Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB322 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 322
5	5	To improve the lead time, accuracy, and dissemination of forecasts of
6	6	atmospheric rivers throughout the United States, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	JANUARY29, 2025
9	9	Mr. P
10	10	ADILLA(for himself and Ms. MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
12	12	Science, and Transportation
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To improve the lead time, accuracy, and dissemination of
15	15	forecasts of atmospheric rivers throughout the United
16	16	States, and for other purposes.
17	17	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
18	18	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
19	19	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
20	20	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Atmos-4
21	21	pheric River Forecasts Act’’. 5
22	22	SEC. 2. ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS FORECAST IMPROVEMENT 6
23	23	PROGRAM. 7
24	24	(a) I
25	25	NGENERAL.—The Under Secretary, in collabo-8
26	26	ration with the weather enterprise in the United States 9
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30	30	and institutions of higher education, shall establish an at-1
31	31	mospheric river forecast improvement program (in this 2
32	32	section referred to as the ‘‘program’’). 3
33	33	(b) P
34	34	ROGRAMELEMENTS.—In carrying out the pro-4
35	35	gram, the Under Secretary shall seek to reduce the loss 5
36	36	of life and property and economic losses from atmospheric 6
37	37	rivers through the development and extension of, and re-7
38	38	search on, accurate, effective, and actionable forecasts and 8
39	39	warnings, including by— 9
40	40	(1) establishing quantitative atmospheric river 10
41	41	forecast skill metrics that include the benefits of dy-11
42	42	namical modeling, data assimilation, and machine 12
43	43	learning improvements in the probabilistic forecasts 13
44	44	of landfall location, extreme wind and precipitation, 14
45	45	and cascading impacts; 15
46	46	(2) developing an atmospheric river forecast 16
47	47	system within a unified forecast system, and advanc-17
48	48	ing next-generation coupled modeling systems, with 18
49	49	the capability of providing seasonal to short-range 19
50	50	atmospheric river forecasts that include forecasts of 20
51	51	snow accumulation and other hydrologic compo-21
52	52	nents; 22
53	53	(3) advancing scientific understanding of the 23
54	54	roles of atmospheric rivers in subseasonal-to-sea-24
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58	58	sonal precipitation and probabilistic predictions at 1
59	59	subseasonal and seasonal scales; 2
60	60	(4) developing tools and improved forecast 3
61	61	products to predict periods of active or inactive at-4
62	62	mospheric river landfalls and inland penetration over 5
63	63	the United States with a focus on addressing stake-6
64	64	holder and public needs related to perceiving, com-7
65	65	prehending, and responding to atmospheric river 8
66	66	forecast improvements; 9
67	67	(5) enhancing the transition of research to op-10
68	68	erations through the testbeds of the National Oce-11
69	69	anic and Atmospheric Administration, including the 12
70	70	evaluation of physical and social science, technology, 13
71	71	and other research to develop products and services 14
72	72	for implementation and use by relevant stakeholders; 15
73	73	and 16
74	74	(6) incorporating social, behavioral, risk, com-17
75	75	munication, and economic sciences, including by col-18
76	76	lecting voluntary data regarding hazardous weather 19
77	77	or water events. 20
78	78	(c) I
79	79	NNOVATIVEOBSERVATIONS, DATAASSIMILA-21
80	80	TION, ANDMODELING.—The Under Secretary shall en-22
81	81	sure the program periodically examines, tests, and evalu-23
82	82	ates the value of incorporating innovative observations, 24
83	83	such as observations from radar, observations from crewed 25
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87	87	or uncrewed aircraft, novel airborne and satellite-based 1
88	88	measurements, data from ocean buoys, data from soil 2
89	89	moisture monitoring systems, reservoir storage data, ob-3
90	90	servations from mesonets, or any observations, measure-4
91	91	ments, or data from other emerging technologies, with re-5
92	92	spect to the improvement of atmospheric river analyses, 6
93	93	modeling, forecasts, predictions, and warnings. 7
94	94	(d) I
95	95	MPROVEDMODELING.— 8
96	96	(1) I
97	97	N GENERAL.—Under the program, the 9
98	98	Under Secretary may improve modeling for precipi-10
99	99	tation forecasts, with an emphasis on forecasting for 11
100	100	complex terrain. 12
101	101	(2) I
102	102	MPROVED PRECIPITATION FORECASTS .— 13
103	103	Improved precipitation forecasts pursuant to im-14
104	104	proved modeling under paragraph (1) should support 15
105	105	improved water resource management and resilience 16
106	106	to extreme water-related events, from floods to 17
107	107	drought, which may include the use of enhanced 18
108	108	streamflow prediction. 19
109	109	(3) E
110	110	LEMENTS.—In improving modeling under 20
111	111	paragraph (1), the Under Secretary may— 21
112	112	(A) develop, test, and operationalize proto-22
113	113	type high-resolution Atmospheric River Analysis 23
114	114	and Forecasting System models through a re-24
115	115	search and operations partnership with partners 25
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119	119	outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 1
120	120	Administration; 2
121	121	(B) enhance data assimilation of current 3
122	122	and new satellite and ocean observations; 4
123	123	(C) improve data processing techniques; 5
124	124	(D) use artificial intelligence and machine 6
125	125	learning methods as applicable; 7
126	126	(E) ensure the surface and subsurface ob-8
127	127	servations of the ocean meet the needs of at-9
128	128	mospheric river analysis and forecasting pre-10
129	129	dictions on time scales from days, to weeks, to 11
130	130	months, to seasons; and 12
131	131	(F) improve or establish baseline weather 13
132	132	monitoring service in areas that have histori-14
