing system investment priorities. This objective motivates a collaboration between the Technology Planning and Integration for Observation (NESDIS/OPPA/TPIO) office and the Quantitative Observing System Assessment Program (OAR/AOML/QOSAP) to synergize QOSAP’s OSE/OSSE/FSOI activities with TPIO’s continuing evolution of the NOAA Observing System Integrated Analysis (NOSIA). Benefits of the collaboration include better contextualizing observing system impacts that QOSAP measure with respect to mission activities that TPIO models. Although QOSAP and TPIO analyses are distinct, they potentially have natural synergies that can exploit complementary strengths. To demonstrate the value of this collaboration, we investigate the OSSE work now underway at QOSAP for the introduction of new 3-D LIDAR Wind data from the ESA/Aeolus spacecraft. We will report on the enhanced analysis capabilities from the NOAA value tree that demonstrates sensitivity to OSSE metrics, and on the introduction of new or enhanced observing capabilities to the NOAA value tree.