toring component of the disaster warning system to sense public response 

 to the warnings and modify it in the light of public response. 



Turning to the internal functioning of the National Weather Service, 

 also discussed in detail in the Report of the Agnes Panel, we believe 

 great improvement is possible by accelerating the application of existing 

 communications and automation technology and procedures by NOAA. 

 Furthemiore, this capability is necessary to improved warning delivery. 

 The two go hand-in-hand. 



The exciting prospects which can now be provided by modern technology 

 can be seen in the concept for the Automation of Field Operations and 

 Services (AFOS). Its objective is to bring about maximum automation 

 of the myriad of routine tasks now done manually. 



In general, much of the technology applied today in the field services 

 of the NWS is of pre- World War II vintage. It is true that weather radar 

 is in widespread use, and that the radar data are increasingly distributed 

 by slow-scan facsimile. It is also true that the observer is assisted by such 

 modem weather observing instrumentation as ceilometers and trans- 

 missometers, but he still reads dials, records his observation in his own 

 handwriting, and often cuts his own paper tape for transmission over 

 teletype circuits. It is true that the forecaster has access to the output 

 from sophisticated numerical weather prediction models run on some of 

 the world's most powerful computers. But, to find whether rain has fallen 

 in the next State in the last three hours, he may have to sort through 

 many feet of teletype paper. The impact of significant advances in atmos- 

 pheric sciences, and in exciting new observing techniques, such as the 

 use of satellites, is dulled by the limitations imposed by the use of out- 

 moded data handling and communications techniques. This is in spite 

 of revolutionary advances in the state of the art in information handling 

 and communications. 



Perhaps the most striking paradox in the National Weather Service 

 operations today can be seen by comparing its National Meteorological 

 Center (NMC) with some aspects of its field operations. NMC is at the 

 forefront in applying the science of meteorology and numerical techniques 

 to day-to-day forecasting problems. In doing so, it is also pushing the state 

 of the art in large-scale computer systems. As a direct result, the com- 

 puter-generated 48-hour forecasts produced today have roughly the same 

 validity or are just as useful as the 24-hour forecasts that were produced 

 only a few years ago. On the other hand, in many of its field operations, 

 surface observations are taken and recorded manually even though remark- 

 able strides have been made in development of automatic weather stations. 



The heart of the field portion of the proposed AFOS concept is the 

 minicomputer and TV display equipped Weather Service Forecast Office 

 (WSFO). The computer and display system will support the WSFO fore- 



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