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Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
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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 South Carolina. 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: University of South Carolina

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 Summerville, SC.

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 South Carolina 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, three of which are located in South Carolina. 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's Earth System Research Laboratory has installed several important new atmospheric remote-sensing instruments on NOAA Ship RONALD H. BROWN, whose home port is Charleston. A powerful Doppler weather radar, very similar to National Weather Service WSR-88D radars (NEXRAD), will study precipitation at sea. A Doppler wind profiling radar will measure how wind changes from the ocean surface up into the free troposphere. These new measurements will help scientists better understand the hydrologic cycle and how energy (heat, moisture, and wind) is transported throughout the atmosphere, from the equator to the poles, and thereby better predict how human and natural influences will affect climate.

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 South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium is a statewide program of research, education, and extension services that works to promote the wise use of marine resources. Current research projects target coastal ocean processes, ecosystem dynamics, coastal hazards, fisheries, water quality, transport mechanisms, aquaculture, and oyster reefs as biologically-critical estuarine ecosystems. South Carolina Sea Grant also co-organizes Beach Sweep/River Sweep, South Carolinas largest one-day volunteer clean-up event. Every third Saturday in September, thousands of South Carolinians clear beaches, rivers, lakes, marshes, and swamps of aquatic debris. In addition to research and volunteer efforts, the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium maintains active education, and outreach programming throughout the state. For more information see http://www.scseagrant.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 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