NOAA Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS) History, Current Research to Operations Status, and Future Plans

The Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS), developed by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the National Weather Service (NWS), extends NOAA's observational networks by collecting, integrating, quality controlling (QC), and distributing observations from NOAA and non-NOAA organizations. MADIS leverages partnerships with international agencies; federal, state, and local agencies (e.g. state Departments of Transportation); universities; volunteer networks; and the private sector (e.g. airlines, railroads) to integrate observations from their stations with those of NOAA to provide a finer density, higher frequency observational database for use by the greater meteorological community. MADIS is collecting over 60,000 surface stations as well as upper-air datasets including satellite, wind profiler, radiometer, and automated commercial aircraft observations. MADIS adds value by applying Quality Control (QC) techniques to the observations to assess data validity and by simplifying access to the data. Access is simplified by providing easy to use interfaces to MADIS distribution services and applying standards to the underlying data sets that comprise MADIS. MADIS can also restrict access to data based on provider needs, which allows NOAA to use the data for research and operations without impacting the provider's business model.

MADIS started as a research project in 2001 funded by both OAR and NWS. Today MADIS is a Network Of Networks (NON) built through the partnerships listed above and not possible without them. As MADIS grew the services it provided to NWS operations also grew and in 2007 the NWS' Office of Operational Systems and OAR started the transition effort. In 2010 Initial Operating Capability (IOC) was achieved at NWS. The effort to move from IOC to Final Operating Capability (FOC) at NWS continues today. Once MADIS is fully operational within the NWS, MADIS will be a quick and efficient conduit for adding and improving NOAA's observational infrastructure.

This oral presentation will provide a history of MADIS, updates on MADIS capabilities and transition efforts, and planned improvements to MADIS datasets and services including those necessary to support the National Mesonet and Clarus.