Using a Twitter Simulator for Training, IDSS, and R2O

The National Weather Service has been using Twitter since 2012 in its efforts to educate the public and share critical information related to its mission. Twitter’s usefulness as an effective communication tool maximizes during severe weather when the rate of information being reported from NWS partners and the public maximizes. While this makes Twitter useful, it also puts a burden on forecasters to read, filter, and appropriately act upon the information.

Current training and research methods use simulations of past weather events to evaluate current and proposed methodologies to improve scientific best practices. Creating a Twitter Simulator that is used alongside these weather simulations could create an environment to evaluate communication best practices in a similar manner to these evaluations of scientific best practices.

As a training tool, a Twitter Simulator could prepare forecasters to quickly communicate critical information for an upcoming season of weather events. As an Impact-based Decision Support System (IDSS) tool, a Twitter Simulator could be used within a larger weather simulation, perhaps including partners, to share information between partners and to the public. As a research to operations tool, a Twitter Simulator could be used to evaluate proposed communication techniques, scientific technologies, or hazard product.

The Twitter Simulator will be demonstrated, and its future direction will be discussed.