Name: Paul Sabol

Q: Where in NOAA do you work now?
A: I work in the Climate Operations Branch of the Climate Prediction Center, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National Weather Service.

Q: When did you begin your work with NOAA?
A: Although I worked summer jobs (Salt Lake City, UT, 1969 and Portland, OR, 1970) and had a very short forecasting experience (Reno, NV, 1971-1972), the real start of my career was at the Center for Experiment Design and Data Analysis, Washington, DC, during the GATE Project as a Meteorologist/Computer Programmer back in September 1973.

Q: Looking back, what events stand out as the most memorable during your time with NOAA?
A: Decoding WMO Precipitation and Extreme Temperature Data: I developed a simple technique, table-driven software, to extract precipitation and temperature data from synoptic reports transmitted via the Global Telecommunications System. A large variety of regional and national variations in coding practices lent themselves to a surprisingly simple technique run on a large main frame computer (IBM 360). The technique survived a major overhaul of the WMO Codes in the early eighties, allowing climate operations to continue without interruption.

Creation of the Climate Analysis Center: In 1979, I was approached about being moved to the proposed Climate Analysis Center, and readily agreed to join the new organization along with the functions that I was performing at that time.

Conversion from Main Frame Processing to Workstation Processing: Moving production off the main frame was a welcome challenge. Fortunately, I began developing production on a workstation as a backup to main frame processing, a precaution against computer failures. Although it increased the personal work load (keeping two program suites running) the result was an essentially seamless transition to workstation processing.

Development of the Internet: Processed data are useless until the information is sent to the appropriate users. With the Internet one simply places the data, information, and products on a suitable server and provides the users with the appropriate Uniform Resource Locators URL's). Instead of getting a phone call or letter, extracting the required information, and relaying it to the customer, all one has to do now is give the user an appropriate URL and guidance on accessing the web site. File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows one to transmit larger data files quite easily.

Q: From your point of view, what have been the most significant changes NOAA has experienced during the past 30 years?
A: The most significant change has been the rapid progress in computer technology. Computer technology started with punch cards and large computer paper print outs. First, we got rid of the cards by placing small files on large magnetic disks and larger files on magnetic tape. Then we acquired TSO (Time-Sharing Option). We no longer had to submit card decks as batch jobs, but could actually run programs in real-time through monochrome terminals. In the eighties, we started using microcomputers, and eventually acquired workstations. Substantial portions of our work was moved from large main frame machines to these workstations. When personal computers arrived during the nineties, we could do the bulk of our work at our own desk. Finally, the Internet was built, revolutionizing our communications and becoming the most important development in three decades.

This page updated on: Monday, 07-Jan-2002 21:41:59 GMT
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