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NOAA Research Matters: Technological Innovations and Scientific Advances that Improve Our Lives
Learn about the preeminent contributions OAR scientists and our partners have made to building the knowledge base, tools, products, and services through which we can better understand and address the dynamics of our changing planet.

Scientific Assessment Finds Expanding Use of Climate Forecasts Could Mean Better Water Management -- Expanding the use of seasonal to interannual climate forecasts, especially in drought-prone and semi-arid parts of the United States, can assist decision makers in the management of water resources, according to a new NOAA-led scientific assessment. The assessment is one in a series of synthesis and assessment reports coordinated by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

2008 Sees Fifth Largest Ozone Hole. -- The ozone hole over Antarctica, which fluctuates in response to temperature and sunlight, grew to the size of North America in a one-day maximum in September that was the fifth largest on record, since NOAA satellite records began in 1979.

NOAA has named a new director for one of the world’s premier climate modeling laboratories. -- Dr. Venkatachalam Ramaswamy of Lawrenceville, N.J., is the new Director of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, N.J. GFDL develops earth system computer models as well as conducts climate research.

Annual Arctic Report Card Shows Stronger Effects of Warming -- Temperature increases, a near-record loss of summer sea ice, and a melting of surface ice in Greenland are among some of the evidence of continued warming in the Arctic, according to an annual review of conditions in the Arctic issued today by NOAA and its university, agency, and international partners.

Russian Ship Under Indian Charter Rescues Errant NOAA Mooring -- The Russian research vessel Akademic Boris Petrov, under charter with the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), recovered a drifting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) climate mooring in an emergency operation on September 12.

Award-Winning Technology Improves Air-Drop Targeting -- Wind-forecast software from NOAA, now being used in both Iraq and Afghanistan, has won a federal technology transfer award for four scientists at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder. The software improves the target accuracy of an aircraft drop system up to 70 percent.

The Ocean Comes to the Mall -- The Sant Ocean Hall — opening September 27 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History — combines marine specimens and models, high-definition video experiences, one-of-a kind exhibits, and the newest technology, enabling visitors to explore the ocean’s past, present, and future.

PMEL Director Dr. Eddie Bernard Earns Service to America Medal -- Dr. Eddie Bernard, Director of NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle has become the first NOAA scientist to be awarded a Service to America Medal (SAM) for his work in establishing an international tsunami detection and forecast system.

NOAA NSSL’s new mobile radar captures dual-pol data on Hurricane Ike -- The first dual-polarized Doppler radar data of a landfalling hurricane eyewall was collected as Hurricane Ike came ashore in Texas last weekend. The data was collected by a new mobile dual-polarized X-band radar (called NO-XP) built and operated by NOAA NSSL and the University of Oklahoma.

Department of Energy to Provide Supercomputing Time to Run NOAA’s Climate Change Models -- The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science will make available more than 10 million hours of computing time for the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to explore advanced climate change models at three of DOE’s national laboratories as part of a three-year memorandum of understanding on collaborative climate research signed today by the two agencies.

research.noaa.gov
Updated 1/13/2009

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration