Working Together
By Deputy Director John Jones

We in the National Weather Service are fortunate to have a mission that we all understand, protecting the lives and property of our fellow Americans. We also provide a national information database that benefits our economy and is used by academia, other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community. Without a doubt we are the world's #1 climate, water, and weather service.

To perform our mission takes dedication and a lot of hard work. As Deputy Director, I am proud of the work you do, day in day out. From the shift workers in the field to the folks that provide the support needed in the field.

We have many challenges facing us in the future. Number one could be continuing to expand our understanding of the atmosphere, oceans, and land surface of this planet. We will continue to apply external advances in science and technology to meet that goal, along with the initiatives of our own employees, to issue the best products and services possible. As important as that challenge is, expanding the capability of providing our customers the information they need to make decisions and improve their daily lives in a digital database is just as important.

Implicit in meeting those two challenges is how best to use the resources we have now and possibly more important, plan on using those resources we foresee in the future. The most important NWS resource is you.

To achieve our goals we need to improve on working together. How can we communicate with others if we can not do a good job among ourselves? We have to take advantage of the opportunities we have to improve.

Each office/unit/center can schedule staff meetings for open discussion of issues pertaining to performance and the work environment. These discussions should lead to input that HICs, MICs, Center Directors, and Division Chiefs can share with their Director/Corporate Board Member. In the other direction, you should be informed by your Corporate Board Member, through your supervisor, of issues discussed and decisions made by the Corporate Board at its meetings.

Many think the Corporate Board is the only level where issues can be discussed for decisions to change our organization. I would like everyone in this organization to think about the part they can play in the process described in the previous paragraph. Your input can reach the Corporate Board through many venues and be part of the decision making. NWS has established programs to help us achieve the goal of working together; Communications, Diversity, EEO and Training. Together they comprise the People's Program, i.e., programs to benefit you, the people of NWS.

The Office of Communications produces the newsletter which includes this article, NOAA's NWS Focus. Anyone in NWS can provide an article for this newsletter. The goal of the Office of Communications is to coordinate activities that help employees at all levels talk to each other, be understood, and tell the NWS story to a variety of audiences. There are regional and national Diversity and EEO councils that have meetings to discuss issues important to our organization. Input from those venues comes directly to me through Steve Smith and Gloria Walker, respectively, and can also be provided to other members of the Board by their representatives on these councils. I work with input from each regional office, NCEP, and national headquarters to develop the National Strategic Education and Training Plan. Beyond that plan, you can coordinate with your supervisor additional training in which you would like to participate.

Many of you are members of the bargaining unit of this organization and are represented by NWSEO. A national group of labor and management has nearly completed a new Cooperative Bargaining Agreement. Labor-management meetings are held at the local, regional, and national level to discuss issues important to you. When scheduling your issue meetings, as discussed earlier, involve your NWSEO representative in planning the agenda.

We all have opportunities to make NWS the best organization in the world. Issues that are important to you can be openly discussed at all levels and brought to the Corporate Board for national decisions. I urge you to be active in one or more of the venues I have discussed so we can meet our goals and face the challenges ahead. To be successful will require all of us working together.

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NAS Committee Begins Study of Public, Academic, Private Sector Roles in Weather Forecasting

A National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee began a study of "Public - Private Partnerships in the Provision of Weather and Climate Services" with an initial meeting at NAS Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Aug. 29. The study, requested by the NWS, is expected to take approximately nine to 12 months. Six presenters provided invited remarks, including NWS Director Jack Kelly, Oceanographer of the Navy Richard Spinrad, Joel Myers of AccuWeather, Inc., Mike Smith of Weather Data, Inc., Kelvin Droegemeier of the University of Oklahoma, and Dean John Dutton of Penn State. Each speaker was asked to address a set of questions (provided in advance by the committee) including a request for each to summarize their current roles and responsibilities in providing and using weather, climate and related environmental information, and services in the United States; how they see their role evolving; what opportunities exist for improving the services now and in the future; and how do the sectors currently interact. The meeting was taped by C-SPAN.

Director Kelly addressed the committee's questions in turn and also explained why the NWS requested the study. His answer essentially was that the NWS goal was to recast the debate from "unfair government competition with the private sector," to "appropriate roles of government, private sector, and the academic and research communities."

The NAS Committee has set up a web site. The committee's information gathering plans include a town-hall-style meeting to be held at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in January 2002 in Orlando, FL.

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The NWS negotiating team reached agreement with the National Weather Service Employees Organization (NWSEO) on a draft CBA revision. The draft CBA is now under consideration by NWSEO members for ratification. Copies were provided to senior managers in the NWS and is available for review on the NWSEO website. According to Mark Brown, NWS Deputy CFO/CAO, if the draft CBA is ratified, it will be forwarded to the Commerce Department by the end of September.

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Zane Schauer, Deputy Director of NOAA's Human Resources Management Office, made a presentation this week at the NWS Director's staff meeting reminding employees and supervisors of the Department of Commerce's policy on the use of Internet and electronic mail. Activities for which Department Internet and e-mail services may not be used, during working or non-working hours, include the following:

1. the pursuit of private commercial business activities or profit-making ventures (i.e., employees may not operate a business with the use of the Department's computers and Internet resources);
2. matters directed toward the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group;
3. prohibited direct or indirect lobbying;
4. use of Internet sites that result in an additional charge to the Government;
5. engaging in prohibited discriminatory conduct;
6. the obtaining or viewing of sexually-explicit material;
7. any activity that would bring discredit on the Department; or
8. any violation of statute or regulation.

