WPO is part of history as two projects funded by the WPO Observations Program are supporting NOAA’s hurricane observing mission, which is being recognized in the 2024 Guinness World Records Book.
The NOAA Weather Program Office (WPO) is proud to announce the awards for the FY23 Notice of Funding.
The total of funding awarded* for the eleven selected projects is approximately $4M per year.
Hurricane Ian became the 15th billion-dollar disaster in 2022 spurring a newfound interest in forecast and risk communication in the media, and providing a real-world opportunity for WPO-funded critical forecast improvement research to take place.
Research reveals direct measurements of wind and temperature from aircraft provide the highest valued inputs into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models compared to weather balloon radiosondes, satellites, and ground-based, weather observing stations.
In partnership with NOAA, Saildrone Inc. is deploying seven ocean drones to collect data from hurricanes during the 2022 hurricane season with the goal of improving hurricane forecasting. For the first year, two saildrones will track hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the biggest challenges to hurricane forecasting is predicting rapid intensification, when hurricane…
The Observations Program at the Weather Program Office has partnered with WindBorne Systems, Inc. to fund the development of an advanced weather balloon. This technology offers a low cost platform enabling collection of surface to stratosphere weather data in lesser-sampled regions.
Over the past 20 years NOAA/OAR, industry, and academia have made significant advancements on Phased Array Radar (PAR) research, development, and technology for weather surveillance and other applications. Because of these advancements, PAR is a leading contender in the solution for replacing the legacy NEXRAD system.