[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52649-52650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20513]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; Weather and Society Survey, and Using Quick Response Surveys 
To Build a Public Perception and Response Database

AGENCY: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, revised request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment 
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before November 22, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to 
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, at [email protected]. Please 
reference OMB Control Number 0648-xxxx in the subject line of your 
comments. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise 
sensitive or protected information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Nicole Kurkowski, R2O Team Lead, DOC/NOAA/NWS/OSTI, 1325 East-West 
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301.427.9104, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    A notice of request for a new information collection was previously 
published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2021 (86 FR 46681) 
regarding this collection. This revised notice incorporates an 
additional collection of information and this notice will allow for an 
additional 60 days for public comment.
    In alignment with the Weather Forecasting and Innovation Act of 
2017 (Pub. L. 115-25), two data collections are proposed under this 
request. There are no other collections for which these can be merged.
    The first proposed information collection request is sponsored by 
DOC/NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS)/Office of Science and 
Technology Integration (OSTI). Currently, NOAA lacks data and data 
collection instruments that articulate and explicate how individuals 
receive, interpret, and respond to NOAA information, forecasts, and 
warnings for severe, winter, and tropical weather hazards. Furthermore, 
NOAA lacks this type of data longitudinally (i.e., collected over 
time). Without this type of longitudinal data, NOAA, and the NWS 
specifically, cannot determine if it has met its mission of saving 
lives and property, propose societal impact performance metrics, nor 
demonstrate if progress or improvements have been made, as outlined in 
the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. This 
effort aims to advance the Tornado Warning Improvement and Extension 
Program (TWIEP)'s goal to ``reduce the loss of life and economic losses 
from tornadoes through the development and extension of accurate, 
effective, and timely tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings, 
including the prediction of tornadoes beyond one hour in advance (Pub. 
L. 115-25)''. This work addresses NOAA's 5-year Research and 
Development Vision Areas (2020-2026) Section 1.4 (FACETs). The Weather 
and Society Survey also advances the findings of the National Academy 
of Science 2012 report, ``Assessment of the NWS Modernization 
Program'', in reference to NWS' ``chain of events associated with a 
tornado warning'' (p52). This effort also advances the NWS Strategic 
Plan (2019-2022) ``Transformative Impact-Based Decision Support 
Services (IDSS) and Research to Operations and Operations to Research 
(R2O/O2R). Furthermore, the Survey furthers the NWS Weather Ready 
Nation (WRN) Roadmap (2013) Sections 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.8, and 
3.1.4.
    This information would be collected at the Cooperative Institute 
for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) and the University of 
Oklahoma's Center for Risk and Crisis Management (CRCM), who has 
developed data collection instruments that would allow for more routine 
and longitudinal data collection, as the data will be collected on an 
annual basis. Furthermore, this team has developed interactive 
``dashboards'', or tools, to visualize the aggregated data.

[[Page 52650]]

    Respondents include adults (age 18+) who reside in the United 
States, recruited by survey companies that maintain large panels of 
people who sign up to complete internet surveys, such as Qualtrics and 
Survey Sampling International. Respondents will be asked questions 
about the ways they have received, interpreted, and responded to NWS 
information, forecasts, and warnings for severe, tropical, and winter 
weather hazards. Questions about preparedness for specific hazards such 
as heat waves, tornadoes, and drought may also be included. This data 
collection serves many purposes, including gaining a better 
understanding of how key factors within a given population, or 
organization, vary over time, location, and across different groups; 
the ability to detect gradual trends or abrupt changes in those factors 
over time or in response to particular events; and the potential to 
explore possible correlations and causal relationships with other 
observed variables of interest. These data will be used by the OSTI in 
NWS to develop a baseline and performance metrics to improve the 
information and services it provides and to help members of the weather 
enterprise answer basic questions about the people in the communities 
they serve, which is a necessary step towards customizing and improving 
risk communication, education, and decision support to meet the 
characteristics of the community, including those in vulnerable 
populations. The information collected will help identify differences 
and best practices between communities and assist NWS in developing new 
education and risk communication strategies. The survey data and its 
associated dashboard will serve as interactive tools to allow NWS 
forecasters, partners, and policymakers to access and explore data for 
training and performance evaluation purposes.
    The second proposed collection is sponsored through NOAA's FY2021 
Weather Program Office's Social Science Program, and addresses the 
Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBES) component of meeting 
NOAA's Research and Development (R&D) Vision Areas (2020-2026) to 
integrate SBES into products, tools, and services that improve weather 
and air quality forecasting and societal outcomes.
    This proposal aims to create an online survey system for collecting 
data on the publics' perception and response to four different hazards: 
Tornados, thunderstorm winds over 70 miles per hour (mph), flash 
floods, and winter weather. The online surveys will be the building 
blocks for a multi-year, cross-sectional database on human perception 
and response. The survey system will enable individual National Weather 
Service Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) to disseminate Quick Response 
Surveys (QRS) soon after a hazardous event occurs to collect perishable 
data on the publics' perceptions and response. Select WFOs will 
distribute the QRSs using web links on NWS social media and core 
partners' social media or email lists. Surveys will ask the public 
questions on timing, location, weather information sources, motivations 
and influences for taking protective action to gain insights into how 
NWS warning communications interact with these factors to result in 
protective action behaviors.

II. Method of Collection

    For the first collection, the primary method of data collection 
will be a web-based survey interface. Specific questions in the surveys 
determine how members of the U.S. public receive, comprehend, and 
respond to severe, tropical, and winter weather related information. 
Furthermore, these survey items will be translated to Spanish.
    The second collection will include online surveys to be implemented 
and aggregated using Qualtrics survey software. The surveys will be 
displayed on a desktop, tablet or mobile device allowing the public to 
take the survey whenever they have internet access. Select WFOs will 
distribute the QRSs using web links on NWS social media and core 
partners' social media or email lists.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0648-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Review: Regular (New information collection).
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 101,000.
    Estimated Time per Response: Response time varies depending on the 
survey instrument, but the typical response time is between 10 and 20 
minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 7,667.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: None.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: 15 U.S.C. Ch. 111, Weather Research and 
Forecasting Information.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request 
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone 
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in 
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including 
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available 
at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your 
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot 
guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-20513 Filed 9-21-21; 8:45 am]
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