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 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 Michigan. The network is intended to operate for many decades, providing highly accurate and well-documented measurements of key variables such as air temperature and precipitation. 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: Michigan Technological University

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, four of which are located in Michigan. 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

The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) conducts high-quality research and provides scientific leadership on important issues in both Great Lakes and marine coastal environments leading to new knowledge, tools, approaches, awareness and services. GLERL provides scientific products, expertise, and services required for effective management and protection of Great Lakes and coastal ecosystems. GLERL science provides for protection of life and property, economic well-being, and sustained ecosystem health. With a wide array of scientific disciplines on staff, and an ecosystem-level focus, GLERL contributes unique capabilities in support of intelligent and cost-effective Great Lakes and coastal resource management. For more information see http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/region/us/.

The Marine Instrumentation Laboratory at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) has deployed and is maintaining a real-time network of shore-based meteorological instrument packages including locations on Lake Michigan, at Muskegon and Saugatuck and on Lake Huron at Alpena. The meteorological observations obtained from the network are being used in GLERL's Great Lakes Coastal Forecasting System to improve nowcasts and forecasts of wind, waves, water levels, and circulation. In addition, the National Weather Service has committed resources to support the network and forecast offices in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Grand Rapids are using the observations to improve marine forecasts and warnings. The Muskegon station measures/records wind speed, wind gust, wind direction, air temperature, dew point, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, and light level at 5-minute increments with web updates of this information every 15 minutes at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/metdata/mkg/. In addition, four live webcams update images every 5 minutes with 4-hour animations from two webcams at the site. The Saugatuck station measures/records wind speed, wind gust, wind direction, and air temperature at 5-minute increments updated hourly at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/metdata/sau/. The Alpena station measures/records wind speed, wind gust, wind direction, and air temperature at 5-minute increments updated every half-hour at http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/metdata/apn/. In addition, a webcam features images of Lake Huron's Thunder Bay that are updated every half-hour.

In Michigan waters of Lake Michigan, a Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory scientist is determining the role of drowned river mouths in the recruitment dynamics of alewife and pursuing a second project aimed at quantifying natural production of chinook salmon in Michigan tributaries using hydro acoustics technology.

The Lake Michigan Field Station (LMFS) in Muskegon, Michigan is operated by the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). LMFS serves as a research facility and support base for GLERL’s scientific activities in southeastern Lake Michigan and its associated watershed regions. The site contains laboratories, work and staging areas, vessel dockage, and dormitory space for visiting research and support staff. LMFS currently is staffed by 3 full-time scientists and 5 support staff, including crews of GLERL’s two Research Vessels: Laurentian and Shenehon. For more information see http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/lmfs/.

CILER is a cooperative institute between NOAA and the University of Michigan with formal links to Michigan State University and other universities in the Great Lakes Basin. CILER's research activities are organized around five research themes: climate and large-lake dynamics; coastal and nearshore processes; large-lake ecosystem structure and function; remote sensing of large lake and coastal ocean dynamics; and marine environmental engineering. The Institute supports research scientists, postdoctoral research fellows, research support staff, and students at the University of Michigan and other Great Lakes universities.

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. Michigan Sea Grant supports research and outreach for projects addressing a variety of Great Lakes issues. Priority topics include coastal communities, water quality, coastal habitat and Great Lakes education. Recent research projects include the impacts of invasive species on fish community structure, seasonal and temporal variability in coastal wetland sediment, ballast water treatment and management, and water quality and public health risks in the Great Lakes. For more information see http://www.miseagrant.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 North Atlantic and Great Lakes (NAGL), one of the six NURP regional centers, is housed at the University of Connecticut. The NALG Center supports undersea research off the U.S.’s northeastern coast (i.e., Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and the Southern New England Coast including Long Island Sound) and in the Laurentian Great Lakes. The center’s research focuses on ecosystem response to human induced stress such as fishing and pollution and the role of habitat in sustaining fisheries and biological diversity. Underwater diving technologies available through NAGL include occupied submersibles, remotely operated vehicles (ROV's), and Nitrox scuba. For more information see http://www.nurp.noaa.gov/natlan.html.

CONTACT US  ·  PRIVACY POLICY  ·  DISCLAIMER

Updated June 8, 2006