Draft Microwave Sounder (MWS) Pilot SOW.pdf

ATTACHMENT 1

Statement of Work

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION 1

II. DATA SPECIFICATION REQUIREMENTS 2

III. THRESHOLD &OBJECTIVE DATA REQUIREMENTS 4

IV. OBSERVATION REQUIREMENTS 5

V. GENERAL MEASUREMENT REQUIREMENTS 6

VI. CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE 6

VII. PERFORMANCE SCHDEDULE 7

VIII. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS 7

IX. DATA RIGHTS 8

I. INTRODUCTION

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources as the Nation’s authoritative environmental intelligence agency.

Passive microwave (MW) measurements are important for numerical weather prediction (NWP), climate modeling, and disaster preparedness. MW sounders provide foundational measurements for atmospheric vertical temperature and moisture profiles as well as land and hydrology measurements. MW sounders (MWS) may also contribute to foundational MW imagery measurements, precipitation, and atmospheric vertical wind profiles.

The backbone of the current global observing system (GOS) of the Earth’s atmosphere for global-scale numerical weather prediction (NWP) is the series of passive remote sensing MW radiometers. The importance of MW radiance observations has been demonstrated numerous times at several weather centers by impact experiments and by regular monitoring of the sensitivity of the short-term forecast error to different observation types (citation: Cardinali, 2009).

The NESDIS Commercial Weather Program (CDP) pursues demonstration projects on behalf of NOAA and assesses the viability of assimilating commercially provided satellite data and products to diversify NOAA’s portfolio of data collection capabilities. Through the CDP, NOAA intends to conduct a commercial weather data pilot (CWDP) study (Pilot Study) that may help

NOAA meet its terrestrial weather mission objectives. For this Pilot Study, NOAA will assess the quality and impact of available commercial microwave sounder observations for the determination of MWS characteristics. NOAA will use Pilot Study data to investigate the utility of MWS products developed by commercial vendors while also addressing the potential benefits of adding multiple MW sounding orbits (vis-a-vis commercial MWS supplemental missions) over the current Government backbone to show improved benefits to NWP as a saturation of these MW observations has not been observed.

II. DATA SPECIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

1. The Contractor for this Pilot Study shall supply MWS observation data and derived products collected on-orbit from one or more satellites. The observation data will primarily be used for the evaluation of commercial MW systems for atmospheric vertical temperature and moisture profiles measurements.

2. The requirements set forth below constitute the specific operational measurement requirements for the Pilot Study. Requirements are categorized as threshold values, representing minimum acceptable levels, and objective values, representing desired levels of performance with increased utility. Threshold and objective requirements specified in this document are not necessarily indicative of requirements that may be developed for future contracts or solicitations.

3. Due to the nature of this Pilot Study as an initial pilot for MWS applications, it is understood that contractors may not be able to meet all objective requirements presented. Contractors proposing to deliver data not meeting an objective requirement during the Pilot Study data delivery period should indicate the nature of the discrepancy, reason for not meeting the requirement, and the expected impact.

4. Data supplied for the Pilot Study are preferred to meet the following requirements:

a. Level 0 data including:

i. Level 0 Telemetry: Raw payload and telemetry from space vehicles.

b. Level 1 data products including:

i. Level-1a Antenna Temperatures: Geolocated antenna temperatures (radiance) in units of kelvins that are time-stamped to UTC and are reported at native spatial resolutions.

ii. Level-1b Brightness Temperatures: Geolocated brightness temperatures (radiance) in units of kelvins that are time-stamped to UTC and are reported at native spatial resolutions.

c. Level 2 data products including:

i. Level-2a Unified Resolution Brightness Temperatures: Geolocated brightness temperature with the water vapor sounding channels converted from their native G-band resolution to the temperature sounding channel (F-band) native resolution (i.e., all measurements at the same unified larger resolution).

ii. Level-2b Atmospheric Vertical Temperature Profiles (AVTP): Vertical retrievals of temperature are made in non-precipitating conditions from surface to 20-km altitude at the F-band spatial resolution in units of kelvins. The retrievals will use the NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) adapted to the vendor’s payload.

