Access to huge volumes of weather data—volumes that will likely soar after the November launch of the U.S. GOES-R weather satellite—has been limited to a few users at great expense. Now a university-private sector networking effort will attempt to broaden access to atmospheric and weather data.

George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., and Ligado Networks, a satellite and terrestrial network specialist based on Reston, Va., said this week they would demonstrate the feasibility of delivering real-time weather data at lower cost over a cloud-based network.

The data is managed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which also oversees the nation’s fleet of weather satellites. The constellation includes the next generation GOES-R, which stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series.

The partners said they would initially compare the delivery of data from current weather satellites with the new cloud-based weather data network. One goal is measuring the access speed and reliability of data delivery to meteorologists and other users across the U.S. The networking initiative also is intended to improve the accuracy of weather forecasting models as well as earlier detection of extreme weather such as tornadoes and dense ground fog.

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