The National Center for Atmospheric Research
NSF FFRDCs
Administered by universities and colleges:
National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center
(SRI International, USRA and UMET), Arecibo, PR
National Center for Atmospheric Research
(University Corporation for Atmospheric Research), Boulder, CO
National Optical Astronomy Observatories
(Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.), Tucson, AZ
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(Associated Universities, Inc.),
Green Bank, WV
What we do
research, observational & computing services,
application
development, education & training
weather, climate change, air quality, space weather
Tools and talent
aircraft, satellites & sensors
world-class predictive models
supercomputers & big data pioneer
•
About 960 staff
physical scientists (e.g., meteorologists, oceanographers,
chemists); mathematicians; social scientists;
computer scientists; engineers; business,
administrative & service professionals
Budget about $200 million per year
~70% from NSF
~25% from other U.S. agencies,
~5% from private sector and foreign sources
Supporting the research community
Field campaigns and experiments
Supercomputing and data management
Forum for exchange of ideas and planning
Science serving society
idea-to-action center for 100+ universities
high-impact research saving lives and money
Community Earth System Model (CESM)
Advancing Earth-system science
Community Involvement: CESM Management
CESM Advisory
Board
CESM Scientific
Steering Committee
BioGeoChemistry
Polar
Land
Ice
ChemistryClimate
Atmosphere
Software
Engineering
PaleoClimate
Whole
Atmosphere
Ocean
CESM is primarily sponsored by
the National Science Foundation
and the Department of Energy
Societal
Dimensions
CESM
Climate
Variability
and
Change
http://www.cesm.ucar.edu/management
Land
October/November 2011
Punta Arenas, Chile
•
NASA DC8 and NSF/NCAR GV with laser mapping, ice-penetrating and gravity
instruments to monitor and characterize Earth’s cryosphere
•
Survey of thickness and depth of polar ice sheets and glacial movement
•
Fills gap between NASA’s now defunct ICESat-1 satellite (2009) and its
replacement ICESat 2 (launch in 2016)
Pine Island Glacier (PIG)
GV Flight tracks
Crack in the Glacier
Crack in the Glacier
Major crack developed in Oct. 2011
18 miles long, 180 ft across, 150 ft deep
Iceberg that will be created would be 15x the
size of Manhattan
The hurricane hunter's power tool
NCAR's
dropsonde
weather sensor
Invented at NCAR
Dropped from aircraft into heart of storms
Gets critical data for storm location, strength
New version provides twice the data at less cost
In-flight icing
Caused 800+ deaths in
noncommercial aircraft
over 20 years
NCAR technology
Guiding pilots away from
dangerous flight paths
Preventing ~8 accidents,
saving ~$60 million/year
Weather’s highway toll
Each year:
7,000+ deaths
1.5 million crashes
554 million vehicle-hour delays
$2–3.5 billion trucking delays
NCAR and partners are developing
Weather-smart vehicles
Dashboard warning system for
oncoming weather hazards
Road maintenance decision tools
Harnessing more wind energy
Standard forecasts weren’t built
for energy prediction
NCAR’S pinpoint
forecast system
Maximizing turbine output
Identifying optimal sites
Saving millions per year
Weather forecasting for health
Deadly epidemic in 2009:
88,000 Africans contract meningitis
5,000 deaths
NCAR pilot program
Forecasting weather conditions that reduce
vulnerability
Providing key information for health experts
Helping identify populations in most need
•Construction project
completed approximately
2 months ahead of
schedule and under
budget.
YELLOWSTONE:
- 149.2 terabytes of memory
- 74,592 processor cores
- 1.6 petaflops peak
computational rate (30
times the capacity of the
current system)
Grand
Opening
10/15/12
The NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V
Also delivered on time and under budget
Totality during the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 provides a unique opportunity to
assemble a very large number of images, obtained by observers all along the path, into a
continuous record of chromospheric and coronal evolution over that time - totality lasts for
an hour and a half over the continental U.S - an Eclipse “Megamovie”.
August 21, 2017
Engage K-12, college, and
amateur groups to assemble
the movie using “standard”
photographic equipment.
https://www.facebook.com/EMP2017
Frontiers in Earth System Dynamics (FESD): Electrical Connections &
Consequences Within the Earth System (NSF/GEO: EAR, OCE, AGS)
Understand how global
atmosphere/ionosphere
electrical circuit varies
in response to
meteorological, solar,
galactic, and
magnetospheric
influences
Univ. Colorado, Penn State
NCAR Postdocs
Ingrid Cnossen
SOARS students
Ellen Cousins
Stanley Edwin Sarah Al-Momar
Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models
(EaSM): Urbanized Coastal Environments (NSF: GEO, MPS, SBE, OPP,
DOE, & USDA)
Summer and Winter Urban Heat Islands at High and Low Resolution
NJ @1km
Urban
fraction (%)
Summer
@1km
Temperature (˚F)
Coupled
multi-scale
Winter
ocean,@1km
atmosphere,
watershed,
biogeochemistry and
human system models
Rutgers University
NJ @1km
Forest
Slide 4 – Land Cover Change
Summer
@ 100km
Winter
@100km
NCAR as an “Intellectual Crossroads”
Workshops & Tutorials
Summer Colloquia
Education
~1000
Visitors
to NCAR
in FY12
The End