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

NOAA Strategic Goal: Crosscutting

CICS is a cooperative institute between NOAA and Princeton University. CICS collaborates with NOAA in research activities to: (1) advance in short-term warnings and forecasts, (2) implement of seasonal to interannual climate forecasts, and (3) predict and assess decadal-to-centennial climate changes and the effect of those changes on society.

NOAA Strategic Goal: Climate Variability and Change

The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab develops and utilizes advanced ocean data assimilation systems and ocean models to support NOAA's ocean observing program for climate. Experimental seasonal forecasting experiments are carried out to explore the impacts of ocean data. Multi-decadal ocean reanalyses are performed to better understand and document the impacts of natural climate variability on interannual timescales and global warming on the ocean. Ocean data assimilation and modeling advances when mature are transitioned to the National Center for Environmental Prediction at the National Weather Service for operational implementation.

The Climate Modeling Center was established in 2003 to enhance the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab's (GFDL) climate research, modeling, and outreach activities. The Center is becoming a premier international climate modeling center which provides policy critical information related to global change to the U.S. and participates in international climate assessments. GFDL works with the Administration's Climate Change Science and Research Programs and the International Panel on Climate Change and Montreal Protocol processes to determine which model runs will be of most use. The Cooperative Institute for Climate Science supports the Climate Modeling Center through a postdoctoral and senior scientists visiting program and the development of interactive biogeochemical and carbon cycling modeling (ocean and terrestrial) components of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab's developing Earth System model.

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: Princeton University, Rutgers University

The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) has been involved in extensive collaboration with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the development, construction and testing of the Community Climate System Model (CCSM). Sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy, the CCSM is a numerical climate modeling system that scientists worldwide will use to study climate processes, prediction and change. For more information see http://www.ccsm.ucar.edu.

The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) conducts investigations into such research problems as: greenhouse warming, meso-scale disturbances, hurricane prediction, oceanic circulation and observational data analysis. It has also been extensively involved in general circulation model development. This latter activity has enabled GFDL to collaborate with several other institutions to develop a general purpose model which will ultimately be used for climate research throughout the modeling community both nationally and internationally.

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 Mount Holly, NJ. 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 Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) has been involved in extensive collaboration with the National Weather Service National Hurricane Center, located in Miami. GFDL has supplied the hurricane forecasting center with a state-of-the-art hurricane prediction model which has proven to be very successful in forecasting both storm track and intensity.

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. New Jersey Sea Grant is managed by the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. The Sea Grant Program works to promote the wise use of marine resources. Current research projects include: a five-year effort to examine ecosystem health in all New Jersey embayments; evaluation of essential fish habitat in Delaware Bay; the development of a preliminary index for detecting anthropogenically (human) induced changes in the organisms in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary; an experimental factorial design analysis of the early life-stage duration of two species, windowpane and cunner to quantify their size- and stage-specific risk of mortality; patterns of habitat use in a marine transient species, the weakfish; evaluation of air emissions from dredged materials destined for beneficial uses; a five year initiative in wetland and restoration ecology and in improving our understanding of wetland functions and values. The public, industry, and policy makers are kept informed on issues relating to coastal ecosystem health, fisheries research, marine biotechnology, hazard mitigation, and environmental modeling through New Jersey Sea Grant’s education and extension programs. For more information see http://www.njmsc.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 Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB), one of the six NURP regional centers, supports undersea research along the mid-Atlantic states, from south of Long Island to Virginia, including Chesapeake Bay. The MAB Center is administered by Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Stony Brook University in New York. The MAB Center provides advanced undersea research platforms such as a REMUS Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and LEO-15, the Long-term Ecosystem Observatory located at 15 meter depth offshore of New Jersey. LEO-15 is able to collect data on various ocean parameters over long time periods, which may be used to distinguish between changes in the marine environment induced by natural versus anthropogenic events. LEO-15 serves as the core element of a shelf-wide ocean observation network that will increase understanding of episodic events such as storms, upwelling and hypoxia, that are poorly studied by conventional methods. For more information see http://www.nurp.noaa.gov/midatlan.html.

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Updated June 8, 2006