NOAA: WHERE SCIENCE CREATES VALUE FOR AMERICA
Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), is a multi-faceted science agency with nearly 12,500 employees
across the nation. The agency conducts research and gathers data
about the global oceans, atmosphere, space, and sun, and applies
this knowledge to science and service that has a major impact on
the nation. NOAA provides weather information, warns of dangerous
weather, charts the seas and guides the use and protection of ocean
and coastal resources. Some element of NOAA’s work literally
touches peoples’ lives every day.
is where science gains value and this is evident when you consider
that each day NOAA services touch at least $3 trillion of America’s
economy. That’s about 30 percent of our nation’s gross
domestic product,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “Americans rely on
NOAA for an incredible variety of products ranging from the local
weather forecast, to keeping the ocean coastline safe and vibrant,
for a sustainable supply of quality seafood, to the safe transport
of millions of tons of waterborne cargo, and even keeping a close
eye on the ever changing impact of our sun on space weather.”
are representative NOAA achievements under the Bush administration
played a key role in producing the first Climate Change Strategic
Plan as mandated by the 1990 U.S. Global Change Research Act.
joined the U.S. Department of State in hosting the first ever
Earth Observation Summit in which thirty-four nations and twenty
governmental organizations agreed to a 10-year plan of development
for a comprehensive Earth Observing System.
Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, water and climate forecasts
and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters
and ocean areas. Weather services cost each American household approximately
$13.00 per year. Several accomplishments in 2003 include:
NOAA Weather Radio to reach ninety-five percent of the American
the Midwest tornado outbreak from May 4-10, the NWS utilized the
benefits of investments in modern weather technologies and new
science. With approximately 400 tornadoes reported during this
period, the NWS issued tornado warning with an average lead time
of 18 minutes.
Tropical Prediction Center/National Hurricane Center issued 2
weeks of advisories on Hurricane Isabel, through its landfall
on Sept. 18. Hurricane watches were issued approximately fifty
hours prior to landfall and warnings posted thirty-eight hours
prior to landfall.
most significant winter storm since 1996 struck the east coast
in February 2003. Preliminary estimates indicate the NWS provided
an average winter storm watch lead time of thirty-two hours and
an average warning lead time of seventeen hours - well ahead of
the goal of fourteen hours.
obtained use of a new supercomputer to assist in predicting extreme
weather days in advance. Operating as a parallel computer system,
the computer is capable of making more than 450 billion calculations
Ocean Service (NOS) is responsible for managing and conserving the
nation’s coastal resources - one of our nation’s most
valuable assets. Key accomplishments in 2003 include:
issued the first ecological forecast of the dead zone in the Gulf
the first ever report to Congress on the state of coral reefs.
scientists deployed newly-developed optical detection technology
on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) to detect harmful algal
blooms (HAB), including the organism responsible for red tides
off Florida’s coast.
responded to 136 marine events, including oil and chemical spills,
search and rescue efforts, and other emergencies in 2003. As the
federal agency responsible for providing scientific support during
such events, NOS is among the first on the scene at a spill. NOS
provides information on spill trajectory, potential impacts to
the shoreline, cleanup strategies, chemical analysis and basic
oil spill science for public outreach.
Coastal Storms Initiative is a nationwide effort to lessen the
impacts to coastal communities from storms. This initiative helps
local, state, and federal organizations work together to use coastal
observing systems data to develop new and improved storm-related
tools, data, information, forecast models, and training opportunities.
is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living
marine resources and their habitats through scientific research,
fisheries management, law enforcement, and habitat conservation.
Accomplishments in 2003 include:
living creatures that are caught unintentionally by fishing gear,
continues to be a top concern for NOAA Fisheries. Through the
National Bycatch Strategy that was implemented in 2003, NOAA Fisheries
continues to work to assess our progress and identify areas where
more can be done to minimize bycatch.
of Kemp’s Ridley Turtles reached a milestone in 2003 with
the documentation of 8,000 nests - compared with 700 nests documented
January 2003, NOAA Fisheries completed a Strategic Plan to Reduce
Ship Strikes of North Atlantic Right Whales. The draft plan is
a comprehensive, multi-year, multi-agency blueprint for addressing
ship strikes, one of the most significant known threats to the
highly endangered North Atlantic right whale.
October 2003, VT Halter Marine Inc. and NOAA launched the first
of four planned NOAA fisheries survey vessels. Christened OSCAR
DYSON, the 208 ft. ship will be one of the most technologically
advanced fisheries survey vessels in the world when it enters
service in the summer of 2004.
and Information Service (NESDIS) provides timely access to global
environmental data from satellites and other sources to promote,
protect, & enhance the nation's economy, security, environment,
& quality of life. Key accomplishments in 2003 include:
April 1, GOES -12, the nation’s newest and most advanced
geostationary operational environmental satellite, was activated
from an on-orbit storage mode, replacing the older GOES-8, which
served for almost 10 years. GOES-12 is the first satellite to
have an advanced solar storm detector, the Solar X-ray Imager
satellites monitored fourteen named storms and 5 tropical depressions
over the Atlantic, and sixteen named storms over the Eastern Pacific.
were 224 rescues in 2003 thanks to the international Cospas-Sarsat
program, which uses NOAA satellites and Russian satellites to
detect and locate emergency signals from beacons carried by vessels,
aircraft, and outdoor adventurers in distress.
An important new capability for the program are Personal Locator
Beacons (PLBs) carried by outdoor adventurers. PLBs can pinpoint
the location of a person in distress. The beacons were approved
for use throughout the United States in July 2003.
the primary research and development organization within NOAA, studies
the Earth system from the deep ocean to the sun. Accomplishments
in 2003 include:
is leading or supporting the development of nineteen of the twenty-one
Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) synthesis and assessment
products over the next 4 years. Further, NOAA Research scientists
are contributing to products ranging from the study of carbon
cycle dynamics and greenhouse gas emissions to projections of
future climate change, along with the development of decision
support tools to help decision-makers.
the autumn of 2003, NOAA researchers helped to forecast activity
and capture images of solar storms of record-breaking magnitude.
Using NOAA's GOES-12 satellite’s Solar X-ray Imager (SXI),
they captured images of some of the largest solar flare activity
National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) improved the regional
accuracy of products used by National Weather Service forecasters.
Improvements have also been made in the WSR-88D weather radar
- Warning Decision Support System (WDSS-II) through enhanced WSR-88D
severe weather detection and prediction algorithms and display
capabilities provided to NWS Forecasters.
deployment of the 1,000th Argo float, a world-wide ocean observation
system, that monitors temperature and salinity. The data can be
used for operational forecasts as well as by the scientific community
contributing to our understanding of the role of oceans in climate.
and Aviation Operations operates a wide variety of specialized aircraft
and ships to complete NOAA's environmental and scientific mission.
Key accomplishments include:
retrofitted vessels joined the NOAA fleet in 2003 replacing vessels
that were originally placed in service during the early 1960s.
The introduction of these vessels has reduced the average age
of the NOAA fleet from 33.6 years to 28.2 years, a decrease of
Gulfstream IV (G-IV), a high altitude jet, was utilized for analysis
of a hurricane’s inner core for the first time. Joining
NOAA’s WP-3D Orion turboprop aircraft, and the U.S. Air
Force Reserve WC-130 aircraft, the G-IV provided data during Hurricane
ability to accurately measuring hurricane force winds at sea surface
has been answered by the development of a next generation airborne
Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR). The SFMR was successfully
tested onboard NOAA’s WP-3D aircraft.
NOAA is dedicated
to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction
and research of weather and climate-related events and providing
environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine
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