NOAA's New Plan for Weather Data: A Fresh Approach

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is changing how it buys weather data. Instead of just buying global datasets, NOAA plans to pay more for specific observations, like oil spills or fires. Steve Volz, NOAA's assistant administrator, said this is the future, but it's not ready yet. NOAA usually buys data that anyone can use. This way, they can combine it with their own data and share it widely. But this might not work for all data. Some data might be restricted, which could make things complicated. Satellites are expensive, so companies need to find ways to make money from the data. NOAA knows this and wants to help. They will keep buying global data and respond to events by buying data when they happen. For example, if there's an oil spill, NOAA wants data just about that. They might pay extra for data specific to certain areas, like Florida. This could make the data more valuable for other customers too. NOAA's engineers are figuring out how to buy limited data. They have money from Congress to buy commercial data and test it. They want to buy microwave data for their new satellites and hyperspectral data for space weather models.