A New Program to Support Transitioning Weather Research to Operations

In 2015, the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research received $3M to improve the readiness of those weather and related research projects associated with critical technologies, model improvements, and service applications to a stage of development that will enable a successful future transition to operations for deployment by NOAA's operational agencies.

Managed by the Office of Weather and Air Quality, project funding was distributed competitively, based on criteria of both technical maturity and operational needs (i.e., that the technology not only works, but that it meets operational requirements). During the initial year, qualifying proposals were required to be submitted jointly by at least one research and development (R&D) unit and one operational unit within NOAA, with external partners as appropriate. Funding was available to support a maximum of three years for a single project, with regular review and progress assessment, with a possible extension at the discretion of the program. Proposals defined a successful transition using specific, measurable results and made the case that significant progress -- if not complete transition -- was possible over the project period with the funding requested.

This presentation will discuss this new program, explain current policies for transitioning research into operations at NOAA, and provide a brief description of the first two projects to receive funding under this new program that include the use of NOAA testbeds.