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fork(2) [soylentnews.org] writes:

      The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering whether to allow a commercial mobile-phone company to share a crucial, additional set of frequencies that NOAA uses for time-critical weather transmissions. In November 2012, the company which later evolved into Ligado [wsj.com] filed a request to share the 1,675-1,680-MHz band.

      Nature [nature.com] discusses the problem:

Commercial mobile-phone companies are already transmitting at slightly lower frequencies, the 1,670-1,675-MHz band -- a situation that has caused problems with NOAA data.

      In a representative sample of GOES imagery taken between May and September 2015, the agency found that 3.6% of the data ­during that stream had been subject to interference. And in May of this year, NOAA clocked 30 events in which satellite transmissions had dropped out, either streaking or nearly obliterating the images. "We consider that to be unacceptable," Wissman says. [Al Wissman, chief of data management and continuity operations for NOAA's satellite and information service in Silver Spring, Maryland]

      The article describes one event:

As Hurricane Patricia barrelled down on Mexico last October, forecasters at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grabbed as many satellite images as they could to track its progress. But at least one crucial shot failed to download. A 22 October image from the Geostationary Operational Environ­mental Satellite (GOES) system showed a black swathe -- no data -- across most of the Pacific Ocean.

      "You couldn't even see the hurricane," says Al Wissman. "That's how devastated the imagery was."

      The article continues:

"It's just an untenable situation to have in a critical situation," says William Mahoney, an atmospheric scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and head of the AMS commission on the weather, water and climate enterprise.

      Ligado has proposed ways to address the concerns, such as establishing blackout zones around NOAA's receiving stations or creating a cloud-based computing network to handle data distribution for non-NOAA users.

      But many of those who have commented publicly are sceptical about such plans. The World Meteorological Organization pointed out that cloud computing is vulnerable when weather data are most needed: during severe storms.

      The FCC is accepting replies to the original set of public comments until 21 July. After that, it will grind slowly towards a decision.

Original Submission