iii. Level-2b Atmospheric Vertical Moisture Profiles (AVMP): Vertical retrievals of moisture (i.e., water vapor) are made in non-precipitating conditions from surface to 10-km altitude at the G-band spatial resolution in units of g/kg. The retrievals will use the NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Microwave Integrated Retrieval System (MIRS) adapted to the vendor’s payload.

iv. Level-2b High Resolution Precipitation Rate (HRPR): Retrievals of instantaneous surface rain rate in units of mm/hr at G-band spatial resolution in units of mm/hr.

v. Level-2b Minimum Sea-Level Pressure (MSLP): Tropical cyclone intensity algorithm that estimates MSLP in units of hPa.

vi. Level-2b Maximum Sustained Wind Speed (MSWS): Tropical cyclone intensity algorithm that estimates MSWS in units of m/s.

5. Data delivery shall follow the following processes:

a. The data delivery process along with file naming conventions, data formats, and metadata formats shall follow standard NESDIS methods and protocols. The Contractor shall deliver all files for secure ingest to the NESDIS Common Cloud Framework (NCCF) in accordance with the NCCF Interface Control Document

(ICD).

b. The data descriptor files shall conform to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 19115-1:2014 (content) and ISO 19139 (XML schema) standards, in accordance with the NOAA Environmental Data Management Framework.

c. The data delivery process shall follow NOAA security requirements (see Section

VIII. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS).

III. THRESHOLD & OBJECTIVE DATA REQUIREMENTS:

1. Geophysical Products driving MW Sensor Data Products:

a. Atmospheric Vertical Temperature Profile (AVTP) - All Weather

b. Atmospheric Vertical Moisture Profile (AVMP) - All Weather

c. Precipitation - contributor

d. Atmospheric Vertical Wind Profile - contributor

e. Select Land & Hydrology Products - contributor

2. Table 1, summarized below, includes the MW Sensor data observational parameters that the Contractor shall follow:

Table 1. MW Sensor Data Observational Parameters

Performance Level

Threshold

Objective

Nadir Horizontal Resolution

32 km for Temperature 16 km for Moisture

8 km for Temperature 5 km for Moisture

Vertical Reporting Interval

4 km 2 km

Noise Equivalent Differential Temperature (NEDT)

1.0 K 0.5 K

Calibration Accuracy

1.0 K 0.75 K

Latency

60 minutes

15 minutes

Refresh

6 hours 1 hour

Coverage

Global in 24 hours Global in 6 hours

IV. OBSERVATION REQUIREMENTS

1. Table 2, summarized below, lists the spectral guidance for MW Radiance observations that the Contractor should follow. The Contractor is required to meet some of the following objectives:

Table 2. Spectral Guidance Objectives for MW Radiance Observations

Band Region Name Description Primary Use

MW Window (K, Ka Band)

Cloud, Ice, Precipitation Measure surface emissivity and Total Precipitable Water and cloud

MW Temperature region (T)

V band (50 – 60 GHz) and F band near 118 GHz contain O2 absorptions sensitive to atmospheric profile of temperatures

Vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature; temperature mapping as a function of altitude Includes channels to measure surface temperature

MW Moisture region (M)

G band near 183 GHz is dominated by water vapor absorptions, used for profiling atmospheric water vapor

Vertical profiles of atmospheric moisture and relative humidity; moisture mapping at multiple altitudes

MW Window region (W) (W, G Bands)

Used to sense near earth’s surface and precipitation such as rain and snowfall rate

Improves temperature and moisture sensing near the earth’s surface via sensing surface properties and the scattering signals are unique for acquiring precipitation

MW Window (200 GHz –

300 GHz)

Cloud, Ice, Precipitation Experimental alternative to relatively lower frequencies with higher spatial resolution and better scattering contrast signals

2. Near real-time data with data received less than 1 hour after observation. Continuous data collection with all recorded data provided.

3. All purchased MW sounding observations for the Pilot Study shall be unique and not provided to any U.S. Government agency or affiliate through any other contract with similar licensing (see section IX. DATA RIGHTS). Contractors providing observations for the Pilot Study that are also provided to a U.S. Government agency as per above may include support costs including technical documentation, format specification, data ingest and processing development, data calibration, and engineering/technical support.

V. GENERAL MEASUREMENT REQUIREMENTS

Measurements for the Pilot Study are required to meet the following objective requirements:

1. Data shall be provided only from instruments on satellites with an assigned World Meteorological Organization (WMO) satellite identifier or a unique, internationally recognized identifier such as the COSPAR ID.

