Further Reading: Chapter 23 — Weather Surveillance and Climate Monitoring

1. Fleming, James Rodger — Meteorology in America, 1800–1870 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990)

The most thorough academic history of the development of the U.S. weather observation network from its origins in voluntary observer networks through the establishment of the Signal Corps Weather Service. Fleming reconstructs the institutional, political, and scientific factors that produced the modern weather observation infrastructure. The book is invaluable for understanding weather surveillance as a historical phenomenon — not a natural inevitability but a product of specific choices about what to measure, who should measure it, and what institutional frameworks should govern the data. Students interested in the history of surveillance infrastructure more broadly will find this an illuminating case study.

2. Harper, Kristine — Weather by the Numbers: The Genesis of Modern Meteorology (MIT Press, 2008)

Harper focuses on the mathematical and computational turn in meteorology — the development of numerical weather prediction in the mid-twentieth century. This is the story of how raw observational data became forecast products: through mathematical models, computational infrastructure, and the intellectual framework of atmospheric dynamics. Particularly valuable is Harper's treatment of how the military's interest in weather forecasting (both for its own operations and to understand enemy capabilities) drove investment in the observational and computational infrastructure that now serves civilian purposes. A clear example of military surveillance infrastructure repurposed for civilian benefit.

3. Supran, Geoffrey and Naomi Oreskes — "Assessing ExxonMobil's Climate Change Communications (1977–2014)" (Environmental Research Letters, 12(8), 2017)

A landmark peer-reviewed paper documenting how ExxonMobil's internal climate science — based on the company's own atmospheric monitoring data — consistently acknowledged the reality and human causation of climate change while its public communications consistently misrepresented or denied it. Available free at iopscience.iop.org. This paper is essential for understanding the relationship between climate monitoring data and corporate behavior: the existence of accurate monitoring data does not guarantee that institutional actors who possess it will use it honestly. Essential context for evaluating why accurate climate surveillance data has not produced faster policy responses.

4. Broad, William J. — "US Sells Weather Forecasting Itself to Private Companies" (New York Times, December 18, 2014)

Available at nytimes.com. This news investigation documents the political economy of weather data privatization in the United States — specifically, the lobbying by private weather companies (AccuWeather in particular) for restrictions on the National Weather Service's public forecasting activities. The article provides primary source material for the policy debate described in Case Study 23-1, including quotes from industry representatives and public health advocates on both sides. Essential reading alongside the AccuWeather/Florence case study.

5. Noy, Ilan — "The Macroeconomic Consequences of Disasters" (Journal of Development Economics, 88(2), 2009)

An economic analysis of how natural disasters affect economic outcomes in developing versus developed countries — with developed countries recovering more quickly because of better insurance coverage, better early warning systems, and better post-disaster response capacity. Relevant to the chapter's discussion of weather surveillance and inequality: the ability to benefit from weather monitoring infrastructure (and from accurate, freely available warnings) is not equally distributed globally. Countries with strong public weather services, reliable alert systems, and accessible communications infrastructure experience far lower mortality from weather events, all else being equal.

6. Halpern, Orit — Beautiful Data: A History of Vision and Reason Since 1945 (Duke University Press, 2014)

Chapters 2 and 3 provide a cultural and intellectual history of how "data" became the dominant mode of knowledge production in science, governance, and commerce in the postwar period. Halpern situates weather monitoring within the broader story of how quantitative environmental observation became naturalized as the obvious way of knowing the world. This theoretical context helps explain why weather surveillance is accepted as simply "what science does" rather than as a socially constructed surveillance practice — a naturalization process that benefits from understanding as it operates across surveillance domains.

7. Mullaney, Thomas S. et al. (eds.) — Your Computer Is on Fire (MIT Press, 2021)

Chapter 9, "There Is No Cloud," is a direct analysis of data infrastructure invisibility — how the physical systems that support digital data collection and processing become invisible to users who only see the interface. This invisibility argument applies to weather surveillance: NEXRAD towers and GOES satellites are as physically real as CCTV cameras, but they do not generate the same visceral sense of being watched. Understanding why physical surveillance infrastructure can be invisible — literally and culturally — is essential for the chapter's argument about normalization.

8. CDC National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) — Program Documentation and Data Portal

Available at cdc.gov/nwss. The CDC's own documentation of the National Wastewater Surveillance System, including its scientific methodology, site map, and publicly available data visualization. Reading this alongside Case Study 23-2 provides primary source access to the infrastructure of wastewater epidemiology as it was deployed during COVID-19 and continues to operate. The site includes the rationale, methodology, and findings of the system in plain language — useful both as a primary source and as a model for how government health agencies communicate surveillance activities to the public.

9. Lakoff, Andrew — Unprepared: Global Health in a Time of Emergency (University of California Press, 2017)

Lakoff analyzes the global health surveillance architecture — including disease monitoring systems like those described in Chapter 24 — and situates it within the broader project of "preparedness": governance oriented toward anticipating and managing future crises rather than responding to present conditions. The book's treatment of how preparedness frameworks justify the expansion of surveillance infrastructure — always in advance, always with reference to threats that may never materialize — is directly applicable to both weather surveillance and the epidemiological monitoring discussed in the next chapter. Particularly valuable for students interested in how emergency rationales shape surveillance governance.

For students interested in the technical dimensions of numerical weather prediction, the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) publishes accessible technical reports on its forecasting systems, available at ecmwf.int. For current U.S. weather radar data including historical archives, the NOAA Weather and Climate Toolkit provides free access to NEXRAD data going back to 1992.