Water Resources Development Act data acquisition

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law summary: "Shall be for data acquisition activities pursuant to section 511(b) of the Water Resources Development Act of 2020 (division AA of Public Law 116–260)."

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds NOAA with $25M over a three-year period (FY23-25) to establish the Soil Moisture and Snowpack Monitoring Pilot Program (SMPP) under the National Mesonet Program. After the historic 2011 flooding in the Missouri River basin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and various basin agencies developed a framework to increase observing capabilities in the UMRB.

Under the SMPP, the National Weather Service (NWS) will fund data access for all stakeholders, such as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), National Drought Mitigation Center drought monitor and outlooks, NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), and the various state climate offices monitoring conditions in the Missouri River Basin. Additionally, NWS will undertake major upgrades to its Meteorological Assimilation and Data Ingest System (MADIS) for ingest, dissemination, visualization, and analysis of the UMRB observational data.  

Additionally, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Soil Moisture and Snowpack Pilot Program, NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is provided an additional $1M over a four-year period (FY22-25) to conduct a study to utilize data obtained through the SMPP to examine:

• The contribution of soil moisture, snowpack, and other relevant data generated by the network to weather, subseasonal and seasonal, and climate forecasting products on the local regional, and national levels 
• The enhancements made to NIDIS, the National Water Model, the USDM, and other relevant national modeling efforts, using data and derived data products generated by the network 
• The contribution of data generated by the network to remote sensing products and approaches 
• The viability of the ownership and operational structure of the network

 $25M over 3 years beginning in FY 2023

• Funding will likely be distributed internally, therefore no external funding opportunity is expected at this time.