Case Study: NOAA improves weather forecasting with Spire's commercial radio occultation data

How NOAA is Improving Weather Forecasting with Commercial Radio Occultation (RO) Data

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) sought to fulfill its commitment to the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act by improving its weather modeling and computing capabilities. To meet this challenge, NOAA turned to commercially sourced radio occultation (RO) data and selected Spire as a vendor through its Commercial Weather Data Buy Program to acquire this space-based weather data.

Spire successfully delivered on multiple contracts, consistently meeting stringent data requirements for latency, quality, and geographic distribution. The RO data provided by Spire was found to have a positive impact on forecasts and was acquired at a significantly lower cost than traditional sources. The partnership culminated in an $8 million contract, the largest US government purchase of RO data to date, where Spire provided 5,500 daily RO profiles to substantially enhance NOAA's weather modeling capabilities.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration