Improving Communication in the Meteorology Community: The American Meteorological Society’s Commission on the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise

By the late 1990s weather services in the U.S. had experienced decades of evolving policy along with large growth in the scope and diversity of weather and climate related services.  While this evolution and growth were coincident with exciting advances and opportunities, they also led to overlapping roles and occasional friction between the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS) and private sector service providers. In 2001 the NOAA/NWS requested that the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) form a committee to conduct a study and develop a report with recommendations for the community going forward. In 2001 the NRC Committee on Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services was formed and in 2003 the report “Fair Weather: Effective Partnerships in Weather and Climate Services” was published. 

The report focused on the provision of civilian weather and climate services, barriers to communication among the sectors involved (public, private, academic), and opportunities for improving the effectiveness of the weather and climate enterprise.  One recommendation in the report was that “The NWS and relevant academic, state, and private organizations should seek a neutral host, such as the American Meteorological Society, to provide a periodic dedicated venue for the weather enterprise as a whole to discuss issues related to the public-private-academic partnership.” The “enterprise” was defined as encompassing both providers and users of weather and climate data across all three sectors. In January 2005 the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Council established the first new AMS commission in several decades in response to this NRC recommendation.

The charter of the new commission was to 1) develop and implement programs that address the needs and concerns of all three sectors of the Weather and Climate Enterprise, 2) promote a sense of community among the sectors of the Enterprise, 3) foster synergistic links between and among Enterprise sectors, 4) inform and educate user communities on the value of weather and climate information, and 5) provide appropriate venues and opportunities for frank, open, and balanced discussion.

In the 15 years since its creation, this commission has become one of the largest entities within the AMS, organizing and producing a series of popular and useful events and products.  Its charter now includes water, which has been included in its name: The AMS Commission on the Weather, Water, and Climate Enterprise (CWWCE). The CWWCE consists of ~200 volunteer members on four boards and sixteen committees. Chairs and members are drawn from across the enterprise, ensuring balanced representation from all three sectors. CWWCE activities revolve around four key areas: Internal (bringing together the community to discuss and approach consensus on issues of current interest), External (reaching out to the broader user community and identifying business opportunities), Strategic (longer-term enterprise topics), and Global/International.

The formation of the CWWCE has successfully provided the U.S. weather, water, and climate enterprise with increased opportunities for communication and collaboration across all three sectors. This presentation will give a history of the commission, its organization, and the goals and activities of each of its boards. Progress and changes in the commission over time, and examples of successes and lessons learned will be discussed.