Paula Kingsbury

Paper Submission #1097
 

     The National Transition Database (NTD) provides the National Weather Service (NWS) staff access to current information about the implementation and status of the NWS's Modernization and Associated Restructuring (MAR) initiative.

The Mission of the MAR initiative is, as stated in the Strategic Plan for the Modernization and Associated Restructuring of the National Weather Service :

To modernize the NWS through the deployment of proven observational, information processing, and communications technologies and to establish an associated cost-effective operational structure. The modernization and associated restructuring of the NWS shall assure that the major advances that have been made in our ability to observe and understand the atmosphere are applied to the practical problems of providing weather and hydrologic services to the Nation.

     The modernization information includes office transition summaries, equipment commissioning and decommissioning, certification, occupancy and Weather Forecast Office (WFO) schedules. The NTD recorded changes, additions and subtractions to personnel, equipment, offices, schedules and timelines required for the modernization effort. This process began with a congressional act in 1993 and was completed in fall of 2000.

     The configuration of the NTD consists of a core data base (CORE) and a series of working data bases (WDB). The CORE contains the "official" status of the modernization activities; historical and planned. The WDB supports managers by coordinating applicable activities on a day to day basis. When the data in the WDB's gets approved and becomes "official", it is then downloaded to CORE and accessed by the users. Each account is tailored to the users specific needs. Each user has read and report generation capabilities for the portions of the CORE and WDB's to which they have access. The NTD provides both on-line and off-line support and was designed to be responsive to the needs of all users.The GIS module was formed in 1997 in the hopes to provide a graphic way to disseminate information for managers as well as to document the status of the commissioning and decommissioning effort. The data for the GIS was structured in customized views to minimize database size and relevance. For example, the Equipment view contains information such as name, office id, latitude, longitude, equipment type, state and region to name a few. This view provided all of the changes to the equipment data.

     Figure 1.1 displays a map of the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) for the state of Massachusetts along with a county overlay. From this example, it is easy to see which counties contain specific equipment. There are several kinds of equipment that the NWS manages including ASOS, NOAA Weather Radio Transmitters (NWR) and Next Generation Radar (NEXRAD). These systems have defined coverage areas. From a management standpoint, being able to ensure that every area of the United States has coverage became easier using a GIS.GIS uses became clear as more people became interested in the capabilities of linking into the NTD and using the current data . Once such example is each Weather Forecasting Office (WFO) is responsible for all forecasting activities within its County Warning Forecast Area (CWFA). All equipment in that area has a reporting office linked to that WFO. Linkages were made in the NTD to track these connections.

     Figure 1.2 shows the Southern Region and the associated CWFA's along with their WFO ID. When a quick moving thunder storm or flash flood occurs, it is important to know which WFO is responsible for coverage and thus, the equipment tied to that WFO can be utilized to monitor and take weather readings. It is also useful for planning and management efforts to ensure proper coverages for all counties and on the flip side, not to overburden the resources of the WFO.  As the commissioning phase of MAR continued on, a web page was developed to track the status of offices and circuits. The method of MAR was to bring the new Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) on line and then, start to 'decommission'  the older Automation of Field Operations Services (AFOS). In this effort, maps were made every week to check the status of each location.
 

     Figure 1.3 illustrates the AFOS circuit status in the western region. The dashed lines represent the circuits that had been decommissioned while the solid line represents the 'still active' circuits

at the time of map generation. From these regional maps, the offices could determine their status in the decommissioning process. The larger circuit (Blue) on the Western Region map could not be 'decommissioned' until the smaller (red, green), outer circuits had all been deactivated. To activate a change in status to decommissioned required all hardware, office space and personnel were re-allocated thus forming a 'closed' site. Once that paperwork was received by NWS Headquarters, the main circuit could be decommissioned.

     Figure 1.4 shows the Eastern Region AFOS circuit map. Here, all the circuits are represented by dashed lines, indicating a decommissioned status. While the decommissioning process was going forward, the commissioning of the AWIPS circuits had already been completed.

     One of the requirements of the plan was before the decommissioning of AFOS began, AWIPS must be active. Figure 1.5 is a U.S. map of the Primary AWIPS Circuits. The AWIPS circuit design included multiple backups to ensure reduntant connectivity for all offices.

     Another data resource utilized for NWS maps are shape files created by a group that maintains all county warning forecast and zone forecast areas for AWIPS (Web: http://isl715.nws.noaa.gov/mapdata/newcat/). These files are available in shape file format, contain metadata history and can be downloaded from the web. These files are important because if changes are made to zone boundaries or CWFA's by headquarters or a particular region, then any map published on the web or in hardcopy, must reflect the new data.

     The NTD has been seen as a success in data management for the MAR effort. Looking ahead and seeing the possibilities of having such a system as the NTD making NWS data accessible, is a new concept called the Management Information Retrieval System(MIRS). MIRS would take the success that the NTD had and expand the concept. Most of the data in the National Weather Service has been isolated and not easily accessible. The plan for MIRS is to provide linkages to the many different databases so that the issue of accessability can be overcome. Each program office or group that provided a linked database would be responsible for maintaining all updates to the data. However, one of the challenges to this configuration is to establish a level of data formats and linkages so that all levels can be intertwined. This is a new plan and direction that the Weather Service is taking.

     The NTD GIS platform was using ArcView 3.2 and ArcExplorer 2.0. Plans are now being formed to upgrade to ArcView 8.X and incorporate modules such as ArcIms, ArcSDE, and Spatial Analyst. The objective in the next few months is to take the existing ArcView projects and transfer them to the web using ArcIms. A prime example are the state maps that show all equipment and forecast zones. These currently are only available in hard copy reports. The maps would have greater utility if users are able to customize or perhaps overlay different data layers for research or planning purposes.

     There is a changing trend within the NWS to expand and explore all that a GIS can offer. The new MIRS implementation will move GIS management and planning into the spotlight. The map component of MIRS is considered a large facet of the system and is being configured to expand along with the demand. In the future months, testing and implementation will occur on all levels. Expecations are high that MIRS will provide an accurate and user friendly system for all forms of NWS data management.