[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4791 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4791

  To authorize appropriations for the United States Weather Research 
                    Program, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2002

  Mr. Ehlers (for himself and Mr. Etheridge) introduced the following 
          bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize appropriations for the United States Weather Research 
                    Program, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Weather Research 
Program Act of 2002''.

SEC. 2. PROGRAM FOCUS.

    The focus of the United States Weather Research Program, an 
interagency program established under section 108 of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Authorization Act of 1992 (15 
U.S.C. 313 note), shall be on--
            (1) hurricanes, floods, and heavy precipitation, including 
        both snow and rain;
            (2) building on existing investments, including those of 
        the National Weather Service modernization effort, to 
        dramatically accelerate improvement in weather forecasts;
            (3) providing attention and resources in areas where 
        progress can be made quickly and where the impact will be 
        greatest;
            (4) establishing goals that can be attained by leveraging 
        the resources of several agencies and through the collaborative 
        scientific efforts of the operational and research communities 
        in academia and government; and
            (5) making research grants to universities and other 
        research institutions.

SEC. 3. PROGRAM RESEARCH PRIORITIES.

    The research priorities of the United States Weather Research 
Program shall be in the areas of--
            (1) hurricanes, to improve--
                    (A) landfall location forecasts; and
                    (B) forecasts of hurricane strength;
            (2) heavy precipitation, to improve forecasts of both 
        winter storms and rain storms through better prediction of 
        timing, location, and intensity;
            (3) floods, to improve--
                    (A) flood forecasting by coupling precipitation 
                forecasts with hydrologic prediction; and
                    (B) forecasting and warning systems for inland 
                flooding related to tropical cyclones, by--
                            (i) improving the capability to accurately 
                        forecast such flooding through research and 
                        modeling;
                            (ii) developing, testing, and deploying a 
                        new flood warning index that will give the 
                        public and emergency management professionals 
                        fuller, clear, and more accurate information 
                        about the risks and dangers posed by expected 
                        tropical cyclone-related inland flooding;
                            (iii) training emergency management 
                        officials, National Weather Service personnel, 
                        meteorologists, and others as appropriate 
                        regarding improved forecasting techniques for 
                        such flooding, risk management techniques, and 
                        use of the inland flood warning index developed 
                        under clause (ii); and
                            (iv) conducting outreach and education 
                        activities for local meteorologists and the 
                        public regarding the dangers and risks 
                        associated with tropical cyclone-related inland 
                        flooding and the use and understanding of the 
                        inland flood warning index developed under 
                        clause (ii);
            (4) two-to-fourteen day forecasting, to--
                    (A) improve short and medium range numerical 
                weather predictions and warnings of high-impact weather 
                events;
                    (B) conduct the Hemispheric Observing System 
                Research and Predictability Experiment (THORpex) to 
                fill observational gaps in the Northern Hemisphere; and
                    (C) test and evaluate advanced data assimilation 
                techniques in global models;
            (5) societal and economic impacts, to--
                    (A) identify methods of delivering weather 
                information effectively and recommend ways to improve 
                weather communications;
                    (B) assess social and economic impacts of adverse 
                weather ranging from disastrous to routine;
                    (C) evaluate what weather information is most 
                useful to public and private decision makers; and
                    (D) perform research on societal and economic 
                impact to ensure a connection between weather research 
                and improvement of the human condition; and
            (6) testing research concepts at United States Weather 
        Research Program-sponsored test bed centers in an environment 
        identical to those used by operational meteorologists, to 
        enable technology transfer to those operational meteorologists.

SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY PLANNING AND PROCESS.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as the lead 
agency of the United States Weather Research Program, shall coordinate 
and consult with the National Science Foundation, the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration, other appropriate Federal 
agencies, and other appropriate entities to develop, and annually 
update, a five-year plan--
            (1) describing how Federal agencies can best team with 
        universities and other research institutions;
            (2) identifying social, economic, and military needs and 
        requirements for weather information, as well as defining the 
        research required to meet these needs;
            (3) outlining methods for dissemination of weather 
        information to user communities; and
            (4) describing best practices for transferring United 
        States Weather Research Program research results to forecasting 
        operations.

SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, and annually thereafter, the Administrator of the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration shall transmit to the Committee on 
Science of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 
Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report which shall 
include--
            (1) the most recent five-year plan developed or updated 
        under section 4, including the roles and funding to be provided 
        by various Federal agencies in achieving the objectives of the 
        plan;
            (2) a justification of any changes to the plan since the 
        last transmittal under this section;
            (3) a detailed assessment of the extent to which the 
        objectives of the plan have been achieved; and
            (4) a description of the research activities carried out 
        under section 3(3)(B), along with an analysis of the success 
        and acceptance of the inland flood warning index developed 
        under section 3(3)(B)(ii) by the public and emergency 
        management professionals.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the 
Office of Atmospheric Research of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration for carrying out this Act--
            (1) for fiscal year 2003, $15,000,000, of which $1,150,000 
        shall be for the purposes described in section 3(3)(B);
            (2) for fiscal year 2004, $15,525,000, of which $1,200,000 
        shall be for the purposes described in section 3(3)(B); and
            (3) for fiscal year 2005, $16,100,000, of which $1,250,000 
        shall be for the purposes described in section 3(3)(B).
    (b) Forecasting Model Grants.--Of the amounts authorized under 
subsection (a) for the purposes described in section 3(3)(B)--
            (1) $250,000 for fiscal year 2003;
            (2) $260,000 for fiscal year 2004; and
            (3) $270,000 for fiscal year 2005,
shall be made available for competitive, merit-reviewed grants to 
institutions of higher education (as defined in section 101 of the 
Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) to develop models that 
can improve the ability to forecast coastal and estuary-inland flooding 
that is influenced by tropical cyclones. The models should incorporate 
the interaction of such factors as storm surges, soil saturation, and 
other relevant phenomena.
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