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).
The Weather Bureau sets up a research station to advise the national nuclear weapons testing program in Las Vegas, Nevada. The station eventually becomes a part of ARL.
Mauna Loa carbon dioxide record begun in collaboration with Scripps Institute of Oceanography by what will become the ARL. The Mauna Loa observatory eventually becomes part of the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory’s air sampling network, and is one of the four Aremote@ observatories used for baseline measurements of trace gases in the atmosphere. This data set will show the rate at which carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising.
The National Severe Storms Project is renamed the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and moved to Norman, Oklahoma. Roger Lhermitte working at NSSL modifies a 3-cm wavelength continuous wave Doppler radar that had been used by the Weather Bureau for several years to detect tornadoes into a more practical pulsed Doppler radar.
ESSA, the largest single piece of NOAA, was itself the product of a reorganization plan. In Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1965, President Johnson proposes the consolidation of two long-standing agencies of the Department of Commerce -- the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Weather Bureau. In addition, the new ESSA includes the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory of the National Bureau of Standards which later becomes the Institute for Telecommunications Sciences and Aeronomy. The creation of ESSA responds to the national need for adequate warnings of severe and natural hazards, for technological advances in capabilities to observe the physical environment and for investigations into the physical environment as a “scientific whole” rather than a “collection of separate and distinct fields of scientific interest.”
National Sea Grant College and Program Act establishes the National Sea Grant College Program to provide for utilization of marine resources, economic opportunities, and perform coastal and marine research. At this time the Sea Grant Program is assigned to the National Science Foundation, however, Sea Grant becomes a part of NOAA in 1970.
A restructuring designed to more precisely reflect the scope and mission of individual elements leads to the creation of ESSA Research Laboratories. GFDL moves to Princeton University, thereby forming a long-standing partnership between NOAA and a premier academic institution, a relationship that produces outstanding scientists in academia and national laboratories.
Roger Lhermitte now working at the Wave Propagation Laboratory, later known as the Environmental Technology Laboratory, builds two 3-cm wavelength Doppler radars that become operational and will become an important component in operational weather forecasting and analysis.
GFDL scientists develop first coupled atmosphere-ocean climate model, the prototype for all models used today to project future climate change.
NOAA is organized. The ESSA Research Labs are renamed to the Environmental Research Laboratories (ERL).
Undersea science research in NOAA begins as the Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office (MUS&T). Coordinated manned research with universities, began in 1978 to use submersibles and remote underwater technology to perform underwater marine science research.
Under the leadership of Dale Sirmans, NSSL builds two 10-cm Doppler radars (more suitable for severe storm detection) that become operational in 1971 and 1974. Doppler radar measurements in the Union City, Oklahoma tornado of May 24, 1973 lead to the discovery of the doppler velocity tornadic vortex signature that helps to justify the need for the development of a national network of NEXRAD or WSR-88D Doppler radars.
The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) is formed as a small research laboratory with emphasis on water quality and environmental impact issues in Puget Sound, off the Oregon and Washington coasts, in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea, and in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
GLERL is established following a joint U.S.-Canada International Field Year of the Great Lakes that focused scientific research on Lake Ontario during 1973. That effort was based on increased binational commitment toward more effective management and protection of the Lakes as outlined in the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1972.
PMEL deploys first equatorial mooring.
Bill Taylor develops one of the world’s first systems for mapping the structure and development of lightning inside storms. This system is transferred in 1978 to NSSL, where it is used to improve understanding of the unusual lightning of severe storms and of the processes by which storms produce lightning. This early work leads to NSSL investigating how present real-time lightning mapping systems can be used to detect updraft evolution and aid in warning of storm hazards.
Multi-agency Joint Doppler Operational Project (JDOP), which was conducted at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL), showed that Doppler radar would increase the timeliness and accuracy of severe storm and tornado warnings. JDOP findings led to the development of the national network of operational Doppler radars known as WSR-88Ds.
The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) begins as the Office of Research and Development (ORD) following an agency reorganization. ORD was established to support NOAA laboratories and the academic community in environmental research in support of NOAA programs needs; implementation of the Sea Grant program; and Federal leadership for interagency, international research programs like the Global Atmospheric Research Program.
NOAA establishes the first regional underwater research facility within the Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office, the underwater habitat HYDROLAB.
NSSL begins a modest expansion of its research on storm electricity and lightning in collaboration with NASA, with emphasis on studying the unusual electrical properties of severe storms and storm systems.
