Ensures that NOAA safely archives critical data and information according to National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) standards.

Metric calculated as the percent of Climate Prediction Center extended range temperature and precipitation outlooks (outlooks out to 14 days) exceeding Heidke Skill Score (HSS) of 10 (10% better than a climatological forecast). To better track results, three individual metrics are tracked – 1) All forecasts combined, 2) Temperature only, and 3) Precipitation only.

Days-At-Sea (DAS) is the unit used to annually plan mission time aboard NOAA ships. Approximately 100 survey and research missions are planned and executed each year. A DAS is a day is which the ship is underway, under its own power, for greater than one hour, conducting mission operations, training, sea trials, or calibration. Also included are days in which hydrographic ships are not underway but are conducting operations aboard one or more ship-based launches.

Americans live in the most severe weather-prone country on Earth. StormReady Communities support a Weather-Ready Nation by preparing for the occurrence of high impact environmental events. On an annual basis NWS targets 100 new StormReady Communities pending funding availability.

StormReady supports NWS’ disaster risk reduction strategy and is offered to provide guidance and incentive to officials who want to improve their hazardous weather and flood operations. A long-term goal for the program is to make every county or county-equivalent in the United States StormReady. The 2010 U.S. Census identifies 3,234 county or county-equivalents in the United States. We are 34 percent of the way there with 1,092 county or county-equivalents currently recognized as StormReady. A StormReady Community is defined as a local government* entity or facility** that has the authority and ability to adopt the StormReady recognition guidelines for the residents and visitors within its jurisdiction.

*The term “local government” means –
(A) A county, parish, borough, municipality, city, town, township, local public authority, school district, special district, intrastate district, council of governments (regardless of whether the council of governments is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation under State law), regional or interstate government entity, or agency or instrumentality of a local government;
(B) An Indian tribe or authorized tribal organization, or Alaska Native village or organization; and
a rural community, unincorporated town or village, or other public entity, which has the ability to achieve StormReady recognition.
**The term “facility” for a StormReady community exclusively means - universities, military installations, state/national parks, power plants/utilities, transportation centers (e.g., airports), theme parks/entertainment complex, and large event venues (e.g. stadiums).

Metric calculated as the percent of Climate Prediction Center long range temperature and precipitation outlooks (monthly and seasonal outlooks) exceeding Heidke Skill Score (HSS) of 10 (10% better than a climatological forecast). Due to the scarcity of long range outlooks (six per month), scores are smoothed over a three year period. To better track results, three individual metrics are tracked – 1) All forecasts combined, 2) Temperature only, and 3) Precipitation only.

The measure is a proxy for the useful forecast lead time of the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) beyond the current forecasts skill (9.5 days) and is computed over the range of forecast days. Extending lead time in prediction of future weather events allows people to make informed choices and enables protection of life, property, and enhancement of the National economy. The 500 hPA Anomaly Correlation will be used.

This measures the accuracy of wave height forecasts, which are important for marine commerce. Accuracy is defined in terms of error. For the Day 1 wave height forecast, errors less than 2 feet are defined as accurate. Since FY 2014, a higher threshold of forecast errors has been used to define correct forecasts whenever higher waves have occurred. Hence, all wave height forecasts with errors less than (4 feet, 6 feet) are accurate forecasts when the observed wave height equals or exceeds (10 feet, 20 feet) respectively. This measure uses complex skill scores to analyze individual wave height components.

For the Day 1 wave height forecast, errors less than 2 feet are defined as accurate. Since FY 2014, a higher threshold of forecast errors has been used to define correct forecasts whenever higher waves have occurred. Hence, all wave height forecasts with errors less than (4 feet, 6 feet) are accurate forecasts when the observed wave height equals or exceeds (10 feet, 20 feet) respectively.

This measure uses complex skill scores to analyze individual wave height components.

The Argo program is responsible for providing real-time data for the upper 2000m of ocean heat content globally and for important regions like the Tropical Pacific for detection of El Nino.

The indicator shows the overall growth, in petaflops (PF), of the operational and research and development High Performance Computing capability. Our current enterprise supplies 16PF to support modeling requirements across NOAA. Growth in capacity will lessen the gap in current modeling requirement and provide additional capability to the modeling community within NOAA.

The measure is the cumulative number of instances of NOAA datasets made openly available via partners' cloud platforms through collaborations with selected industry partners.