The HazCollect Development Program

NOAA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) signed an agreement to develop a system to collect and disseminate non-weather hazardous event information to the public. The National Weather Service (NWS) is leading this effort and is working with the Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL), Battelle Laboratories, and Northrop Grumman Corporation to develop the HazCollect capability. Seventeen different types of HazCollect messages, ranging from Earthquake and Avalanche Warnings, to Hazardous Materials and Radiological Hazard Warnings, to Amber Alert messages, will utilize this new system. Emergency managers will generate HazCollect event messages using the Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) software interface. The messages will automatically be routed to the NWS Network Control Facility then formatted and sent via the satellite broadcast network to the appropriate NWS Forecast offices where they will be collected and stored in the AWIPS text database. The messages will automatically be sent to the NOAA Weather Wire and Console Replacement System (CRS) where they will be broadcast through the local media and NOAA Weather Radio. This whole process will be designed to run in a matter of seconds, with little or no human intervention, once a message is composed. This processing will be done in much the same way as severe weather watches and warnings are handled today. This paper will discuss the design and development of this new capability.