2. Satellite attitude quaternions shall be collected concurrently with all data at intervals of 30 seconds or less.

3. All satellite/instrument configuration changes shall be logged and notifications shall be sent to the Government point of contact.

4. The Contractor shall deliver a detailed Level 0 data decoding dictionary for each to-be-delivered Level 0 data type. If delivered in binary format, in addition to the dictionary, the Contractor shall deliver binary decoder software as source code.

5. Metadata shall include, at a minimum, for each satellite/instrument configuration:

a. Satellite mass, satellite coordinate system geometry, center of mass location, external dimensions including any protruding appendages (e.g., solar array, antennae) and, if appropriate, their variation with time (e.g. articulating solar panel).

b. Antenna gain patterns representing the as installed on-orbit configuration for all relevant frequencies, and file format documentation.

c. Measurements of sensor bias and/or drift, if appropriate.

d. Provide data formats, file attributes, and file definitions comparable to the Time- Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) Mission [Refer to the User Guide for TROPICS Data Products].

6. The Contractor shall participate in a post-award kick-off meeting, no later than 2 weeks after award.

VI. CONTRACTING OFFICER’S REPRESENTATIVE

In accordance with CAR Clause 1352.201-72, a Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) will be designated at award. The COR may provide technical direction and has the authority to https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210018318/downloads/TROPICS_UserGuide_base_Sept2023.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20210018318/downloads/TROPICS_UserGuide_base_Sept2023.pdf accept delivery. The COR is not authorized to make any commitments or otherwise obligate the Government or authorize any changes which affect the contract price, terms, or conditions of the award. Any Contractor request for changes shall be referred to the Contracting Officer directly or through the COR. No such changes shall be made without the express written prior authorization of the Contracting Officer.

VII. PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

The Pilot study will be conducted in three phases:

Phase 1: Preparation - 3 months In this initial phase, the Contractor shall supply the necessary technical documentation which may include format specifications, calibration data, and any other information that will be needed to ingest and process the data. Delivery mechanisms and data handling processes will be communicated to the Contractor. The Contractor will provide engineering support as needed to the Government to enable acquisition and processing of the supplied datasets. A delivery of 24-hours of sample data will be required during this phase and used to test and adjust the delivery and data flow process as needed.

Phase 2: Data Delivery - 6 months In this phase, the Contractor shall supply a series of data deliveries for a period of 6 months meeting the requirements specified in this document (see Sections II, III, IV, V, VIII). The start and end date/time of this data delivery period will be coordinated with the CO and COR.

Phase 3: Evaluation - 3 months In this final phase, the Contractor will be available for limited reachback engineering/technical support as needed for problem resolution and technical assistance, as the Government evaluates the supplied dataset.

VIII. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

The Contractor shall comply with CAR 1352.239-72, section (i). The Contractor may request COR approval of alternate security accreditation methodologies for compliance with section (i) including: information security assessment methodology promulgated by the U.S Federal Government (specifically, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication (SP) 800-37 and NIST SP 800- 53), or internationally recognized private industry information technology (IT) security frameworks (such as International Standards Organization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 27033, 27001, 27006 and 27002, or

Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT)). The Contractor will provide an analysis for alternative methodologies compared to SP 800-53 high impact baseline identifying any gaps. The Contractor shall deliver files to NOAA ingest using either Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) (preferred) or Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). The Contractor shall use a data integrity method compliant with the NCCF ICD and approved by

NOAA.

IX. DATA RIGHTS

Per this contract, the Contractor grants NOAA a perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, and create NOAA derived and value-added products with the data, in any manner and for any purpose, and to authorize others to do so on its behalf (including other contractors and recipients of financial assistance awards). NOAA Level-2 data products can be shared after 24 hours (unlimited distribution); vendor source data (L-0 will not be shared).

Furthermore, the Contractor shall provide NOAA the right to distribute all data to all U.S.

Government agencies and foreign government or intergovernmental entities, including National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, WMO-designated Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers, members of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites, university research centers, and other entities responsible for national meteorological, space weather, or hydrological services, immediately after receipt at NOAA, for non-commercial use but not for further distribution.