The Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) was established in 2021, and extends cooperative programs between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Oklahoma (OU), which has continued uninterrupted since 1978.
CIWRO provides a partnership that links the scientific and technical resources of OU and NOAA. CIWRO scientists and students conduct research in weather radar and operations, mesoscale and stormscale modeling, forecast applications improvements, subseasonal-to-seasonal prediction for extreme weather events, and social and socio-economic impacts of weather in coordination with federal scientists across NOAA labs and line offices. CIWRO is one of 16 NOAA Cooperative Institutes. The partnership between the University of Oklahoma and NOAA fosters fundmental and applied research in diverse fields and provides NOAA the opportunity to engage with university knowledge and resources while allowing for students and university researchers direct experience in focused research and research to operations transitions.
CIWRO research contributes to the NOAA mission by improving the observation, analysis, understanding, and prediction of weather elements and systems and climate anomalies ranging in size from cloud nuclei to multi-state areas. The continued advances in observational and analytical techniques lead to an improved understanding of the evolution and structure of these phenomena that provides more accurate prediction of hazardous weather and anomalous regional climate. This in turn contributes to improved social and economic welfare. Because small-, meso-, and regional-scale phenomena are important causes and manifestations of climate, CIWRO research furthers the understanding of the global climate system and regional climate variability. Altogether CIWRO promotes collaboration between researchers at OU and those within NOAA, by providing a center where these two groups may work together to learn about, and apply their knowledge of, mesoscale weather and regional-scale climate processes.
CIWRO research is organized by five key themes set by NOAA Cooperative Institute Administrative Office:
To accelerate the transfer of knowledge between the meteorological and engineering communities (in academia, and government and private laboratories) to improve the design, usability, and supportability of the NEXRAD WSR-88D Doppler weather radar.
To understand cloud and mesoscale dynamics, microphysics and the precipitation process and their relationships to large and small scale forcing, and to develop procedures for assimilation of meteorological data into simulation and prediction models of these processes. The work done here represents a fundamental building block for eventual applied techniques.
To accelerate the transfer of research knowledge and skills between the academic and NOAA operational meteorological communities to both improve the design and utilization of weather observing systems and improve weather analysis, prediction and warning products.
To extend and apply the understanding of mesoscale processes to the problem of climate maintenance and change and S2S predictability in the context of extreme events.
To estimate the societal and socioeconomic impacts and values of stormscale and mesoscale high-impact weather systems and regional-scale climate variations of extreme events to facilitate the mitigation (enhancement) of the adverse (beneficial) impacts.
In 2021, CIWRO added four consortium members to their cooperative institute to strengthen the research enterprise for severe and high impact weather research. Learn more about our consortium partners below.
CIWRO researchers work with NOAA colleguages and across multiple research labratories, centers, and offices. Learn more about out NOAA partners below.
CIWRO research staff support their research through external funding from a diverse range of sources. Learn more about our external partners below.