The NSSL begins the development of mobile laboratories for severe storm research. This concept led to the development of mobile stations (called mobile mesonets) for measuring temperature, wind, and other atmospheric properties near the surface while the vehicle moves. Mobile mesonets have been used to measure the atmosphere around and beneath severe storms, and these measurements have led, for example, to improved understanding of tornadogenesis. Such a capability still exists at NSSL and has spawned a multitude of mobile mesonets operated by individuals and institutions.
NSSL cooperates with the United States Air Force (USAF) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the DOPLIGHT field program which demonstrates that Doppler radar improves tornado warnings and measures wind shear. This results directly in the three agencies procuring a nationwide network of Doppler radars.
The GLERL total phosphorous management model was used to estimate loading restriction necessary to meet water quality goals in the Great Lakes. These estimates were used by the International Joint Commission to determine phosphorous loading criteria for the U.S. - Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
PMEL begins equatorial climate studies.
The Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office is renamed the National Undersea Research Program (NURP).
During the 1980s, NOAA led the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, resulting in a major review of the state of the science published in 1990. NOAA led in the development of methods to assess the way in which air pollution affects other parts of the environment. This work continues today (as of 2005) within the Air Resources Laboratory.
NSSL begins its multi-decadal leadership studying the scientific and operational uses of lightning ground strike detection networks. Over the next 10 years, NSSL does much of the work establishing the performance capabilities of these networks for eventual operational use by NWS, as well as doing many of the scientific studies of ground flash characteristics in severe storms. This work continues today with the new generation of lightning ground strike mapping systems.
Strong El Nino event marks a turning point in research on climate variability and the causes and effects of certain weather patterns around the globe, and demonstrates the need for an in-situ observing system.
The ORD office evolved into the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) which at that time managed major research to fulfill the agency's responsibilities for leadership in science and to improve understanding of the oceanic and atmospheric components of the global earth system.
PMEL begins its Vents program and Fisheries-Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (FOCI) program.
Conclusive evidence of stratospheric ozone depletion leads to the discovery and announcement of an ozone “hole” over Antarctica.
The Tropical Atmosphere Ocean (TAO) array is begun in the tropical Pacific under the auspices of the international Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program to study the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Buoy deployment and maintenance is coordinated and run by PMEL.
A GLERL-developed semi-automatic software package to predict water supplies to Lake Superior is installed on the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (Detroit District) mainframe computer for use in forecasting Great Lakes water levels for the International Joint Commission. A similar package was developed for Lake Champlain and provided to the National Weather Service. Also, GLERL’s Pathfinder Trajectory Prediction Model is used by the U.S. Coast Guard and the NOAA Hazardous Materials Response Team to predict the movement of spills.
NSSL finds that thunderstorm anvil clouds contain electric fields that are hazardous to aircraft and to manned and unmanned space vehicles many tens of miles from the storm convective core. This finding is incorporated into NASA launch criteria.
National Ozone Expeditions to Antarctica, with NOAA scientists serving as Mission Chief and Principal Investigators, are mobilized to study the Antarctic ozone hole. Researchers gather data that later confirm a NOAA scientist's theory that the ozone hole is caused by human-produced chlorine compounds interacting with polar stratospheric clouds.
First megaplume discovered by Vents researchers from PMEL.
Aeronomy Laboratory publishes the first study that demonstrates that natural sources of hydrocarbons, such as trees and other vegetation, can be so large in some regions of the country that human emissions of other compounds control the production of surface-level ozone in those areas. The finding has implications for current national efforts to develop effective approaches to improving air quality.
GLERL develops a PC-based computer program to assist in planning for storm surges on the Great Lakes in response to requests from the Department of Natural Resources of Michigan and Ohio, the Army Corps of Engineers, and several Sea Grant Programs.
Under the auspices of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Supporting Research (OFCM), NSSL combines its lightning ground strike mapping system with that of the Bureau of Land Management and the State University of New York at Albany to provide data for a national interagency demonstration project. This provides the first nationwide capability for detecting lightning ground strikes. As a result, NWS and other federal agencies decide to procure ground strike data for use in their weather operations.
Solar maximum hits Montreal, Quebec, 6 million people are without commercial electric power for 9 hours as a result of the huge geomagnetic storm.
NSSL develops a balloon-launching apparatus that allows meteorological balloons to be inflated and launched in high winds. This makes possible mobile ballooning in severe storms, a capability that has led to improved understanding of lightning production by severe storms and by large storm systems.
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