U.S., Australia Sign Meteorology Science Exchange Agreement

(Collaboration intended to improve weather forecasts, tsunami warning) (440)

Washington - The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) signed an agreement March 23 with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology to work together to improve meteorological and hydrological forecasting.

David Johnson, director of NOAA's National Weather Service, and Australia’s director of meteorology, Geoff Love, signed the agreement as part of a World Meteorological Day celebration in Melbourne, Australia.

"This agreement fosters a mutual exchange of scientific and technical expertise to enhance both countries' capabilities in delivering the most sophisticated meteorological and hydrological data available," Johnson said.

The agreement, he added, is also "an important step in advancing the Global Earth Observation System of Systems [GEOSS], which will be a key part of our ability to forecast and warn of natural disasters on a global scale."

Thousands of individual instruments now gather observations around the globe. Through GEOSS, NOAA is working with federal partners and 60 countries to integrate these instruments in a global monitoring network that allows the instruments to communicate with each other.

The result is more accurate weather forecasts, more effective water and air quality monitoring, improved aviation safety, reduced energy costs and other societal and economic effects.

The five-year U.S.-Australia agreement comes with an implementation strategy by which Australia will adopt the digital forecast process developed by NOAA's National Weather Service.

Through its National Digital Forecast Database, NOAA provides a seamless mosaic of forecast elements to the public to use in creating text, graphic, grid and image products.

NOAA will share the technology with Australia's Bureau of Meteorology to improve forecasts and to provide a standardized protocol for more effective information sharing.

A second part of the agreement involves enhancing international tsunami warning systems.

The technology exchange will help Australia and the United States support the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System and accelerate Australia's capacity to plan, deploy, apply and operationally support deep-ocean tsunami detection platforms such as the U.S. deep-ocean assessment and reporting tsunamis (DART) buoy stations.

The two nations also will collaborate on designing warning systems and exchanging sea-level data related to the warning systems.

"We are creating a structure and a network of scientists in both countries to share data and to provide technical capabilities," Love said.

Such a network will enhance the understanding of global weather and climate through collaborative research, he added, and will provide a foundation for GEOSS and other international activities.

Information about the National Weather Service, GEOSS and the National Digital Forecast Database are available on the NOAA Web site.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Original document from Washington Hyperfile