From July 14-16, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and the University of Reading held the inaugural Joint US-UK Symposium on Emerging Technologies for High Impact Weather in Reading, UK. Through this collaboration, AOML sought to bring together subject matter experts from the government, academia, and industry on both sides of the Atlantic.
The participants in this symposium shared cutting edge research and discussed coordinated approaches to addressing gaps in observing systems and improving the prediction of high-impact weather events (including tropical and mid-latitude cyclones). The focus was to explore novel technologies uniquely suited to gather critical data in regions that are difficult or dangerous to reach.
The first two days of the symposium featured speakers from AOML, University of Reading, UK Met Office, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, NOAA’s Environmental Modeling Center, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements, Oshen, Skyfora, Voltitude, StratoSolutions, Menapia, Sparv, Black Swift Technologies, and Dragoon.
On the last day, attendees participated in a real-world data collection event featuring platforms from emerging technology industry leaders. Skyfora launched a StreamSonde atmospheric profiler by attaching it to a weather balloon and Voltitude engineers showcased their next-generation, high-altitude, long endurance solar powered balloon system.
NOAA AOML’s Emerging Technologies Team intends to convene future annual symposiums and data collection events highlighting targeted areas of emerging technologies while broadening focus regions, applications, and collaborations.
AOML extends a special thanks to the US-UK Symposium Planning Team: Dr. Keri Nicoll, Associate Professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, Paul Stevens and Ray Chan of Voltitude and StratoSolutions, and AOML’s Dr. Joseph Cione, Annette Hollingshead, and Laura Chaibongsai.