Data voids in highly vulnerable areas of the United States

(a) In general The Under Secretary, in coordination with the Director of the National Weather Service and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in consultation with the United States weather industry, academic partners, and in accordance with activities implemented through existing regional atmospheric, coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes observing systems, shall carry out activities to ensure equitable and comprehensive weather observation coverage, impact-based decision support services, and emergency information sharing in the United States, including the following: (1) Identifying regions in the United States and the territories of the United States that are under-observed or highly vulnerable to weather impacts that threaten human life, health, and the economy. (2) Identifying any challenges that contribute to the lack of operations under paragraph (1). (3) Increasing weather observations and developing new weather observational capabilities, such as urban heat island mapping campaigns, with respect to the regions identified under paragraph (1). (4) Establishing or supporting testbeds and deployments of decision-support services to Federal, State, and local emergency operations centers to develop and integrate new weather, water, and climate observation or emergency information sharing tools, with respect to the regions identified under paragraph (1). (5) To the maximum extent practicable, advancing weather and water forecasting and climate modeling capabilities for the regions identified under paragraph (1). (6) Undertaking workforce development efforts for emergency management officials and meteorologists in the regions identified under paragraph (1). (7) Using data-void-filling observations to better resolve extreme rainfall in complex topography. (8) Contributing to a national integrated heat health information system. (b) Interagency partnership To support pilot projects In carrying out this section, the Under Secretary, acting through the Director of the National Weather Service and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, shall establish an interagency partnership to support pilot projects that accelerate coordination and use of localized weather data in infrastructure and emergency management decisions by Federal, State, and local officials. (c) Priority At least one pilot project under subsection (b) shall address key science challenges to using mesonet data in local decision making and development of new tools and training for owners and operators of critical infrastructure (as such term is defined in section 1016(e) of Public Law 107–56 (42 U.S.C. 5195c(e))), such as dams, energy generation and distribution facilities, nuclear power plants, and transportation networks.