Within several NOAA headquarters line and staff office organizations, the number of investigations into transmission and/or storage of e-mails containing sexually-explicit material has been on the upswing. These disciplinary offenses have been resulting in employees receiving either written reprimands or suspensions. NWS employees have not been the subjects of any of these recent investigations, and if we all keep these policies in mind, it will stay that way. The best advice is simple and easy to follow--if you receive an e-mail which contains sexually-explicit material, DELETE IT!

NOAA's June 29, 2001, memo to all employees on this topic is available on the NOAA Human Resources Home Page , and the Department of Commerce's policy is also available on the web

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TPC Calling All Ships At Sea

The NWS Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) is now able to contact ships at sea via an e-mail account set up through COMSAT Mobile Communications. By knowing a ship's Inmarsat (a global mobile satellite communications operator) Mobile Number obtained through the Inmarsat ship directory web site, messages can quickly be exchanged with ships at sea and therefore assist forecasters in preparing tropical cyclone advisories and marine forecast products. This method of communication was used recently to obtain weather information from the ship "Nobel Star" which was traveling near the center of Tropical Storm Dean.

"We routinely receive ship observations every six hours," said Christopher Burr, Chief of the Tropical Analysis and Forecasting Branch, TPC. But by using e-mail, NWS can now request more frequent observations and monitor storms more closely. "Having these more timely observations can really help increase the accuracy of our marine warnings and save lives," said Burr.

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Accolades from Topeka Forecast Office: WSR-88D Open RPG Provides Enhanced Capabilities

The Radar Operations Center, Norman, OK, is in the final stages of acceptance testing for the NWS configuration of the Open Radar Product Generator (Open RPG). One of the new technology features of the Open RPG is the implementation of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Forecasters and electronics technicians use the interface to control the radar. This interface, which replaces the legacy RPG's text-based menu screens, was designed with feedback from field personnel who evaluated prototype versions of the GUI during development, said Tim D. Crum of the Radar Operations Center. This new interface provides easy-to-use screens which allows forecasters to take full advantage of the radar control functions, resulting in more complete radar coverage for detection of severe storms. Crum said this is one of several new capabilities provided by the Open RPG that are expected to improve warning performance.

George Phillips, Science and Operations Officer at the Topeka NWS Forecast Office, which is one of the Beta Test sites for the Open RPG, provided the following summary of the Open RPG performance:"Overall, we like the Open RPG a LOT! The capability of manually changing the WSR-88D PRF [Pulse Repetition Frequency], and thus the Maximum Unambiguous Range, has been there since the WSR-88D was installed. However, with the Open RPG GUI, the forecasters feel much more comfortable in using these functions. For example, we recently had a severe weather event where the GUI enhancement was really useful. We had a tornadic supercell about 115 miles from the radar. Because we also had storms 23 miles from the radar along the same radial, the velocities within the tornadic supercell were mostly range-folded (obscured). I manually resized the sector to cover an area that contained the supercell, tried different PRFs to see which would be best and selected it, checked the other sectors for any concerns, then downloaded the new PRF. All this took less than two minutes. Making this change in certain severe weather situations can be extremely useful to the field forecaster."

The 10-month deployment of the Open RPG to all WSR-88D sites (NWS, Air Force, and FAA) is scheduled to begin in late September. It is the first of several NEXRAD Product Improvement projects that will improve radar performance, reliability, and scaleability while extending the life of the radar. These projects are managed by the Office of Science and Technology, and rely on the joint efforts of the Office of Operational Systems, the Radar Operations Center, the National Severe Storms Laboratory, and various contractors.

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Kudos from the Billings Gazette for Good Work

On August 23, 2001, the Billings, MT, WFO received a letter of appreciation from the Editor and three reporters of the Billings Gazette newspaper for the office's responsiveness, expertise, and accessibility during the severe weather experienced this summer in Montana.

Specifically, the letter stated, "The severe weather that covered south-central and south-eastern Montana during Summer 2001 received almost daily coverage in The Billings Gazette. The information provided in those stories came primarily from the Billings office of the National Weather Service...The NWS staff fielded phone calls from Gazette reporters during some of their most hectic work days of the summer. The staff was not only willing to search for and provide data, they bolstered that information by adding commentary that helped reporters and readers better understand the weather, its causes and effects...The staff members' passion for their work and their dedication to informing the public is not only impressive but appreciated...We look forward to continuing the good working relationship between the National Weather Service and Billings Gazette staff."

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Also on the Web...

NWS employees are featured in three articles of the September 1, 2001, issue of AccessNOAA .

• Dwight C. Lee, a contractor and field engineer with the NWS Radar Operations Center in Norman, OK, has been selected as September's Team Member of the Month;

• Dave Lipson, forecaster from the Riverton, WY, WFO, is shown shaking hands with actor Harrison Ford during last month's wildfires near Jackson, WY; and

• Mike Washington, of the NWS Strategic Planning and Policy Office, is profiled as the saxophone-playing meteorologist. This article includes a video clip of Mike in action.

Read the full stories by visiting the AccessNOAA site. And while you're there, visit the "NOAA In Your Neighborhood" section of AccessNOAA for photos of a recent visit to the Spokane, WA, WFO by new NOAA Legislative Affairs Director Mary Beth Nethercutt and her son Elliott.

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