An update on Recommendations for RAWS and ROMAN

An update on Recommendations for RAWS and ROMAN Fire Environment Working Team Paul Schlobohm April 15, 2008

Fire Environment Working Team Fire Weather Committee Eastern States Fire Research Fire Behavior Committee Fire Danger Committee Western States FENWT Chair Predictive Fire Air Interagency Services Group Coordination Team Fuels Group NPSG FACT NWCG Liaison NWS NIFCG Strategic Partners Content not complete without oral presentation 2

Assignment u RAWS • Address unplanned growth in the size of the network during era of agency budget decline u ROMAN • Should NWCG support ROMAN and if so how? Content not complete without oral presentation

Study Plan u u What are our needs for fire weather data now and into the future? Leverage four on-going assessments • OFCM • NPSG • NWS • NWFEA Content not complete without oral presentation

Stakeholders u u u u u RAWS ASCADS WFMI WIMS NIFMID FAMWEB WFAS WRCC ROMAN u u u u MADIS FPA WFDSS OK-Mesonet OK-FIRE Great Basin RAWS network review BLM RAWS network review FS RAWS network review Content not complete without oral presentation

Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology u Comprehensive review and assessment of fire weather and climate requirements • Comprehensive, nationally beneficial observing system • National station standards • Gridded weather observations • High resolution models in complex terrain • Readily understandable model accuracy • Easy to use graphics available in GIS formats • Coordinated, “one-stop” internet presence • Robust continuity of operations Content not complete without oral presentation

National Wildland Fire Enterprise Architecture u NWFEA recommendations • Virtual Single Agency • Product Management: consistent data collection, improved data sharing, improved data quality • Centralized business-of-fire decisionmaking • Collaborative abilities on master web sites Content not complete without oral presentation

RAWS network is not a requirement; it is a solution to meet requirements u RAWS is a uniquely rural network u Data from many other networks are readily available now u RAWS outputs (e. g. NFDRS) from non-RAWS networks u RAWS supports modeled observations u Content not complete without oral presentation

ROMAN is the face of RAWS u 125 million hits in 2006 u ROMAN provides real-time access to many other networks u ROMAN meets user needs unmet by legacy systems u Content not complete without oral presentation

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MADIS Data Sources and Outputs SFC-MARINE SFC-LAND U/A-IN SITU MADIS INFORMATION BASES (QC’d DATASETS) Collection, QC, and Distribution U/A-REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE GRIDS METADATA QUALITY CONTROL INFO & Meta Data (Data QC Flags) Content not complete without oral presentation

How the MADIS Transition Will Change NOAA’s Service INDIVIDUAL OBS TODAY NWS TOC USER -1 INDIVIDUAL OBS USER-2 USER-N INDIVIDUAL OBS 2008 NOAA WITH MADIS USER-1 Integrated/ QC’d Data sets Content not complete without oral presentation USER-2 USER-N

Three routes from RAWS to ASCADS… or other GOES data clients Internet Content not complete without oral presentation

ASCADS Distributes Point Data to Five Main Clients Content not complete without oral presentation

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Conclusions u Critical importance of fire weather data • Firefighter safety • Prescribed fire management • Air quality • Crew readiness • Seasonal resource allocations Content not complete without oral presentation

Conclusions u Purpose of the RAWS network • To support applications of fire weather Point u Gridded u • For Fire program analysis u Fire danger rating u Fire behavior prediction u Fire weather forecasting u Smoke management u Content not complete without oral presentation

Recommendation - RAWS u Size of the RAWS network • Appropriate to achieve purpose of the network • Determine with explicit use of other networks • Determine to meet needs to support gridded data • Support a study to inform decisions on network size Content not complete without oral presentation

Recommendations - ROMAN u Short Term • Support ROMAN as an NWCG mission critical data access system • Programmatic funding to include project management, maintenance, and operations. Content not complete without oral presentation

Recommendations - ROMAN u Long Term • Advance to an Enhanced ROMAN • Develop opportunities with NOAA to provide the networks and gridded products of MADIS through a ROMANlike user interface. • Pursue ways to link or combine our other data access systems with ROMAN Content not complete without oral presentation

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Progress u NWCG accepted recommendations Content not complete without oral presentation

RAWS Network Analysis Study plan approval u Funding to be secured u Analysis planned through 2009 u • RAWS ranked for support to 5 km grid • Station metadata quality • Non-RAWS applicability to NFDRS Content not complete without oral presentation

ROMAN Business Case Secured funding u Initiated business case development u • Short term recommendations • Long term recommendations Expect completion: 2008 u Implementation u • Short term – 2009 • Long term – 2011? Content not complete without oral presentation