Results of a Survey of Observational Needs for the Weather Enterprise

The theme of the 2017 AMS Annual Meeting was “Observations Lead the Way”, and, as part of an effort to integrate the theme throughout the meeting, all presenters in 31 scientific conferences were asked to identify the most important observations needed to advance their research, application or service. With support from the National Science Foundation, about 100 students attending the Annual Meeting were organized to attend over 500 scientific sessions to take notes on the scientific issue or application being addressed, what observations informed that effort and what measurements do we need going forward. When combined, the student reports comprised a spreadsheet of 15 columns containing the relevant information from over 1700 presentations. For scientific areas not represented at this annual meeting, we attended other conferences and workshops, plus utilized review articles on observational needs.

This talk will present our synthesis of the harvested information on observational needs. The information is organized in several ways; e.g., by atmospheric variable, instrument platform, phenomena studied, region of the atmosphere, or by scientific problem or application. We will present the consensus results for recommended measurements and required instruments, as well as various stratifications of these needs by region of the atmosphere, research issue being addressed or desired application. We will compare these results to other methods of assessing observational needs or value. Finally, we will present some thoughts on how the weather, water and climate enterprise can utilize this information to help bring about increases in the nation’s observational capabilities.