FY23 WPO VORTEX – USA Awards
Four projects have been selected for the FY23 WPO VORTEX-USA Awards. The grant total for the four selected projects equals $2.5M with each project being funded for 3 years beginning in August 2023.
The Finish Line: JTTI Runs NOAA Internal Competition to Transition Matured Research into NWS Operations
The lack of continued support for projects that are near completion creates a backlog of usable resources that cannot be fully incorporated into operations. The NWS Office of Science and Technology indicated that this backlog impedes the growth and progress of NWS operations which reduces the benefit of forecast improvements for the public. WPO chose to work towards resolving this issue by holding a NOAA internal funding competition.
VORTEX-USA Awards
WPO works in coordination with the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma to award projects that explore and refine novel predictors of tornadoes, and to improve the communication of tornado forecasts and risk to tornadoes in the U.S. This year competition award total* for the 4 selected projects equals $1.36 M in grants.…
Weather Testbed Awards
Testbeds are unique collaborative spaces that allow researchers and forecasters to work together to improve weather prediction systems. They accomplish this by working alongside each other to integrate new observing systems into models, test and streamline data assimilation methods, test weather model improvements, and strategize new developments. The Weather Program Office funds research projects and…
Joint Technology Transfer Initiative Awards
The Joint Technology Transfer Initiative (JTTI), works closely with the National Weather Service to accelerate the transition of matured weather research to NWS operations to improve forecasting for the benefit of the American public. This year’s competition focused on improving model development in collaboration with the UFS community to improve forecasts, finding innovative methodologies to…
Subseasonal to Seasonal Awards
The Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 calls for NOAA to improve its Subseasonal to Seasonal (S2S) capabilities, and defines subseasonal to seasonal as the range between two weeks and two years. Additionally, the FY22 Appropriation mandated an increased emphasis on improvements to hydrologic prediction for the Western states. To meet these needs,…
Climate Testbed Awards
WPO’s Climate Testbed partnership with the National Center for Environmental Prediction supports research to improve the operational products at the Climate Prediction Center. We accomplish this by supporting research projects in the collaborative Climate Test Bed, which are intended to demonstrate the potential for scientific advances from the external research community to improve operational climate…
Fire Weather & Air Quality FY 22 Awards
WPO funds work to advance our understanding of Air Quality and Fire Weather to improve forecasts and warnings for the public. The projects selected in this competition involve the use of machine learning, data assimilation techniques, physics, and post-processing of data to address gaps in the models such as the UFS, create a coupled fire-atmosphere…