NOAA AWARDS $9.4 MILLION TO BOULDER AREA RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS
Grant Continues Global Climate Change Research

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has awarded $5.8 million to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and $3.6 million to the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), both based in Boulder, Colo. The multi-year grants continue NOAA’s partnership in climate and global change research with the two organizations. NOAA is an agency of the Commerce Department.

“These grants to UCAR and CIRES highlight the strong and important partnership that NOAA has with the Nation’s leading research institutions,” said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.“Through our grants program, NOAA is able to actively support and help create programs that reinforce our commitment to the environment.”

UCAR research under the grant will continue international scientific research activities such as EPIC (Eastern Pacific Investigation of Climate Processes), the CLIVAR (Climate Variability and Predictability) project, and the continued operation of the Water Cycle Office and the Arctic Research Office. In addition, programs to attract young scientists in the Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Sciences (SOARS) will continue along with the Visiting Scientists Program. Funding to UCAR will also help develop methods to monitor that climate data has a common property throughout.

UCAR is a nonprofit corporation formed in 1959 by research institutions with doctoral programs in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR was formed to enhance the computing and observational capabilities of the universities, and to focus on scientific problems that are beyond the scale of a single university. Based in Boulder, UCAR comprises 66 member representatives and 20 Academic Affiliate institutions.

The grant to CIRES will support research in the areas of climate system variability, regional processes, planetary metabolism, advanced observing and modeling systems, and atmospheric and climate dynamics.These five research topics are part of the six interdisciplinary research themes that guide CIRES projects.

Founded in 1967, CIRES is a research institute created to provide a setting for collaborative research and teaching in the wide-ranging disciplines of the environmental sciences. It is currently celebrating 35 years of partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado. CIRES research is centered around the study of the geosphere, biosphere and atmosphere.

Through March 2003, NOAA has awarded more than 186 grants totaling $65 million to members of the academic, scientific and business communities to assist the agency fulfill its mission, which is to study the Earth’s natural systems in order to predict environmental change, manage ocean resources, protect life and property, and provide decision makers with reliable scientific information. NOAA goals and programs reflect a commitment to these basic responsibilities of science and service to the nation for 33 years.

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.

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