NOAA’s Climate Program Office

The Climate Program Office (CPO) manages competitive research programs in which NOAA funds high-priority climate science, assessments, decision support research, outreach, education, and capacity-building activities designed to advance our understanding of Earth’s climate system, and to foster the application of this knowledge in risk management and adaptation efforts. CPO-supported research is conducted in regions across the United States, at national and international scales, and globally.

Climate Variability and Predictability Program

The Climate Variability and Predictability (CVP) Program supports research that enhances our process-level understanding of the climate system through observation, modeling, analysis, and field studies. This vital knowledge is needed to improve climate models and predictions so that scientists and society can better anticipate the impacts of future climate variability and change. CVP maintains a portfolio of projects intended to answer the following questions:

• How can we better understand and anticipate the global and regional impacts of climate variability and change?
• What foundational knowledge do we need to improve climate models and predictions - improving our ability to assess risk and inform decision-making?
• How can we close the predictability gap between weather models (0-2 weeks) and climate models (seasonal to interannual) to inform seasonal and sub-seasonal predictions?

To achieve its mission, the CVP Program invests in NOAA mission-critical research, which is carried out at NOAA and other federal laboratories, NOAA Cooperative Institutes, and academic institutions. The Program also coordinates its sponsored projects with major national and international scientific bodies including the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) -  especially CLIVAR (Climate and Ocean Variability, Predictability and Change) and GEWEX (Global Energy and Water Cycle Exchanges)  programs - and the U.S. Global Change Research program (USGCRP).

NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information

NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI) hosts and provides public access to one of the most significant archives for environmental data on Earth. We provide over 37 petabytes of comprehensive atmospheric, coastal, oceanic, and geophysical data.

Data in Action

NCEI data help businesses and organizations across sectors operate more efficiently, safely, environmentally, and economically. Learn more about our Products, Services, and Resources.

NOAA’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory

[The Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) is composed of world-renowned scientists, experienced technical staff, committed support staff, world-class laboratory facilities, instrumentation and models, access to dedicated platforms, and dedicated resources to advance scientific understanding of the chemical and physical processes that affect Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and composition. By advancing scientific knowledge of the Earth's atmosphere, CSL responds to emerging and evolving societal issues related to air quality, climate, and the stratosphere.] [ast added from CSL site]

• Our mission is to advance scientific understanding of three major environmental and societal issues of our time: air quality, climate, and the stratospheric ozone layer through atmospheric research on the chemical and related physical processes that affect Earth's atmospheric composition.
• Our vision of the future is a nation that has the needed scientific understanding and information about our atmosphere (environmental intelligence) to make optimal decisions in the interests of the well being of current and future generations.

Integral to CSL's work is ensuring that governments, the public, and industry can access our scientific findings. We provide explanations of our research in user-friendly, policy-relevant formats, which may be used to help develop informed decisions.

CSL's work to advance the scientific understanding of atmospheric chemical processes is essential for understanding and predicting changes in Earth's environment – the heart of NOAA's mission.

NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory 

ESRL's Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducts research that addresses three major challenges; greenhouse gas and carbon cycle feedbacks, changes in clouds, aerosols, and surface radiation, and recovery of stratospheric ozone.

Mission

To acquire, evaluate, and make available accurate, long-term records of atmospheric gases, aerosol particles, clouds, and surface radiation in a manner that allows the causes and consequences of change to be understood.

Vision

A Society using the best possible information to inform decisions on climate change, weather variability, carbon cycle feedbacks, and ozone depletion.

Research Goals

• To operate reference observing systems of key atmospheric variables: long-lived greenhouse gases, water vapor, ozone, ozone depleting substances, aerosols, radiation and clouds.
• To develop new observing, analytical and modeling capabilities for the atmosphere to enable a process understanding of past and future changes.
• To maintain calibration systems and provide calibration services to the global atmosphere monitoring community.

Approach

GML performs reference measurements and research focused on the role of the atmosphere on global climate forcing, the ozone layer and background air quality. GML maintains calibration scales and provides calibration services to support the World Meteorological Organization Global Atmospheric Watch programs.

Collaborations

GML expertise and operations support research and innovation in different areas:

• Atmospheric measurement development, calibration, and testing
• Measurement intercomparison
• Top-down emission quantification
• Satellite and model data evaluation
• Renewable (solar and wind) energy production forecasting