NOAA ADMINISTRATOR ANNOUNCES 2005 BUDGET REQUEST
Retired
Navy Vice Adm. Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, unveiled President Bush’s
proposed 2005 budget for the Commerce Department’s National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Speaking to more than
125 stakeholders in Washington, D.C., Lautenbacher said NOAA’s
request totals $3.4 billion, an increase of $146.9 million over the
FY 2004 request.
“This
proposed budget maintains and enhances the services and programs for
our scientific understanding of the oceans and atmosphere and allow
us to sustain the nation’s environmental health and economic
vitality,” said Lautenbacher. “This budget request allows
us to develop the science necessary to improve weather, water and
ecosystem forecasts of the future, as well as give policy makers the
data they need to make important decisions related to climate change.”
The
budget request is based on NOAA’s Strategic Plan goals. Key
increases Include.
Weather
and Water - to serve society’s needs for weather and water information.
The $1.41 billion request is an increase of $58.1 million over current
program goal levels. Highlights include:
-
$31.7
million increase for NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES) program that is crucial for spotting atmospheric
triggers that can result in severe weather. Funding continues design
and risk reduction efforts towards technology advancement for the
new GOES R series satellites to be launched 2012.
(Increase includes crosscut funding from other NOAA strategic
plan goal programs.)
-
$31
million increase for NOAA’s National Polar Orbiting Environmental
Satellite System (NPOESS) program that, once operational, will converge
existing polar-orbiting satellite systems under a single national
program.
(Increase includes crosscut funding from other NOAA strategic
plan goal programs.)
-
$5.5
million more for NOAA to start twice daily air quality ozone forecasts
in northeastern states in 2004. The program could go nationwide
by 2008.
Climate
- to understand climate variability and change to enhance society’s
ability to plan and respond. The $369.3 million request is
an increase of $28.7 million over current program goal levels. Highlights
include:
-
A
$10.7 million increase for sustained ocean observation systems.
New observing technology allows NOAA to document the ocean’s
role in climate. This funding will accelerate deployment of moored
and free-drifting climate data buoys.
-
$6.6
million more to start a five-year study on aerosols, tiny particles
in the atmosphere that act to either heat or cool the atmosphere
and represent an area of scientific uncertainty. Research will focus
on field and airborne observations of how aerosols interact with
clouds to influence climate and improving computer model simulations.
-
$6.5
million more for a carbon cycle atmospheric observing system to
study carbon uptake in and around North America. This funding will
accelerate deployment of tower and aircraft-based measurements of
the vertical profile of carbon dioxide in North America and will
produce maps of regional sources and sinks of carbon dioxide.
-
$3.4
million increase for the Comprehensive Large Array Data Stewardship
System (CLASS). CLASS will allow development of a state-of-the-art
archive management system with a robust, large-volume storage and
retrieval system necessary for sharing data with the scientific
community.
Ecosystems
- to protect, restore and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources
through ecosystem approach to management. The $1.158 billion
request is an increase of $145.3 million over current program goal
levels. Highlights include:
-
$33.8
million increase to complete construction of a third acoustically
quiet fisheries survey vessel to collect stock assessments on 54
fish species in the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic and Caribbean, including
shrimp, snapper, grouper, shark, tuna and swordfish.
-
$9.9
million increase to expand and modernize the data collected by fisheries
observers in 15 fisheries. Observers are deployed in 43 fisheries,
with adequate level of coverage in 29.
-
$6.0
million increase to more adequately assess fish stocks around the
country, including monkfish, white and blue marlin, thornyhead,
yellowtail rockfish, Pacific mackerel and bottomfish around Hawaii.
-
$5.3
million increase to expand the use of satellite monitoring of commercial
fishing vessels for enforcement of fishing rules and collection
of scientific data.
-
$12.0
million increase for research and action programs to help restore
12 species of threatened and endangered salmon in the Pacific Northwest
and the Klamath Basin.
-
$6.5
million more to streamline the regulatory and administrative processes
of fisheries management and analyzing environmental impacts of protected
species.
-
$2.0
million more to conduct additional surveys and improve population
estimates and predictive models for whales, loggerhead sea turtles
and other key species.
Commerce
and Transportation - support the nation’s commerce with information
for safe, efficient and environmentally sound transportation.
NOAA is requesting $252.1 million, an increase of $23.1 million over
current program levels, to address this goal. Highlights include:
-
$8.6
million increase for the charter of hydrographic survey vessels
to map more of the nation’s ports and coastal waterways.
-
$2.0
million more is requested to make 90 more nautical charts available
electronically. The Electronic Navigational Charts program provides
mariners a quick and safe method of navigating U.S. waters, and
are a tools for rapid emergency response for hurricanes, shipwrecks
and Homeland Security concerns.
The
Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(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 resources.
On the Web:
NOAA:
http://www.noaa.gov
NOAA
Strategic Plan: http://www.spo.noaa.gov
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