I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

Headquarters U.S. Air Force

28 Nov 01 1

Air Force Weather Support to Homeland Security

COPC Meeting28 Nov 01

Lt Col Mike BabcockHQ USAF/ XOW

28 Nov 01 2I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

Overview

AFW - Who we are, what we do, and why

Leveraging the meteorological community

Cooperative support and backup

Opportunities for Improvement

28 Nov 01 3I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

AFW Demographics: Who we are

ENLISTEDENLISTED70%70%

OFFICEROFFICER19%19%

CIVILIANCIVILIAN8%8%

CMECME3%3%

Total AFW Personnel: 4040Active Duty AF: 3450

ANG/Reserve: 590(as of Apr 01)

Active Duty AF Strat center (AFWA) 9 Opnl Wx Squadrons 132 Combat Wx Teams

Air National Guard 33 Weather Flights

AF Reserves Augment active duty

AFW Units

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AFW Capabilities

Deliver to our Nation's combat forces anytime, anyplace, the highest quality, mission-tailored information, products, and

services relating to the terrestrial and space environment....from the mud to the sun.

28 Nov 01 5I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

AFW Core Processes

ALL ARE KEY TO PERFORMING OUR MISSION:

ANALYSIS TAILORING

FORECASTING DISSEMINATION DATA COLLECTION

28 Nov 01 6I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

AFW –Organized for Ops

Mission-ScaleMission-Scale2 Way Info2 Way Info

OPERATIONAL CONCEPT

GlobalGlobalProductsProducts

Fine-Scale Fine-Scale Theater Theater

ProductsProducts

Strategic Weather Center

Operational WeatherSquadrons

Combat Weather

Teams (132)Lean, ExperiencedLean, Experienced

Mission Knowledgeable TeamMission Knowledgeable Team

Develop ForecastsDevelop ForecastsOn-the-Job Training / On-the-Job Training /

Mentoring Less Experienced Mentoring Less Experienced PersonnelPersonnel

Leverage TechnologyLeverage TechnologyManage InfrastructureManage Infrastructure

WARFIGHTEWARFIGHTERR

66.5 0 S

280 N

460 N460 N

220 N

5 0 S

600 W

920 W

300 W

300 W 10

0 W 600 E

680 E

1590 E

Weather Support Areas Of Responsibility

Areas of Responsibility11 OWS (Elmendorf AFB)15 OWS (Scott AFB)17 OWS (Hickam AFB)

20 OWS (Yokota AB)25 OWS (Davis-Monthan AFB)26 OWS (Barksdale AFB)

28 OWS (Shaw AFB)AFWA (Offutt AFB)USAFE OWS (Sembach)

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OWSs + Support Locations (CONUS)USAF/AFRC/ANG Flying UnitACC Army UnitsAFSOC Unit

AMC Units AETC Units AFMC Units AFSPC Units

CONUS Regional OpsWeather Squadrons

Davis MonthanAFB

AFBShaw

Army NG Avn Unit

BarksdaleAFB

Scott AFB

Green indicates reengineeredGreen indicates reengineered

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AFW Capabilitiesleveraged by others

Meteorological satellite processing and applications Cloud analyses/forecasts, Snow and Surface Temp analyses Fine-scale NWP model coupled with Land Surface Model

LSM collaboration with NCAR, NCEP, Office of Hydrology Space weather support for all DoD and National Program

customers – worldwide observing network and collaboration with NOAA’s Space Environment Center

Cloud forecasts12 nm horiz res

+

Space Wx

Improved support for DoD ops Low-level aircraft ops Trafficability for ground forces Dispersion of contaminants Smart weapons employment

LSM

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AFW Capabilities leveraged by others

Climatology Global archival and analysis of

weather observations ACMES (climo from meso models,

constrained by NCEP/NCAR reanalysis fields)

Slant-path Point Analysis Model Center collocated with NOAA’s

NCDC, Asheville, NC Collaborating with NOAA’s NWS

and OAR on climo support to USAID, DoS – medium range forecasts to support refugee aid

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Atmospheric Dispersion

AFW units provide met data to the consequence mgmt experts Joint Forces Command support AF civil engineer readiness teams Army nuclear, biological, and chemical teams

AFWA, OWSs, and CWTs all support operations AFWA populates Met Data Server with

high-resolution MM5 data for DTRA and other HPAC users worldwide Enables support for major events

such as Olympics, inauguration, etc. For CONUS homeland security, NWS

is primary, DoD secondary/backup

28 Nov 01 12I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

Leveraging: Operations

NOAA NESDIS: satellite data and services NWS/NCEP: NWP models (AVN, Eta), forecast products NOAA/SEC: Space Weather products

Navy NWP models (NOGAPS) Ocean products (SST analyses, wave forecasts, etc.)

All available (NOAA/NWS, Navy, foreign sources, etc.) Access to products via web pages, data via comm feed Observations, radar, TAFs & aviation products, etc.

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Leveraging:Training, R&D, acquisition

Training COMET (UCAR lead; sponsored by DOC, DoD, etc.) We provide joint formal training to Navy, USMC, USCG

at Keesler AFB, MS R&D: Leverage best we find - transition to ops

DoD research labs (AFRL, ARL, NRL) Fed civilian labs (NCAR, FSL, ETL, etc.) Academia (UPOS, CIRA, etc.) Industry (Weather Channel, CRDA with AER, etc.)

Cooperative development and acquisition Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model NPOESS (DoD/DOC/NASA); NEXRAD (DoD/DOC/DOT)

28 Nov 01 14I n t e g r i t y - S e r v i c e - E x c e l l e n c e

Cooperative Support and Backup

AFW supports National Command Authorities, Navy/USMC, NOAA, Intel community, NIMA, National Hurricane Center, Joint Typhoon Warning Center, State Dept, DTRA, USAID, & others

AFWA provides backup to NOAA centers via official agreement Product backup for Aviation Wx Center, Storms Prediction

Center, and Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Mesoscale model backup (MM5) to NCEP Eta model Space Wx products to Space Environment Center

AFWA is partner in OFCM’s Cooperative Support and Backup Plan for operational processing centers (Shared Proc. Net.)

AFWA provides high-res MM5 data to DTRA via HPAC met data servers, for use by DTRA and worldwide HPAC users

Web page access via JAAWIN, JAAWIN(S), OWS web pages

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DoD Operations

Roles and responsibilities Services: Component Ops; Organize, Train and Equip Joint operations: Unified commands R&D: OUSD(AT&L), Service labs (AFRL, ARL, NRL)

Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan): CENTCOM has lead Joint Ops Area Forecast (JOAF) from Bahrain (Navy) Shaw OWS: provides tailored reach-back support AFWA: MM5 products, dust model, SOF/Intel support

Noble Eagle (CONUS): JFCOM, NORAD have ops lead Higher ops tempo; otherwise, business as usual

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Opportunities for Improvement

Improved NWP and advanced data assimilation for satellite, radar, mesonet, and other data sources Weather Research & Forecast (WRF) model Joint Center for Sat Data Assimilation Share processing load to overcome computing

shortfall that limits CONUS high-res NWP models Unity of effort for Homeland Security NBC dispersion

Improve interaction: OFCM Workshops in Dec 2001 One event, one forecast with NWS lead for weather Common “portal” to support multiple dispersion

models: facilitates R&D, V&V, ensembles, backup

“Choose The Weather For Battle”