skip to content

SEARCH  |  SITEMAP

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-713-2458

NOAA Strategic Goal: Climate Variability and Change

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory makes measurements of the ozone vertical profile at a number of locations around the United States. These profiles are obtained using small balloon-borne instruments known as ozonesondes. The measurements extend from the surface to about 32 km (20 miles) in altitude. The profiles provide information on both the stratospheric ozone layer, and ozone in the lower atmosphere that may be influenced by pollution emitted from combustion. High concentrations of ozone in the lower atmosphere can be harmful to human health, crops, and materials. Ozone in the lower atmosphere is also a potent greenhouse gas.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Weather and Air Quality

The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory's Hurricane Research Division (HRD), located in Miami, FL, conducts research to advance the understanding and prediction of hurricanes and other tropical weather, benefiting the Alabama Gulf Coast region. HRD’s research is based on a combination of models, theories, and observations, with particular emphasis on data obtained with research aircraft. These observations are primarily collected in our annual field program using the two NOAA turboprop aircraft and jet operated by the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center. The goals of this research are to: advance the prediction of tropical cyclone intensity change, improve the prediction of tropical cyclone tracks, improve the understanding of and ability to predict tropical cyclone frequency and intensity, and enhance the ability to diagnose and predict the impact of tropical cyclones on life and property. For more information please visit http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/index.html.

Computer systems developed by the NOAA Research Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) are in operation at all NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) field offices, three of which are located in Alabama -- in Birmingham, Huntsville, and Mobile. ESRL has been the prime developer of the data ingest and display components of the NWS weather display and text generation system known as AWIPS (Advanced Weather Information Processing System). This system integrates meteorological, hydrological, satellite, and radar data. ESRL also developed the Interactive Forecast Preparation System Graphical Forecast Editor, a system that allows forecasters to display and manipulate forecast depictions of sensible weather (temperature, wind, precipitation, etc.), and use these to generate text and graphical forecasts for the public and other customers. NWS field offices are using this system to produce gridded forecast products, which allows forecasters to convey more information to the customers than they did in the past.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Ecosystems

A Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) scientist is pursuing collaborative work with the Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms research program, a program led by NOAA and run cooperatively with the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies. The collaborative work that GLERL is involved in examines the factors contributing to red tide blooms in the Gulf of Mexico.

NOAA’s National Sea Grant College Program is a federal-university partnership that integrates research, education, and outreach (extension and communications). Sea Grant forms a network of 32 programs in all U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states, Puerto Rico and Guam. The Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium (MASGC) supports efforts that foster the conservation, sustainable development, and use of oceanic and coastal resources for the benefit of both the economy and the environment in Mississippi and Alabama. Recent research targets critical areas in marine natural products, fisheries and seafood safety, marine aquaculture, coastal ecosystems and habitats, coastal communities and economies, and marine education and outreach. Citizens, industry and policy makers are kept informed on issues related to commercial and recreational fishing, seafood processing, watershed management, water quality, aquaculture and aquatic nuisance species through the Sea Grant extension programs in both states, and MASGC's communications program. MASGC's educational efforts are strong in Alabama through programs involving many state institutions and universities. For more information see http://www.masgc.org.

NOAA's Undersea Research Program (NURP) is a unique national service that provides undersea scientists with tools and expertise that they need to work in the undersea environment, from the shoreline to the deep sea. Each year, the program supports 200 or more undersea research projects related to NOAA's mission as steward of oceanic resources and environments, including research to support NOAA's management responsibilities in fisheries (stock assessment validation, understanding essential fish habitat), corals, and other coastal resources. NURP is comprised of a network of six regional centers and a national technology institute. NOAA's Undersea Research Center for the South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (SEGM), one of the six NURP regional centers, is based at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. The SEGM Center focuses on undersea research off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and in the Florida Keys and Gulf of Mexico. The Center operates the world’s only undersea research laboratory, Aquarius, located 8 miles off the coast of Florida and capable of housing scientists for 10 day missions. Center facilities are located in Wilmington, NC, and Key Largo, FL, near the site of Aquarius. Areas of research include hydrocarbon exploration and development; management of fisheries resources; conservation of the Florida Keys' coral reefs; anthropogenic and natural processes that impact coastal resources, including beach erosion and the introduction of excess nutrients to near shore habitats; and detection of current global climate conditions through long-term monitoring and assessment of past changes. The center’s research goals evolve to meet changing national and regional needs. For more information see http://www.nurp.noaa.gov/southatl.html.

NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration (OE) supports activities that search and investigate the oceans for the purpose of discovery. OE missions fit into four areas: (1) mapping the physical, biological, chemical and archeological aspects of the ocean; (2) understanding ocean dynamics at new levels to describe the complex interactions of the living ocean; (3) developing new sensors and systems for ocean exploration, and; (4) reaching out to the public to communicate the benefits to current of future generations of unlocking the secrets of the ocean. In 2005, OE provided funding to the University of Alabama for a project to explore and characterize a West Florida slope deep coral site in the eastern Gulf of Mexico using an underwater submersible.

CONTACT US  ·  PRIVACY POLICY  ·  DISCLAIMER

Updated June 8, 2006