Constituent Relations

Public Comment Sought on Ocean Acidification Research Plan

The draft Strategic Plan for Federal Research and Monitoring of Ocean Acidification is available for public review and comment through September 10. The Draft Research Plan presents a vision for how to move Federal agencies toward a better understanding of the process of ocean acidification, its effects on marine ecosystems, and the steps that could be taken to adapt marine resource management to account for it. For more information and to submit comments, please see the Federal Register Notice.

NOAA Funds Social Science Research into Weather Warnings, Social Media, Internet and Public Response

NOAA funded researchers will use innovative social science research techniques to better understand how the public sifts important weather warnings from the myriad information sources present in daily life. Results from the four two-year projects, funded by NOAA's Office of Weather and Air Quality with support from the U.S. Weather Research Program and the National Weather Service, will improve the way potentially life-saving weather warnings reach those who need to act on them.

NOAA Research FY 2013 Budget

On February 13, President Obama issued his proposed 2013 budget for NOAA, which totals nearly $5.1 billion. Dr. Lubchenco, the NOAA Administrator, led a briefing on the NOAA FY 2013 President’s Budget Request on Wednesday, February 16, 2012. The NOAA FY 2013 budget summary or “Blue Book” is available online.

FY 13 Senate Mark
The FY 2013 Senate Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science bill was marked up in Subcommittee on April 17 and reported by the full Committee on April 19, 2012 (S. 2323 and S.Rept. 112-158). The Committee recommended $3,418,709,000 for NOAA, which is $1,474,966,000 below FY 12 enacted levels and $1,635,837,000 below the President’s FY 13 request. This amount includes the transfer of new environmental satellite acquisitions from NOAA to NASA.

For OAR, the Committee recommended $414,636,000 for Operations, Research and Facilities (ORF) and $10,379,000 in Procurement, Acquisition and Construction (PAC) for a total of $425,015,000. For details, see the full Senate Report.

FY 13 House Mark
The FY 2013 House Appropriations Commerce-Justice-Science bill was marked up in Subcommittee on April 19 and reported by the full Committee on April 26, 2012 (H.R. 5326 and H. Rept. 112-463.)

The House Report recommended a total of $4,961,669,000 in discretionary funds for NOAA, which is $67,994,000 above FY 12, $92,877,000 below the President’s FY 13 request, and $1,542,960,000 above the Senate Report. This funding level includes $3,102,435,000 in total ORF, $2,968,371,000 of which is in direct appropriations. This direct appropriation is $53,860,000 below the FY 12 enacted level and $74,089,000 below the President’s FY 13 request. The House Report does not propose to move weather satellite acquisition to NASA like the Senate Report does. For details, see the House Report.

For OAR, the House Report recommended $404,941,000 in ORF. This is $30,519,000 above the FY 12 level and $1,500,000 more than the President’s FY 13 request. This funding level underscores the Committee’s prioritization of research across the broad spectrum of NOAA programs.

The House Report contains the following language on balancing the research portfolio: "The Committee notes that the overall request for Climate Research activities exceeds that for Weather and Air Chemistry Research and Ocean, Coastal and Great Lakes Research combined. Therefore, the Committee recommends a more balanced funding allocation across NOAA’s research programs, including additional funding for Weather and Air Chemistry and Ocean, Coastal and Great Lakes Research programs. This reallocation provides for the ongoing operation at no less than current operating levels of NOAA’s research labs funded within OAR."

House Floor Action
The House bill (H.R. 5326) was debated on the House floor on May 8-10 and passed on May 10, 2012. Two amendments relevant to OAR were adopted. An amendment was offered by Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) to reduce NOAA ORF by $542,000 and passed with 219 votes to 189. Rep. Harris stated that the decrease is to be taken from the NOAA Climate Portal, bringing funding for the portal back to the FY 12 enacted level. Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) proposed an amendment to reduce NOAA ORF by $18 million and stated that the decrease is to be taken from NOAA climate research. House Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R-VA) then stated that the reduction would be at the NOAA ORF level and would affect weather research as well. We are still awaiting clarity as to the targeted line for the reduction. The amendment passed with 209 votes to 199.

Next steps
The passed House bill will be sent to the Senate to debate on the floor. Schedule TBD.

OAR Constituent Update Calls

OAR Assistant Administrator Dr. Robert Detrick will hold quarterly OAR Update calls for constituents. Please email oar.constituents@noaa.gov or call Mary Ann Kutny at 301-734-1153 to be added to the invitation list for these calls.

NOAA Research networking group on Linked In

Join NOAA Research on LinkedIn. We have created a new NOAA Research Group on LinkedIn to allow members to network with other NOAA Research partners and supporters across disciplines, organizations and industries.

Upcoming Meetings & Events

Catch up with NOAA Research staff at the following events:

2012 AARP Life@50+ Expo, September 20-22 in New Orleans, LA

Marine Technology Society/IEEE Oceans '12, October 14-19 in Hampton Roads, VA

2012 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 3-7 in San Francisco, CA

American Meteorological Society 93rd Annual Meeting, January 6-10 in Austin, TX

Constituent Roundtables

Constituent involvement is essential to OAR's success as we strive to define our priorities and align them with the NOAA Five-Year Research Plan. The purpose of this series of Roundtables is to solicit input from key constituents to ensure OAR's priorities reflect the needs of our current and future partners and customers.

For summaries of past roundtables, please click the links below.

Silver Spring Roundtable
On July 26, 2012, Dr. Detrick hosted a constituent roundtable discussion on the "Future Direction of NOAA Research" where participants provided input on the future direction of NOAA's research enterprise. The discussion focused on the role of research and development in achieving NOAA's mission, research opportunities, and the importance of partnerships.

Summary of Silver Spring Roundtable | Participant List

Year