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

NOAA Strategic Goal: Climate Variability and Change

One of NOAA’s Atmospheric Integrated Research Monitoring Network (AIRMoN) sites is located in Centre County, PA. AIRMoN provides a research-based foundation for the routine operations of the nation’s deposition monitoring networks. Major ion data (sulfate, nitrate, pH, ammonium, sodium, chloride, and soil cations) are routinely in demand by scientists addressing process oriented studies concerned with the study of atmospheric fate and transport of various chemicals as well as numerous ecosystem issues. Other process studies of more limited duration address issues related to the maintenance of air quality, and the interaction of air pollution with the terrestrial, aquatic, and biospheric environments. Both monitoring and shorter term projects are relevant to climate, which is one driver of long-term variability and change in environmental quality. For more information and data access, please see http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/AIRMoN.

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: Pennsylvania State University

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 Rock Springs, Pennsylvania. These ground-based measurements also support special research projects on radiation and climate processes in the Pennsylvania 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

Computer systems developed by the NOAA Research Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) are in operation at all NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) field offices, two of which are located in Pennsylvania. 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

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. A Pennsylvania Sea Grant outreach program was established in the commonwealth in March 1998 and has existed since. Pennsylvania Sea Grant seeks to increase public awareness of coastal issues (environmental and economic) through extension, communication, education, and applied research activities, thereby improving the overall environmental and economic "health" of Pennsylvania's coastal regions. The geographic focus of the program consists of two major Pennsylvania watersheds: Lake Erie, including Presque Isle, Presque Isle Bay, Lake Erie, and the upland areas of the watershed (63 miles of coastline). The second is the Pennsylvania portion of the Delaware Estuary and the drainage area of the Schuylkill River, including the 57-mile stretch of coastline that lies within three counties: Bucks, Philadelphia, and Delaware. Pennsylvania Sea Grant supports a number of small, focused applied research projects to support its extension efforts. The projects provide further information on critical extension issues currently addressed. Research projects target aquatic nuisance species, native and endangered species, and water quality. For more information see http://www.pserie.psu.edu/seagrant/seagindex.htm.

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Updated June 8, 2006