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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 Batesville, Mississippi. 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 Mississippi. 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.

The Earth System Research Laboratory operates seven stations as part of its surface radiation measurement network (SURFRAD). The station measurements support regional and global weather and climate research with accurate, continuous, long-term measurements of the surface radiation budget over the United States. Solar radiation is the driving energy for geophysical and biological processes that control weather and affect planetary life; understanding the global surface energy budget is therefore key to understanding climate and the environmental consequences to agriculture and other statewide concerns. Because it is impractical to cover the whole earth with monitoring stations, the answer to global coverage lies in reliable satellite-based observations. Accurate and precise ground-based measurements across a range of climate regions are essential to refine and verify the satellite observations. One of these stations is located near Goodwin Creek, Mississippi. These ground-based measurements also support special research projects on radiation and climate processes in the Mississippi region and serve as important verification for weather forecasts. Information about these stations can be found at http://www.srrb.noaa.gov

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 Mississippi coastal 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, one of which is located in Jackson, Mississippi. 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 NOAA Profiler Network (NPN) consists of 35 unmanned Doppler Radar sites located in 18 U.S. states. One NPN site is in Mississippi. The NPN provides critical upper-air wind and temperature data to the National Weather Service, other NOAA entities, the military, universities, researchers and forecasters in the private sector. The NPN has been fully operational since 1992. Data from the NPN are directly associated with improved weather forecasting which saves lives and helps protect property. The NPN is particularly important in forecasting tornadoes and NPN data is also used to route aircraft for increased safety and fuel economy. The NPN continuous measurement of winds are used by the U.S. Departments of Defense, Energy, and Homeland Security. For more information visit www.profiler.noaa.gov

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 projects target marine biotechnology and industrial ecology, seafood safety, shrimp and oyster development and restoration, open ocean aquaculture, aquatic invasive species, sustainable fisheries, coastal ecosystems and habitats, 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. The National Sea Grant Law Center, located at the University of Mississippi, provides legal research, outreach and advisory services, and education and training on ocean and coastal law and policies including fisheries, coastal development, marine habitat conservation, and other natural resource issues. Current Mississippi members of MASGC include Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, University of Mississippi, and University of Southern Mississippi. 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 Institute for Undersea Science and Technology (NIUST) provides cutting edge technologies to NURP and their constituencies to further the nation's research capabilities in near shore, deep water, and extreme marine environments. Based at the University of Mississippi at Oxford and at the University of Southern Mississippi at Stennis Space Center in Ocean Springs, NIUST is made up of three divisions: the Ocean Biotechnology Center and Repository (OBCR), the Seabed Technology Research Center (STRC), and the Undersea Vehicles Technology Center (UVTC). OBCR is a national repository of biochemical and biomolecular products of marine organisms from U. S. and international waters for use by the biotechnology research sector. STRC is focused on the research and development of remote sensor and direct sampling technologies for the investigation of the deep seabed and UTVC develops viable technologies involving interactive communication, data assimilation, and artificial intelligence appropriate for the deployment and operation of ROVs and AUVs. For more information see http://data.nurp.noaa.gov/nurp03/NIUST.html.

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.

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Updated June 8, 2006