[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3642 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3642

To direct the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the National 
    Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative 
research to advance weather models in the United States, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 23, 2024

  Mr. Lujan (for himself and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Energy and the Administrator of the National 
    Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct collaborative 
research to advance weather models in the United States, 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 ``Advanced Weather Model Computing 
Development Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Administration.--The term ``Administration'' means the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
            (2) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration
            (3) Advanced computing techniques.--The term ``advanced 
        computing techniques'' includes the hardware, software, and 
        computational methods necessary to develop and deploy advanced 
        weather models, such as artificial intelligence, high-
        performance computing, cloud computing, numerical methods, 
        machine learning, data assimilation, large scale data 
        analytics, predictive analysis techniques, and quantum 
        computing.
            (4) Advanced weather model.--The term ``advanced weather 
        model'' means a model or suite of models used for the 
        prediction of physical, biological, or chemical Earth system 
        processes spanning weather, seasonal to sub-seasonal, or 
        climate time scales.
            (5) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                Transportation and the Committee on Energy and Natural 
                Resources of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology 
                of the House of Representatives.
            (6) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the 
        Department of Energy.
            (7) Institution of higher education.--The term 
        ``institution of higher education'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 101 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
        U.S.C. 1001).
            (8) National laboratory.--The term ``National Laboratory'' 
        has the meaning given that term in section 2 of the Energy 
        Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15801).
            (9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Energy.

SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES RELATING TO 
              IMPROVEMENT OF ADVANCED WEATHER MODELS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary and the Administrator shall carry 
out collaborative research and development activities using advanced 
computing techniques that are focused on the improvement of advanced 
weather models relevant to the missions of the Department and the 
Administration.
    (b) Memorandum of Understanding.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary and the Administrator shall 
        carry out the activities under subsection (a) through the 
        establishment of a memorandum of understanding or other 
        appropriate interagency agreement.
            (2) Use of process.--The memorandum or agreement, as the 
        case may be, required under paragraph (1) shall require the use 
        of a competitive, merit-reviewed process that considers 
        applications from Federal agencies, National Laboratories, 
        institutions of higher education, nonprofit institutions, and 
        other appropriate entities (or a consortia thereof).
    (c) Activities.--In carrying out the activities under subsection 
(a), the Secretary and the Administrator may--
            (1) conduct collaborative research to develop new methods 
        and optimization of advanced computing techniques;
            (2) explore options for performance portability of 
        optimized advanced weather model codes between the operational 
        computing systems of the Administration and the high-
        performance computers of the Department;
            (3) advance methods to accommodate, analyze, and extract 
        information from large data sets of weather and climate 
        information;
            (4) to the maximum extent practicable, and in compliance 
        with national security policies, promote collaboration, open 
        community-based software development, and data sharing between 
        Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of higher 
        education, nonprofit institutions, and other appropriate 
        entities by providing necessary access and secure data transfer 
        capabilities; and
            (5) support maintenance of and improvements to scientific 
        computing infrastructure that the Secretary and the 
        Administrator determine appropriate.
    (d) Coordination.--In carrying out the activities under subsection 
(a), the Secretary and the Administrator may--
            (1) carry out reimbursable agreements between the 
        Department, the Administration, and other entities to maximize 
        the effectiveness of research and development; and
            (2) collaborate with other Federal agencies as appropriate.
    (e) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary and the Administrator shall submit to the 
appropriate committees of Congress a report detailing the following:
            (1) Interagency coordination between each Federal agency 
        involved in the activities carried out under this section, 
        including activities described in subsection (c).
            (2) Potential opportunities to expand the technical 
        capabilities of the Department and the Administration with 
        respect to those activities.
            (3) Collaborative research achievements with respect to 
        those activities.
            (4) Areas of future mutually beneficial gains as a result 
        of those activities.
            (5) Continuation of coordination between the Department and 
        the Administration on those activities.

SEC. 4. INITIATIVE ON DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED WEATHER MODELS USING 
              ADVANCED COMPUTING TECHNIQUES.

