Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences

It's true! We fly airplanes right into the eye of the hurricane, and we invite you along for the ride-in Cyberspace! This is the place to see unique photos inside the hurricanes. The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, known as the Hurricane Hunters of the Air Force Reserve, is one-of-a-kind: the only Department of Defense organization still flying into tropical storms and hurricanes--since 1944. Our ten Lockheed-Martin WC-130 aircraft and crews are part of the 403rd Wing, based at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans is an international network of major oceanographic institutions and their consortia. It has been established to promote and enhance the implementation and integration of global oceanographic activities.

Global temperature in 1998 was the hottest in the historical record, and the temperature increase over the 20th century is likely to be the highest of the past millennium. Global average temperatures have warmed about one degree Fahrenheit (0.6?C) since 1900. The ten warmest years on record have occurred since 1987, seven of them since 1994. This map illustrates the local consequences of global warming. Dr. Sharon Locke of the University of Southern Maine and Dr. Susanne Moser of the Union of Concerned Scientists researched, categorized, and described the events featured on this world map and completed a map update in January 2003 based on the latest scientific findings. This updated map builds on work originally undertaken by the Sierra Club and extended by Dr. Janine Bloomfield and Molly Smith of Environmental Defense and Dr. Sharon Locke for the first edition, published in 1999. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has developed background materials on the map for scientists and map curriculum materials for high school teachers.

The GHCC's many areas of study are closely related to each other. Like the climate and environment we study, no one aspect stands alone. Water vapor, winds, temperatures at different altitudes, lightning, aerosols, and other factors all connect in a complex, interactive Earth-atmosphere system. This is what makes our work both challenging and intriguing. The best way to grapple with so many questions is by scientists teaming across different disciplines and organizations. The GHCC is a unique joining of the talents of government, academic, and industry researchers in this common endeavor. GHCC scientists collaborate closely with other research centers, both in the United States and in other nations. We also work to spread awareness and understanding of our results among leaders and citizens of today and the future.

Located in Boulder, Colorado, ETL supports the strategic goals of NOAA and OAR through regionally specific research efforts in weather, climate, and air quality that exploit the Laboratory's unique expertise in remote sensing of the geophysical environment.

The National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP) is a collaboration of fifteen Federal agencies to provide leadership and coordination of national oceanographic research and education programs. An innovative program established by Congress in Fiscal Year 1997, NOPP facilitates new interactions among federal agencies, academia and industry; increases visibility for ocean issues on the national agenda; and achieves a higher level of coordinated effort and synergy across the broad oceanographic community.

The National Severe Storms Laboratory is one of NOAA's internationally known research laboratories, leading the way in investigations of all aspects of severe weather. Headquartered in Norman OK with staff in Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Utah, and Wisconsin, the people of NSSL, in partnership with the National Weather Service, are dedicated to improving severe weather warnings and forecasts in order to save lives and reduce property damage.

The oceanographic and information technology communities are forging an entirely new capability for interacting with complex, nonlinear planetary-scale processes. Success in this arena will vastly enhance human understanding of the basic processes that modulate climate, create energy and mineral deposits, influence the carbon cycle, and support a newly discovered microbial biosphere that may well be an analog for life elsewhere in the solar system. Our new capabilities will allow us to engage the public in the scientific inquiry into the last frontier on Earth: the ocean basins. Ocean observatories provide new channels for effectively communicating with educators and the public about how our planet works. Observatories offer the high educational value of student interaction with real scientific instruments and equipment, as well as opportunities to collaborate with research scientists. The LOOKING program will provide an essential architecture for the actual software, hardware, and network services that will enable routine ocean access to researchers, educators, students, and the general public.

Without interruption since 1956, Americans have been studying the Antarctic and its interactions with the rest of the planet. These investigators and supporting personnel make up the U.S. Antarctic Program, which carries forward the Nation's goals of supporting the Antarctic Treaty, fostering cooperative research with other nations, protecting the Antarctic environment, and developing measures to ensure only equitable and wise use of resources. The program comprises research by scientists selected from universities and other research institutions and operations and support by a contractor and other agencies of the U.S. Government. The National Science Foundation (the U.S. Government agency that promotes the progress of science) funds and manages the program. Approximately, 3,000 Americans are involved each year. The research has three goals: to understand the region and its ecosystems; to understand its effects on (and responses to) global processes such as climate; and to use the region as a platform to study the upper atmosphere and space. Antarctica's remoteness and extreme climate make field science more expensive than in most places. Research is done in the Antarctic only when it cannot be performed at more convenient locations

The Great Lakes Commission is leading development of an integrated Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS) to provide critical real-time data for multiple users, including, among others, resource managers, researchers, homeland security interests, the commercial shipping industry and the recreational boating community. GLOS will be a regional node of NOAA's multi-year, national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) initiative.

