Development of the Weather “Action Chain” Enabler (ACE) Application

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT: In this Phase I effort, PEMDAS Technologies and Innovations (PEMDAS), in collaboration with subcontractor Westover Studios, proposes to assess the feasibility of developing an innovative tool that allows forecasters to easily provide real-time threat tracking information to be used by the public to confirm the existence and location of a weather- or water-related hazards in a manner that a nonscientific user can understand. Combining Westover’s experience in the innovative communication of actionable information to the public with PEMDAS’ expertise in the areas of operational meteorology, impacts assessment, and decision support tools, we propose the design and development of the Weather “Action-Chain” Enabler (Weather ACE) application. As outlined in the proposal, research will focus on developing a comprehensive understanding of what is needed to facilitate end-user response upon receipt of time-sensitive actionable information along with the associated technologies needed to enable each component of the action-chain. An extensive review and evaluation of currently available literature and technologies will be conducted in assessment and design of the Weather ACE application. A demonstration of the pre-prototype feasibility of coupling NWS forecast products with userdefined alert criteria to generate color-coded point and polygon impact assessments will be conducted.SUMMARY OF ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The outcome of this Phase I effort will be the development of a preliminary design for the Weather ACE application based on a comprehensive assessment of available technologies capable of meeting NWS operational requirements. During Phase II, we will finalize the design of the complete prototype, evaluate it with respect to the requirements and specifications from Phase I, fabricate a working prototype, and evaluate its performance.