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NOAA Strategic Goal: Climate Variability and Change

NOAA has several observational sites that support the World Climate Research Programme’s Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX). One of NOAA’s GEWEX sites is located near Elgin, Arizona. GEWEX sites were established to provide detailed measurements and information about the physical and biological processes that occur at the land/surface interface. Observations from these sites are being used to test and improve the current generation of land surface models that are used for both regional and global climate prediction. Key observations from these sites include the turbulent fluxes of heat, water vapor, momentum, carbon dioxide, air temperature, and relative humidity. Support for this Air Resources Laboratory effort comes from the GEWEX Americas Prediction Project, which is jointly administered by the NOAA Climate Program Office and NASA. See www.ceop.net for details.

NOAA is installing the U. S. Climate Reference Network across the country, to measure weather and climate. About 110 stations are envisioned for the network and more than 80 stations are presently operating in 40 states, including Arizona. Network stations collectively account for approximately 95 percent of the explained variance in the true contiguous U.S. national annual surface air temperature time series and 84 percent in the true contiguous U.S. national annual precipitation time series. The network is intended to operate for many decades, providing highly accurate and well-documented measurements. Data is used operationally to put climate anomalies into historical perspective and to detect climate change. The effort is supported by the NOAA Research Climate Observation and Services Program and the Air Resources Laboratory, which designed the stations and has been assembling, calibrating, deploying, and maintaining the network sites in collaboration with NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service. A list of the operational sites and links to their data are available at this URL: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/crn/hourly.

To carry out NOAA’s mission to provide climate forecasts and products, the Climate Program Office supports research projects across the nation conducted by investigators outside the federal government, within the federal government, and in NOAA Cooperative Institutes. This research is accomplished through the strong support of the academic and private sectors, as well as NOAA and other federal laboratories. The research contributes to improved predictions and assessments of the effects of climate variability over a range of time scales from season to season, year to year, and over the course of a decade and beyond. Grants Recipients: University of Arizona

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is working to develop regional climate analysis products to meet the needs of decision-makers in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah. ESRL has developed a web site with links to regional climate resources to monitor drought conditions and other significant climate impacts: http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/ClimateInfo/drought.html

NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) in partnership with the University of Colorado Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) is working with the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program (GCDAMP) to develop monitoring and predictive tools on warm season floods. These tools facilitate improved planning and operations. Researchers are focusing on a key concern identified by the GCDAMP related to the timing and volume of sediment input into the Grand Canyon. GCDAMP has representatives from the seven states in the Colorado River Basin.

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) contributes to a consensus seasonal forecast and other products for the fire season for Arizona and other states. This new climate decision-support tool provides information for a seasonal fire danger outlook, used by the National Interagency Coordination Center for fires to make proactive short- and long-range decisions for strategy development and resource allocation, and to improve efficiency and firefighter safety.

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) scientists are working with U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoir managers in Arizona to develop ways to use climate information in management of the Colorado River and its large reservoirs. For example, in the past, ESRL has co-sponsored one-day Colorado River Basin Outlook briefings in Salt Lake City, Utah for water managers, decision makers, and planning groups in the region to provide an assessment of current and projected climate conditions and water availability impacting the lower and upper Colorado River Basins.

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) supports research on climate variability in Arizona, such as those associated with El Niño/Southern Oscillation and long-term changes in Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures, and the development of long-term droughts. Major droughts have occurred periodically in the Southwest United States, such as occurred from the mid-1940s to mid-1950s, and again recently. Research into other climate/weather issues facing Arizona, such as increased flood risks associated with El Niño has also been undertaken. The interaction with users of climate data and information, provided by ESRL through its close interaction with the University of Arizona's Climate Assessment for the Southwest project (a NOAA funded activity), will assist NOAA in developing improved climate services for decision makers. ESRL is also researching the impact of climatic variability in the U.S./Mexico Border Region. Collaborating institutions include the Desert Laboratory of the University of Arizona and the U.S. Geological Survey in Tucson, the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth and the Laboratory for Tree Ring Research of the University of Arizona.

NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) scientists are participating in the NOAA-funded North American Monsoon Experiment (NAME), an internationally coordinated process study aimed at determining the sources and limits of predictability of warm season precipitation over North America. ESRL is currently focusing on Arizona and New Mexico. The ultimate goal of NAME is to improve forecasts of the monsoon, creating better assessments of weather hazards and drought in the region, and applications in agriculture and ranching, fire weather prediction, and water resources management.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Weather and Air Quality

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 Arizona - in Bellemont, Phoenix, and Tucson. 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's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) has built and installed a 449-MHz radar wind profiler at Fort Huachuca to assist in the operation of the Fort's Aerostat, a large radar-equipped blimp that helps authorities detect airborne drug traffickers in southern Arizona. The ESRL instrument will measure how wind speed and direction change from the surface up into the high atmosphere. Knowledge of winds aloft will help the operators of the Aerostat avoid high winds and wind shear, thereby preventing costly accidents.

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Updated June 8, 2006