15 U.S.C. § 8549 — Hurricane hunter aircraft

Page 2442 TITLE 15—COMMERCE AND TRADE § 8549 (b) Outreach community In conducting outreach under subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall contact leading ex- perts and innovators from relevant stake- holders, including the representatives from the following: (1) State or local emergency management agencies. (2) State agriculture agencies. (3) Indian tribes (as defined in section 5304 of title 25) and Native Hawaiians (as defined in section 7517 of title 20). (4) The private aerospace industry. (5) The private earth observing industry. (6) The operational forecasting community. (7) The academic community. (8) Professional societies that focus on mete- orology. (9) Such other stakeholder groups as the Under Secretary considers appropriate. (Pub. L. 115–25, title IV, § 412, Apr. 18, 2017, 131 Stat. 113.) § 8549. Hurricane hunter aircraft (a) Backup capability The Under Secretary shall acquire backup for the capabilities of the WP–3D Orion and G–IV hurricane aircraft of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is sufficient to prevent a single point of failure. (b) Authority to enter agreements In order to carry out subsection (a), the Under Secretary shall negotiate and enter into 1 or more agreements or contracts, to the extent practicable and necessary, with governmental and non-governmental entities. (c) Future technology The Under Secretary shall continue the devel- opment of Airborne Phased Array Radar under the United States Weather Research Program. (d) Authorization of appropriations For each of fiscal years 2017 through 2020, sup- port for implementing subsections (a) and (b) is authorized out of funds appropriated to the Of- fice of Marine and Aviation Operations. (Pub. L. 115–25, title IV, § 413, Apr. 18, 2017, 131 Stat. 114.) § 8550. Improvements to Cooperative Observer Program of National Weather Service (a) In general The Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, acting through the National Weather Service, shall improve the Cooperative Observer Program by— (1) providing support to— (A) State-coordinated programs relating to the Program; and (B) States and regions where observations provided through the Program are scarce; (2) working with State weather service head- quarters to increase participation in the Pro- gram and to add stations in States and regions described in paragraph (1)(B); (3) where feasible, ensuring that data streams from stations that have been contrib- uting data to the Program for more than 50 years are maintained and continually staffed by volunteers; (4) prioritizing the recruitment of new vol- unteers for the Program; (5) ensuring that opportunities exist for automated reporting to lessen the burden on volunteers to collect and report data by hand; and (6) ensuring that integrated reporting is available for qualitative observations that cannot be automated, such as drought condi- tions, snow observations, and hazardous weather events, to ensure that volunteers in the Program can report and upload observa- tions quickly and easily. (b) Coordination with States and regions Not less frequently than every 180 days, the National Weather Service shall coordinate with State and regional offices with respect to the status of Cooperative Observer Program sta- tions. (c) Coordination with Federal agencies The National Weather Service shall coordinate with other Federal agencies, including the For- est Service, the Department of Agriculture, and the United States Geological Survey, to lever- age opportunities to grow the Cooperative Ob- server Program network and to more effectively use existing infrastructure, weather stations, and staff of the Program. (Pub. L. 115–423, § 8, Jan. 7, 2019, 132 Stat. 5461.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION This section was enacted as part of the National Inte- grated Drought Information System Reauthorization Act of 2018, and not as part of the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 which com- prises this chapter. SUBCHAPTER IV—IMPROVING FEDERAL PRECIPITATION INFORMATION § 8561. Study on precipitation estimation (a) In general Not later than 90 days after December 16, 2022, the Administrator, in consultation with other Federal agencies as appropriate, shall seek to enter an agreement with the National Acad- emies— (1) to conduct a study on the state of prac- tice and research needs for precipitation esti- mation, including probable maximum precipi- tation estimation; and (2) to submit, not later than 24 months after the date on which such agreement is finalized, to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate, and make publicly available on a website, a report on the results of the study under paragraph (1). (b) Study The report under subsection (a) shall include the following: (1) An examination of the current state of practice for precipitation estimation at scales