Research to Operations: Why Is the U.S. Not Realizing Its Potential?

During the past several years, there has been increasing recognition that U.S. numerical weather prediction has fallen behind the state-of-the-science and the capabilities of some major international centers (such as ECMWF and UKMET). This has occurred even though the U.S. has the largest meteorological research community in the world, considering either personnel or expended resources. An essential problem has been inadequate research to operations (R to O), including the inability of NOAA/NWS to make use of the advances and innovations of the vast U.S. research community. This talk will examine the current R to O situation in the U.S. for numerical weather prediction, highlight current problems, and suggest approaches for facilitating more effective transfer of research knowledge into operations. Particular attention will be given to efforts to build the Next Generation Global Prediction System (NGGPS).