133	133	cally experienced, or are predicted to experi-15
134	134	ence, atmospheric rivers. 16
135	135	(e) A
136	136	TMOSPHERICRIVERRECONNAISSANCE.— 17
137	137	(1) I
138	138	N GENERAL.—The Under Secretary shall 18
139	139	acquire and sustain adequate crewed and uncrewed 19
140	140	aircraft, scientific equipment, and personnel nec-20
141	141	essary to meet mission requirements annually from 21
142	142	November 1 through March 31 to— 22
143	143	(A) ensure atmospheric river air reconnais-23
144	144	sance observations are available throughout the 24
145	145	expected seasons of atmospheric rivers; 25
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149	149	(B) meet air reconnaissance and research 1
150	150	mission requirements of the National Oceanic 2
151	151	and Atmospheric Administration, including with 3
152	152	respect to tropical cyclones, high-impact weath-4
153	153	er, sea ice, atmospheric chemistry, climate, air 5
154	154	quality for public health, fire weather research 6
155	155	and operations, and other missions, including 7
156	156	marine animal surveys, post-damage surveys, 8
157	157	and coastal erosion reconnaissance; 9
158	158	(C) ensure data and information collected 10
159	159	by the aircraft are made available to all users 11
160	160	for research and operations purposes; 12
161	161	(D) participate in the research and oper-13
162	162	ations partnership that guides flight planning 14
163	163	and uses research methods to improve and ex-15
164	164	pand the capabilities and effectiveness of atmos-16
165	165	pheric river reconnaissance over time; 17
166	166	(E) develop data management strategies to 18
167	167	ensure that data and metadata are adequately 19
168	168	stewarded, maintained, and archived in accord-20
169	169	ance with collective benefit, authority to control, 21
170	170	responsibility, and ethics principles (commonly 22
171	171	known as ‘‘CARE’’ principles), findable, acces-23
172	172	sible, interoperable, and reusable principles 24
173	173	(commonly known as ‘‘FAIR’’ principles), and 25
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177	177	the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policy-1
178	178	making Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–435; 132 2
179	179	Stat. 5529) and the amendments made by that 3
180	180	Act, and preserve and curate such data and 4
181	181	metadata in accordance with chapter 31 of title 5
182	182	44, United States Code (commonly known as 6
183	183	the ‘‘Federal Records Act of 1950’’); 7
184	184	(F) maintain or establish within the Office 8
185	185	of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research not fewer 9
186	186	than one atmospheric river observatory, which 10
187	187	shall include water vapor flux analyses and 11
188	188	forecasts, radar and disdrometer precipitation 12
189	189	analyses, and snow level radars in all States 13
190	190	along the West Coast of the United States, in-14
191	191	cluding Alaska, to ensure equal and comprehen-15
192	192	sive coverage of that region; and 16
193	193	(G) undertake such other additional activi-17
194	194	ties as the Under Secretary, in consultation 18
195	195	with the Secretary of the Air Force, considers 19
196	196	appropriate to improve and grow the atmos-20
197	197	pheric river reconnaissance mission. 21
198	198	(f) I
199	199	MPROVEDATMOSPHERICRIVERHAZARDCOM-22
200	200	MUNICATION.—Under the program, the Under Secretary 23
201	201	shall consider research and development activities to— 24
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205	205	(1) as appropriate, develop and refine methods 1
206	206	to categorize the intensity of atmospheric rivers on 2
207	207	a quantitative scale and the impacts of such a scale 3
208	208	in hazard communication; 4
209	209	(2) develop best practices for communication of 5
210	210	atmospheric river events and hazards across regions 6
211	211	of the United States; 7
212	212	(3) gather information from areas prone to at-8
213	213	mospheric rivers regarding levels of knowledge and 9
214	214	preparedness, including responses to early forecasts 10
215	215	and warnings by the National Oceanic and Atmos-11
216	216	pheric Administration; and 12
217	217	(4) explore strategies and effectiveness of com-13
218	218	municating that atmospheric river events are bene-14
219	219	ficial at lower intensities versus hazardous at higher 15
220	220	intensities. 16
221	221	(g) P
222	222	ROGRAMPLAN.—Not later than 270 days after 17
223	223	the date of the enactment of this Act, the Under Sec-18
224	224	retary, in consultation with the Secretary of the Air Force 19
225	225	or the Commander of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance 20
226	226	Squadron of the Air Force Reserve Command, shall— 21
227	227	(1) develop a plan that details the specific re-22
228	228	search, development, data acquisition, partnerships 23
229	229	with institutions of higher education, and technology 24
230	230	transfer activities, as well as corresponding resources 25
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234	234	and timelines, necessary to achieve the goals of the 1
235	235	program under subsection (b); 2
236	236	(2) submit that plan to the Committee on Com-3
237	237	merce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 4
238	238	and the Committee on Science, Space, and Tech-5
239	239	nology of the House of Representatives; and 6
240	240	(3) make that plan available to the public. 7
241	241	(h) D
242	242	EFINITIONS.—In this section: 8
243	243	(1) I
244	244	NSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION .—The 9
245	245	term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 10
246	246	meaning given that term in section 101(a) of the 11
247	247	Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a)). 12
248	248	(2) S
249	249	EASONAL; SUBSEASONAL; UNDER SEC-13
250	250	RETARY; WEATHER ENTERPRISE .—The terms ‘‘sea-14
251	251	sonal’’, ‘‘subseasonal’’, ‘‘Under Secretary’’, and 15
252	252	‘‘weather enterprise’’ have the meanings given those 16
253	253	terms in section 2 of the Weather Research and 17
254	254	Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017 (15 U.S.C. 18
255	255	8501). 19
256	256	Æ
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