Laserfiche WebLink
<br />INTERMOUNTAIN WEST CLIMATE SUMMARY, JANUARY 2006 <br /> <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />NOAA Restructures Research Efforts: <br />Creates Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, CO <br /> <br />You may have noticed a change in the name on the front <br />page and for some of our sources in the last two issues of the <br />Intermountain West Climate Summary. The lab formerly known <br />as the Climate Diagnostics Center - home of Western Water <br />Assessment - has been incorporated into the new NOAA Earth <br />System Research Laboratory (ESRL). The National Oceanic and <br />Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) restructured and consoli- <br />dated its research efforts in Boulder, CO and, in October 2005, <br />formed a single laboratory focusing on earth system research. <br />The lab includes four divisions: Global Monitoring, Physical <br />Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Global Systems. <br />"This single laboratory will help NOAA better deal with the <br />research challenges of this new century, <br />in which the environmental issues we <br />face cross the traditional disciplinary <br />boundaries and demand a 'whole Earth' <br />perspective," said Dr. Richard D. Rosen, <br />former assistant administrator for <br />NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmo- <br />spheric Research, also known as NOAA <br />Research. Rosen added that the head- <br />quarters structure of NOAA Research <br />also will be reorganized to improve <br />communication and better coordinate <br />research within NOAA. The changes are <br />based on recommendations of a 2004 <br />Congressionally mandated review of <br />research within NOAA. Rosen held this <br />post during the reorganization. The new <br />head of Atmospheric Research is Dr. <br />Richard Spinrad. A search is underway <br />for a director of ESRL. <br /> <br />predictions, and climate change projections. <br />· Explain weather and climate processes with a focus on the <br />physical and dynamical forcing agents responsible for their <br />variations. <br />· Advance a predictive understanding of the Earth System <br />\vith quantified uncertainties for making informed and reasoned <br />decisions regarding climate and weather processes occurring on <br />time scales of weeks to decades. <br />The mission of PSD is to address physical science questions <br />of short- and long-term societal and policy relevance within <br />NOAA's Climate, Weather, and Water Goals. PSD will conduct <br />the physical process research necessary so that ESRL can help <br />provide the nation with a seamless suite of <br />information and forecast products ranging <br />from short-term weather forecasts to longer- <br />term climate forecasts and assessments. PSD <br />aims to provide the observation, analysis, and <br />diagnosis of weather and climate physical <br />processes necessary to increase understanding <br />of Earth's physical environment, including the <br />atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere (frozen water), <br />and land, and to enable improved weather and <br />climate predictions on global-to-local scales. <br /> <br /> <br />Integration of the PSD within ESRL <br />PSD joins three other divisions to form <br />ESRL. The ne\v "super-lab" brings together <br />integrated expertise in weather and climate <br />physical observations, modeling, analysis and <br />applications. PSD's central focus on physical <br />process research both supports and is supported <br />NOAA's David Skaggs Research Center <br />Boulder, CO by the other divisions in the following ways: <br />· The Global Systems Division provides <br />observations, modeling, and computational and display systems <br />development. <br />· PSD helps explain trends and changes in the environment <br />observed by the Global Monitoring Division. <br />· PSD collaborates with the Chemical Sciences Division to <br />improve the understanding, diagnoses, and prediction of air qual- <br />ity on time scales ranging from weather to short-term climate. <br />The two divisions will also develop an improved understanding <br />for the interrelationships and physical consequences of current <br />and future chemical states of the atmosphere. <br />ESRL's coordinated research effort will benefit the Inter- <br />mountain West water-management community by improving <br />collaboration among climate and weather researchers. The <br />Western Water Assessment can then disseminate new information <br />and research products to our stakeholders. <br /> <br />The ESRL Physical Sciences Division <br />The Climate Diagnostics Center is now part of the new Physi- <br />cal Sciences Division (PSD), which will carry out research on <br />climate and weather processes, diagnostics, modeling, empirical <br />analyses, focused field observations, and supporting technology <br />development. The Climate Diagnostics Center joins workgroups <br />from the Aeronomy Laboratory and the Environmental Technol- <br />ogy Laboratory to form PSD. This reorganization unifies the <br />various weather and climate observations, diagnostics and <br />process modeling research that has been occurring across the <br />former three laboratories. The merged Physical Sciences Divi- <br />sion focuses combined resources and talents to advance several <br />key NOAA mission goals in weather and climate: <br />· Improve the analysis and diagnosis of the weather and climate <br />system to advance short-term, intraseasonal-to-interannual <br /> <br />On the Web <br />- NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov <br />- NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory: http://esrl.noaa.gov/ <br />- 2004 Research Review Team Report: http://www.sab.noaa.gov/Reports/Reports.html <br /> <br /> <br />FocuS PAGE 11 8 <br />