Justification - Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING)

Project Title: Meteorological Phenomena Identification Near the Ground (mPING)

Program Office Sponsoring or Conducting this CSC Project: OAR/National Severe Storms Lab

Authority for this CSC Project: WRFIA and CCSA

Purpose of this CSC Project: This project obtains meteorological observation data to help support NOAA's research and operational hydrometeorological activities.

Type(s) of Information Collected and From Whom It Is Collected: This project collects information about the type of precipitation being observed by a member of the public at their location for a specific date/time.

Use of the Information: The data immediately go into a database at NSSL and are displayed on a map that is accessible to everyone. In addition, mPING data are also used to improve weather computer models, predict ground icing for road maintenance, and for aviation operations to predict the potential for in-flight icing. Many NWS forecast offices display the data on large monitors and use the reports to fine-tune their forecasts.

Method(s) of Information Collection: Electronically via an app.

Affected Public: Individuals

Estimated Average Annual Number of Responses: 380,000

Estimated Average Annual Number of Participants: 66,324

Estimated Average Annual Number of Responses per Participant: 5.73

Estimated Average Minutes per Response: 1

Estimated Average Annual Burden Hours: 6,333

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Participants in this CSC Project: $0

Estimated Average Annual Costs to the Federal Government: $63,379

Estimated Average Annual Number of Federal Government Employees (FTEs): 0.05

Recruitment and Retention Methods for Voluntary Participants (SSA item 1): Participants are recruited primarily via NOAA social media posts.

Gifts or Payments (SSA Item 9): We do not plan to provide a gift or payment to the voluntary participants.

Annual and Multi-Year Schedules (SSA Item 16): Data are collected on an ongoing basis and published as received.

Display OMB Control No. and Expiration Date (SSA Item 17): This information will be provided when individuals sign up to participate in this CSC project.

Statistical Methods: This CSC project will not employ statistical methods.

Approval for Pretesting: This CSC project will not require additional pretesting with more than nine members of the public.

Supplemental Documents: The three supplemental documents for this CSC project are as follows:

1. Screenshots of the cell phone app for entering data

2. Screenshot of the mPING webpage

3. A web article, MPING WEATHER APP GOES GLOBAL

CERTIFICATION: I certify the following are true.

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The collection will not include highly influential scientific information, ,which is information NOAA or OMB determines: (i) could have a potential impact of more than $500 million in any year, or (ii) is novel, controversial, or precedent setting or has significant interagency interest.

5. The collection complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

6. The collection will provide qualitative and quantitative data that help inform scientific research and monitoring, validate models or tools, support STEM learning, and enhance the quantity and quality of data collected to support NOAA’s mission.

Name: Alan Gerard