    (a) Computing Research Initiative.--
            (1) In general.--The Administrator, in collaboration with 
        the Secretary, shall carry out an initiative that may leverage 
        advanced computing techniques and the expertise of the 
        Department to develop and deploy advanced weather models to 
        conduct proof of concept scenarios in comparison with current 
        issued models (in this section referred to as the 
        ``Initiative'').
            (2) Process.--The Administrator, in collaboration with the 
        Secretary, shall carry out the Initiative through a 
        competitive, merit-reviewed process and consider applications 
        from Federal agencies, National Laboratories, institutions of 
        higher education, nonprofit institutions, and other appropriate 
        entities (or a consortia thereof).
            (3) Components.--In carrying out the Initiative, the 
        Administrator, in collaboration with the Secretary, shall 
        prevent duplication and coordinate research efforts in advanced 
        computing techniques across the Administration, and may--
                    (A) leverage related efforts and data from the 
                National Science and Technology Council, the 
                Interagency Council for Advancing Meteorological 
                Services, and other relevant interagency entities;
                    (B) provide sufficient capacity for long-term 
                archive of and access to model output to support 
                research and long-term study;
                    (C) determine computing decisions based on an agile 
                requirements framework;
                    (D) support the training, recruitment, and 
                retention of the next generation weather, water, and 
                climate computing workforce through incentives and 
                pathways for career development and employment 
                opportunities;
                    (E) support maintenance of and improvements to 
                scientific computing infrastructure that the 
                Administrator and the Secretary determine appropriate;
                    (F) conduct comparative research between forecasts 
                issued by the National Weather Service and operational 
                models of the National Weather Service as compared to 
                predictions and models developed to run using advanced 
                computing techniques; and
                    (G) share relevant modeling system and application 
                innovations developed through the Initiative, including 
                applications based on the Unified Forecast System, 
                through community-based activities.
    (b) Centers of Excellence.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary, in collaboration with the 
        Administrator, may establish at National Laboratories not more 
        than 3 centers of excellence to support advanced weather models 
        by researching, developing, and deploying advanced computing 
        techniques in collaboration with research laboratories of the 
        Administration and other relevant entities.
            (2) Activities.--Each center established under paragraph 
        (1) may carry out activities that include the following:
                    (A) Leveraging robust public-private partnership 
                models to provide access to training, experience, and 
                long-term development of workforce and infrastructure.
                    (B) Developing and optimizing tools, libraries, 
                algorithms, data structures, and other supporting 
                software necessary for specific applications on high-
                performance computing systems.
                    (C) Applying advanced computing techniques to 
                improve the accuracy and resolution of advanced weather 
                model predictions and to address current and future 
                mission challenges.
    (c) Priority.--In selecting National Laboratories at which to 
establish a center of excellence under subsection (b), the Secretary, 
in collaboration with the Administrator, shall give priority to 
Laboratories that--
            (1) have existing partnerships or relationships with the 
        Administration;
            (2) host significant artificial intelligence enabled high-
        performance computing systems;
            (3) have a workforce with experience in advanced computing 
        techniques;
            (4) are geographically proximate to one of the research 
        laboratories of the Administration; and
            (5) have a workforce with experience in weather and climate 
        modeling or computation.
    (d) Multi-Year Contracts.--The Administrator and the Secretary may 
enter into multi-year contracts in accordance with section 3903 of 
title 41, United States Code, and shall ensure compliance with all 
provisions of that section, to support operational research and 
development related to advanced computing techniques.
    (e) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to the appropriate 
committees of Congress a report evaluating the following:
            (1) The effectiveness of the Initiative, including applied 
        research discoveries and advanced modeling improvements 
        achieved through the Initiative.
            (2) Potential opportunities to expand capabilities of the 
        Department and the Administration with respect to advanced 
        computing techniques.
            (3) The need for collaboration on advanced computing 
        techniques between the Department and the Administration.
    (f) Sunset.--The authority under this section shall terminate on 
the date that is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 5. RESEARCH SECURITY.

    The activities authorized or required to be conducted under this 
Act shall be carried out in a manner consistent with subtitle D of 
title VI of the Research and Development, Competition, and Innovation 
Act (42 U.S.C. 19231 et seq.).
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