AWIPS and International Use

AWIPS is the integrating element of the $4.5B NWS Modernization program. AWIPS has been under development since the 1980s. SeaSpace and PRC have created a concept, WorldMet, to bring an updated version of AWIPS to the international community. WorldMet was unveiled at the World Meteorological Organization Conference in Geneva in May 1999.

AWIPS through WFO-Advanced has a sophisticated, state of the operational art forecaster toolkit. The WFO-Advanced user interface is easy to learn to use, and allows the forecaster to rapidly access a wide variety of weather data, and analyze and display those data in many ways. As WFO-Advanced was developed based on NWS requirements, it includes five scales, the largest being the Northern Hemisphere and North America. The WorldMet version of AWIPS tailors these scales to each international location.

NOAA plans to invest $550M in AWIPS. It is in the best interest of everyone to leverage the NWS investment to the greatest extent practical. AWIPS could become the standard for the federal government, as well as adapted for use by commercial and international customers. Potential AWIPS users quickly note the strengths and usefulness of AWIPS.

This paper will describe the version of AWIPS being tailored for international use and provide an update on the status of this initiative.