To improve our understanding of complex coastal ocean processes, long-term, region-scale measurements are required. Several oceanographic research institutions located on the U.S. East Coast have recently created coastal ocean observing systems to acquire such measurements. In order to facilitate good communication, WHOI CICOR and WHOI COI have begun to develop a central web entry point for participating coastal observatory websites.

GOOS is a permanent global system for observations, modelling and analysis of marine and ocean variables to support operational ocean services worldwide. GOOS will provide accurate descriptions of the present state of the oceans, including living resources; continuous forecasts of the future conditions of the sea for as far ahead as possible; and the basis for forecasts of climate change.

The Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) is an public information acquisition and dissemination technology developed by the National Ocean Service (NOS) in cooperation with the Greater Tampa Bay Marine Advisory Council. The first permanent, fully integrated, operational PORTS was deployed in Tampa Bay during 1990 and 1991. The system is managed, operated, and maintained by the Greater Tampa Bay Marine Advisory Council-PORTS under a cooperative agreement with NOS and the University of South Florida. Tampa Bay PORTS includes the integration of real-time currents, water levels, winds, wave height, visibility, air and water temperatures, and barometric pressure at multiple locations with a data dissemination system that includes telephone voice response, modem dial-up, dedicated modem displays, and World Wide Web/Internet sites. Tampa Bay PORTS consists of four acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), four water level gages, six anemometers (wind sensors), an atmospheric temperature and barometric pressure sensor, a directional wave gage, packet radio transmission equipment, a data acquisition system, and an information dissemination system (IDS).

NANOOS is the Pacific Northwest ocean observing system regional association established to address the ocean observing and prediction needs of users in Washington, Oregon, and northern California; strong links are established to British Columbia and Alaska observing programs. NANOOS will collect and disseminate coastal ocean and estuarine data and products.

The SEACOOS observing system is to be one of the regional systems ringing the U.S. to form the coastal component of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The SEACOOS domain encompasses the coastal oceans of and off Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, from head of tide inland to the seaward boundary of the Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Southern California Coastal Ocean Observing System (SCCOOS) aims to provide integrated coastal observation within the Southern California Bight for scientific purposes and the benefit of society.

Ocean.US was created by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program to coordinate the development of an operational and integrated and sustained ocean observing system (IOOS). Information from this IOOS system will serve national needs for:
Detecting and forecasting oceanic components of climate variability
Facilitating safe and efficient marine operations
Ensuring national security
Managing resources for sustainable use
Preserving and restoring healthy marine ecosystems
Mitigating natural hazards
Ensuring public health

HiSeasNet is a new satellite communications network designed specifically to provide continuous Internet connectivity for oceanographic research ships and platforms. Access to the Internet is an integral part of nearly every research lab and office on land; extending this access to oceanographic shipsour seagoing laboratories, will broadly impact seagoing research activities.

The primary objective of HOT is to obtain a long time-series of physical and biochemical observations in the North Pacific subtropical gyre that will address the goals of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In addition to these general primary objectives, the physical oceanographic component of HOT provides CTD/rosette sampling support for the JGOFS time-series sampling program, and supports development of new instrumentation for hydrographic observations. To date, HOT has supported research on lowered acoustic profiler measurements of currents in support of WOCE objectives (Firing and Gordon, 1990), and on dissolved oxygen sensor technology (Atkinson et al., 1995), to name a few examples.

BBSR has a long history of oceanographic innovation. 1954 saw the implementation of the world's first significant deep-ocean time series, Hydrostation "S", from which data are still being collected. The longevity and success of the program eventually led to BBSR linking with the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) program to start the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS), another long-term time-series study examining biogeochemical cycles in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda. The potential for acquiring more diverse and detailed time-series data was a key motivator in allowing BBSR to establish the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study. The BATS team is involved in making monthly measurements of important hydrographic, biological and chemical parameters throughout the water column at sites within the Sargasso Sea. Collaborative research efforts in the Sargasso Sea between BATS and other institutions include the Oceanic Flux Program (OFP), a continuing time-series study of sediment transport measurements into the deep sea (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), and the Bermuda Testbed Mooring site, where the latest high-technology moored platform is combined with hydrographic and bio-optical sensors (USC, UCSB, MBARI, LDEO).