This bill directs the Secretary of Energy (DOE) and the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to work together on research that uses advanced computing to improve weather, seasonal-to-subseasonal, and climate models. It defines advanced computing techniques to include things like artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, cloud computing, numerical methods, machine learning, data assimilation, large-scale data analytics, predictive techniques, and quantum computing. The agencies must use a memorandum of understanding or other interagency agreement and a competitive, merit-reviewed process that can include Federal agencies, National Laboratories, colleges and universities, and nonprofit groups. Activities allowed include developing new computing methods, making model code run well on different computers, handling large data sets, sharing data and community-developed software (subject to national security rules), and maintaining scientific computing infrastructure.
The bill also creates an "Initiative" led by NOAA with DOE collaboration to develop and test advanced weather models and compare them with current operational models. This Initiative will be run through competitive, merit-reviewed awards and may leverage other interagency work, keep long-term model archives, support workforce training, and share innovations via community activities. DOE may establish up to three centers of excellence at National Laboratories to support model development, software optimization, and public-private partnerships. The Secretary and Administrator may use multi-year contracts. The bill requires two reports to Congress (one joint report after 2 years on coordination and outcomes, and one NOAA report after 2 years evaluating the Initiative). The Initiative authority expires 5 years after enactment. All activities must follow the Research Security provisions named in the bill.
No publicly available information. The bill text does not set or authorize specific funding amounts or an overall budget. It does authorize activities that could involve costs such as research projects, multi-year contracts, centers of excellence at National Laboratories, computing infrastructure, and workforce development, but funding levels and sources are not specified in the text.
Proponents in the bill text emphasize collaboration between NOAA and DOE to use advanced computing to improve model accuracy and resolution, make models run well across different computing systems, handle large data sets, support open community development and data sharing (consistent with security rules), and train the next generation of weather and climate computing workers. The bill highlights competitive, merit-reviewed awards and reporting to Congress to track progress.
No publicly available information.