THE CURRENTLY PROPOSED TWO-YEAR EFFORT IS A CONTINUATION OF THAT BEGUN UNDER NASA GSFC GRANT NNX16AT62G WHICH WILL END ON OCTOBER 31 2018 AND PREVIOUS GRANTS WHICH WERE FUNDED THROUGH NASA S SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE (SMD). NASA'S SCIENCE MISSION DIRECTORATE DECIDED TO STOP FUNDING CONTINUING MISSION OPERATIONS AND DATA ANALYSIS OF THE CLUSTER MISSION EFFECTIVE AT THE END OF FY 2015 FOR WBD. THE ESA CLUSTER SCIENCE MANAGEMENT TEAM DETERMINED THAT THE WBD INSTRUMENT WAS CRITICAL TO THE CONTINUING SUCCESS OF THE CLUSTER MISSION AND THUS BEGAN FUNDING TWO INSTITUTES IN EUROPE TO CARRY OUT CERTAIN OPERATIONS AND DATA PROCESSING TASKS. THIS FUNDING WILL CONTINUE DURING THE PROPOSED PERIOD. HOWEVER THE EXPERTISE OF THE U.S. PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR OF THE WBD INVESTIGATION IS NEEDED IN ORDER TO GUIDE THE SCIENTIFIC OPERATIONS PLANNING FOR THE INSTRUMENT AND TO CARRY OUT THE FUNCTION OF VALIDATING THE DATA TO ENSURE THAT THE DATA WHICH GET RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC ARE ACCURATELY TIME TAGGED AND CALIBRATED AND FREE OF PROBLEMS WHICH COULD ULTIMATELY LEAD TO MISINTERPRETATION OF THE DATA.