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Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
1315 East-West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
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NOAA Strategic Goal: Crosscutting

JIMAR is a cooperative institute between NOAA and the University of Hawaii. Research Foci include equatorial oceanography, climate research, tsunamis, fisheries oceanography, tropical meteorology and coastal research. In addition to its partnerships with NOAA Research, JIMAR works closely with the Pacific Regions of the National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Weather Service as well as the Coastal Services Center, Honolulu. JIMAR supports university researchers, postdocs, students and staff. JIMAR is housed in the University of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology. For more information on JIMAR, please visit: http://ilikai.soest.hawaii.edu/JIMAR

NOAA Strategic Goal: Climate Variability and Change

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: Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange b/n E & W, inc.

NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) operates a new and growing small aircraft-based North American network of sampling sites (Carbon America) to measure vertical profiles of important greenhouse gas concentrations. Air is sampled above the surface up to approximately 25,000 feet above sea level using a reasonably small, light, and economical automated system developed by ESRL researchers. These air samples are delivered to the ESRL laboratory in Boulder, Colorado for measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gasses. This data will improve global carbon cycle models. Weekly sampling is conducted from Honolulu, HI. The Honolulu site is operated in coordination with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere experiment.

The Mauna Loa Observatory is one of five baseline observatories supported by NOAA's Climate Observations and Services Program and operated by the NOAA Research Earth System Research Laboratory, located in Boulder, CO. The observatories are part of a global network of observatories monitoring atmospheric constituents that cause climate change and depletion of the ozone layer. Over 250 different atmospheric and solar radiation properties are monitored at the Mauna Loa observatory. The observatory’s 43-year record of continuous atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is one of the longest atmospheric constituent records on earth. The observatory is a key facility in the international Network for the Detection of Stratospheric Change which monitors the healing of the ozone layer following the global agreement to reduce ozone destroying fluorocarbons (the Montreal Protocol) initiated a decade ago. Weekly balloon borne ozonesondes are released to monitor the vertical distribution of ozone and the associated ultraviolet (UV) radiation reaching the surface is measured with a world-standard UV instrument. Mauna Loa Observatory is host to 20 cooperative programs from around the world and is the base for re-transmission of many local government radio signals and is a testbed for the Federal Aviation Administration GPS global air traffic control system. In addition, Mauna Loa Observatory is host to the University of New Hampshire Wind Lidar program, the NASA stratospheric ozone lidar, the Associated Universities solar observatory, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research High Altitude Observatory, supported by the National Science Foundation. For more information, please visit http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/mlo/index.html

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, one of which is located in Honolulu, Hawaii. 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.

The Tsunami Research Program at the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL), headquartered in Seattle, Washington, seeks to mitigate tsunami hazards to Hawaii, California, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska. A tsunami is a series of very large ocean waves caused by underwater earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, explosions, and even meteor impacts. Capable of flooding hundreds of meters inland past the typical high-water level, the fast-moving water associated with an inundating tsunami can crush homes and other coastal structures. More common occurrences, and devastating in an economic sense, are false alarms that lead to expensive evacuations of coastal areas. Research and development activities focus on improved tsunami warning information, including inundation maps for coastal communities and advanced observation and modeling technology to increase the speed and accuracy of tsunami forecasts and warnings. PMEL has developed and deployed an array of early warning buoys in the Pacific to increase the reliability of tsunami warnings. This array consists of six moored buoys located at key deep water sites to improve risk assessment from tsunamis associated with major earthquake hazard areas around the Pacific Basin. Responsibility for maintaining the buoys has now been transitioned to the National Weather Service National Data Buoy Center. These activities are undertaken as part of the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, a state/federal partnership created to reduce the risks of tsunamis to U.S. coastal areas.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Ecosystems

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 University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program is a regional program of research, education, and extension services serving Hawaii and the U.S. affiliated Pacific Islands. Hawaii exemplifies many traits of coastal and insular communities worldwide, including coastal urbanization, increasing population, heavy reliance on imported food and energy, and limited fresh water. Hawaii Sea Grant focuses specifically on sustainability as seen by its efforts, with many partners, to develop the University of Hawaii Campuses and the unique Coconut Island site of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology as demonstration models of water, waste, and energy sustainability. Current research targets sustainable aquaculture, commercial biotechnology, coastal natural resources such as coral reefs, coastal natural processes, such as erosion and tsunami effects, sustainable tourism, fisheries science, and education. Education regarding the ecology and biology of coral reefs is presented to over 1 million Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve visitors each year. The public, industry, and policy makers are kept informed on issues related to economic development, coastal ecosystem health, public safety, and education and human resources through Hawaii Sea Grant's extension service and its quarterly newsletter, "Makai." For more information see http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/SEAGRANT.

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 Hawaii and the Pacific, one of the six NURP regional centers, is based at the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. The Center supports undersea research and scientific investigation primarily around the Hawaiian Islands. Facilities include submersibles (Pisces IV and V) capable of carrying three individuals to a depth of 2000 meters; RCV-150, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that operates up to 1000 meters in depth; and R/V Ka' imikai-O-Kanaloa, a 220-foot dedicated support vessel with facilities for 19 scientists. Research projects include study of deepwater precious coral abundance, reproduction and genetics; Hawaiian fishery operations; bottomfish abundances in Marine Protected Areas; effects of deep ocean disposal of sewage and dredge spoils; association of endangered Hawaiian monk seals with precious coral habitats; and the biology and geology associated with the Loihi volcano. For more information see http://www.nurp.noaa.gov/pacific.html.

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Updated June 8, 2006