Best Practices in Weather Research Transition to Operations in NOAA

The challenge faced by the Research and Development (R&D) to transition to operations is often called “Crossing the Valley of Death”. The Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (BASC) of National Research Council (NRC) made an extensive study on the transition of research to operations and summarized their findings in a report entitled, “From Research to Operations in Weather Satellites and Numerical Weather Prediction: Crossing the Valley of Death” (National Academy of Science, 2000). For successful transitions from R&D to operational implementation always require: (1) an understanding of the importance (and risk) of the transition, (2) development and maintenance of appropriate transition plans, (3) adequate resource provision, and (4) continuous feedback (in both directions) between the R&D and operational activities (National Academy of Science, 2000).

Ever since BASC made the above study, NOAA took several steps to enable the transition of research to operations in NOAA. One of them is putting in place a NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) to outline the NOAA’s policy on research transition to operations. This paper will talk about the NAO, transition plans, testbeds, funding opportunities available for weather research transition to operations and some success stories.

Reference:

National Research Council, 2000: From Research to Operations in Weather Satellites and Numerical Weather Prediction: Crossing the valley of Death, Washington, DC, National Academy Press.