Advancing Forecasting and Warning Services through a Space Weather Prediction Testbed (Invited Presentation)

Our Nation currently lacks a formal structure to ensure an efficient and effective space weather research-to-operations-to-research (R2O2R) cycle. In March 2019, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released the updated National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan (NSW‐SAP). The NSW-SAP recognizes that transitioning models from research to operations (R2O) and leveraging operations to identify gaps in research (O2R) is critical to improving operational space weather forecasts and services. Consequently, the NSW-SAP directs NOAA and other Federal agencies to identify mechanisms for sustaining and transitioning models and observational capabilities from research to operations.

In the meteorological field, testbeds are a critical mechanism linking research with operations. NOAA's testbeds have proven to successfully facilitate the transition of research capabilities to operations through testing and evaluation of new modeling capabilities, research results, and observational advances to improve forecast processes and decision support activities. The testbeds incorporate contributions from government, industry, and academic partners bringing together forecasters, modelers, and end-users in a quasi-operational setting where new forecast models and techniques are assessed, and where modelers benefit from the feedback they receive from operators and end-users on their models.

In this presentation, the importance of a formalized R2O2R process for space weather will be discussed with a focus on the NOAA testbed structure as a proven process to test new concepts and technologies designed to improve the prediction of weather, and accelerate the transfer of promising new models and tools from research to operations. The NOAA Aviation Weather Testbed will be used as a potential model for an essential component of a successful space weather R2O2R framework - a Space Weather Prediction Testbed.