§8541 Environmental Information Services Working Group

Summary

Creates and keeps a standing group inside NOAA’s Science Advisory Board called the Environmental Information Services Working Group. It must advise NOAA on which weather research to fund to make forecasts better, suggest useful private or academic technologies or methods for the National Weather Service, find ways to improve communication between forecasters, emergency managers, and the public, and help NOAA work better with private and academic partners. It also works on other tasks the Science Advisory Board asks. The group must have no fewer than 15 experts from relevant fields (for example, meteorology, hydrology, computer science, and social science). It may form subpanels and pick a chair or co-chairs with the Science Advisory Board’s OK. At least once a year the group sends a progress report through the Science Advisory Board to the Under Secretary, who must send the report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology within 30 days of getting it.