NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) serves as the primary research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and maintains a strong history of pre-eminent and innovative research. The origins of OAR date back more than 200 years with the creation of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson. ;xNLx;;xNLx;The Coast Survey, which became the U.S Lake Survey office in 1841, was developed to undertake “a hydrographic survey of northwestern [Great] lakes.” Research executed by the scientists of this group was innovative and holistic: the first current meters were developed to understand water flow rates, and forecasting techniques were greatly enhanced to predict water levels and the relationship to lakefront property. The same traits of world class, long-term research continue to define OAR today.
The U.S. Lake Survey office is established with the first great influx of settlers to the Great Lakes with a mission to undertake “a hydrographic survey of the northern and northwestern lakes,” the role and responsibility of the Lake Survey grows as conditions on the Great Lakes change over the following 165 years. The need to study the velocity of water flow results in the development of current meters. When erosion of beaches threatens to destroy valuable lakefront property, extensive studies determine the causes. In order to more accurately predict the water levels of the Great Lakes, special forecasting techniques evolve. In 1970 the U.S. Lake Survey becomes part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). GLERL is formed by combining both the U.S. Lake Survey with its congressional mandate to study water and ice flow and produce water level forecasts and the International Field Years in the Great Lakes Office which was mandated to conduct studies directed at obtaining a better knowledge of the factors that affect the dispersal of pollutants in the lakes; thus, the beginnings of a truly multi-disciplinary environmental laboratory.
The Central Radio Propagation Lab in Boulder, Colorado, is established to focus on wartime experiences with radio communications. Research in telecommunications sciences, aeronomy, earth sciences, oceanography, and atmospheric sciences will lead to the establishment the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) in 1965.
The Special Projects Branch of the Weather Bureau is created, with Dr. Lester Machta as its leader. The intent is to assist national security endeavors requiring meteorological input.
The Weather Bureau’s Special Projects Research Office creates, the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division (ATTD) under Atomic Energy Commission sponsorship in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. ATDD will later be house within the Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) and serves as a source of meteorological information and expertise for the Department of Energy and its contractors in Oak Ridge. ATDD's main function is to perform air quality related research directed toward issues of national and global importance.
The first operational tornado forecast is made on March 25, 1948 from Tinker Air Force Base Weather Station in Oklahoma by Captain Robert C. Miller, under the command of Major Ernest J. Fawbush.
Major Ernest J. Fawbush and Captain Robert C. Miller establish the Severe Storms Forecast Center at Tinker Air Force Base.
President Eisenhower dedicates Boulder, CO laboratories.
The Atmospheric Modeling Sciences Division, which will eventually be included in ARL, is founded.
National Severe Storms Project is established in Kansas City, Missouri.
General Circulation Modeling Laboratory is established in Washington, D. C. and later becomes the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL).
