The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; pronounced /'no?.?

/,
like "Noah") is an American scientific agency within the United States Departmen
t of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. NOAA w
arns of dangerous weather, charts seas, guides the use and protection of ocean a
nd coastal resources, and conducts research to improve understanding and steward
ship of the environment. In addition to its civilian employees, 12,000 as of 201
2,[3] NOAA research and operations are supported by 300 uniformed service member
s who make up the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. The current Under Secretary o
f Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere at the Department of Commerce and the agenc
y's administrator is Kathryn D. Sullivan, who was nominated February 28, 2013, a
nd confirmed March 6, 2014.[4]
Contents [hide]
1
Purpose and function
2
History
3
Organizational structure
3.1
National Weather Service
3.2
National Ocean Service
3.3
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
3.4
National Marine Fisheries Service
3.5
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
3.6
National Geodetic Survey
3.7
National Integrated Drought Information System
3.8
Office of Program Planning and Integration
4
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
5
Flag
6
See also
7
References
8
External links
Purpose and function[edit]
Two NOAA WP-3D Orions
NOAA plays several specific roles in society, the benefits of which extend beyon
d the US economy and into the larger global community:
A Supplier of Environmental Information Products. NOAA supplies information to i
ts customers and partners pertaining to the state of the oceans and the atmosphe
re. This is clearly manifest in the production of weather warnings and forecasts
through the National Weather Service, but NOAA's information products extend to
climate, ecosystems, and commerce as well.
A Provider of Environmental Stewardship Services. NOAA is also the steward of U.
S. coastal and marine environments. In coordination with federal, state, local,
tribal, and international authorities, NOAA manages the use of these environment
s, regulating fisheries and marine sanctuaries as well as protecting threatened
and endangered marine species.
A Leader in Applied Scientific Research. NOAA is intended to be a source of accu
rate and objective scientific information in the four particular areas of nation
al and global importance identified above: ecosystems, climate, weather and wate
r, and commerce and transportation.[5]
The five "fundamental activities" are:
Monitoring and observing Earth systems with instruments and data collection netw
orks.
Understanding and describing Earth systems through research and analysis of that
data.
Assessing and predicting the changes of these systems over time.
Engaging, advising, and informing the public and partner organizations with impo
rtant information.
Managing resources for the betterment of society, economy and environment.[6]
History[edit]

Seal of the NOAA Commissioned Corps

NOAA was formed on October 3, 1970, after Richard Nixon proposed creating a new
agency to serve a national need " for better protection of life and property from
natural hazards for a better understanding of the total environment
[and] for e
xploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resource
s ..." NOAA formed a conglomeration of several existing agencies that were among
the oldest in the federal government. They were the United States Coast and Geo
detic Survey, formed in 1807; the Weather Bureau, formed in 1870 Geodetic Survey a
nd Weather Service had been combined by a 1965 consolidation into the Environmen
tal Science Services Administration (ESSA); and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheri
es, formed in 1871. NOAA was established within the Department of Commerce via t
he Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970.[7] In 2007 NOAA celebrated 200 years of se
rvice with its ties to the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.[8]
Organizational structure[edit]
The NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps is a uniformed service of men and women who
operate NOAA ships and aircraft, and serve in scientific and administrative post
s.
NOAA works toward its mission through six major line offices, the National Envir
onmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS), the National Marine F
isheries Service (NMFS), the National Ocean Service (NOS), the National Weather
Service (NWS), the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and the Offi
ce of Marine & Aviation Operations (OMAO).[9] and in addition more than a dozen
staff offices, including the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology,
the NOAA Central Library, the Office of Program Planning and Integration (PPI).[
9]
National Weather Service[edit]
Seal of the National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is tasked with providing "weather, hydrologic
, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adj
acent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the en
hancement of the national economy." This is done through a collection of nationa
l and regional centers, 13 river forecast centers (RFCs), and more than 120 loca
l weather forecast offices (WFOs). They are charged with issuing weather and riv
er forecasts, advisories, watches, and warnings on a daily basis. They issue mor
e than 734,000 weather and 850,000 river forecasts, and more than 45,000 severe
weather warnings annually. NOAA data is also relevant to the issues of global wa
rming and ozone depletion.[citation needed]
The NWS operates NEXRAD, a
n detect precipitation and
t on NOAA Weather Radio, a
forecasts, severe weather
tion needed]

nationwide network of Doppler weather radars which ca

their velocities. Many of their products are broadcas
network of radio transmitters that broadcasts weather
statements, watches and warnings 24 hours a day.[cita

National Ocean Service[edit]

The National Ocean Service (NOS) focuses on ensuring that ocean and coastal area
s are safe, healthy, and productive. NOS scientists, natural resource managers,
and specialists serve America by ensuring safe and efficient marine transportati
on, promoting innovative solutions to protect coastal communities, and conservin
g marine and coastal places.[citation needed]
The National Ocean Service is composed of eight program offices, the Center for
Operational Oceanographic Products and Services,[10] the Coastal Services Center
,[11] the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science,[12] the Office of Coast Su
rvey,[13] the Office of National Geodetic Survey,[14] the Office of National Mar

ine Sanctuaries[15] the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management[16] and
the Office of Response and Restoration.[17]
There are two NOS programs, namely the Mussel Watch Contaminant Monitoring Progr
am and the NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and two staff offices,
the International Program Office and the Management and Budget Office.
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service[edit]
NOAA engineer at work
The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) was
created by NOAA to operate and manage the US environmental satellite programs,
and manage NWS data and those of other government agencies and departments.[cita
tion needed] NESDIS's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) arch
ives data collected by the NOAA, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, the Federal Aviation
Administration, and meteorological services around the world and comprises the
Center for Weather and Climate (previously NOAA's National Climatic Data Center)
and the Center for Coasts, Oceans, and Geophysics (created by a merger of NOAA'
s National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC), National Oceanographic Data
Center (NODC) and the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC)).
In 1960 TIROS-1, NOAA's first owned and operated geostationary satellite was lau
nched. Since 1966 NESDIS has managed polar orbiting satellites (POES) and since
1974 it has operated geosynchronous satellites (GOES) . In 1979 NOAA's first pol
ar-orbiting environmental satellite was launched. Current operational satellites
include NOAA-15, NOAA-18, NOAA-19, GOES 13, GOES 14, GOES 15, Jason-2 and DSCOV
R. In 1983, NOAA assumed operational responsibility for Landsat satellite system
.[citation needed] Since May 1998, NESIDS has operated the Defense Meteorologica
l Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites on behalf of the Air Force Weather Agency.
[citation needed]
New generations of satellites are developed to succeed the current polar orbitin
g and geosynchronous satellites, the Joint Polar Satellite System) and GOES-R, w
hich is scheduled for launch in March 2017.[citation needed]
NESDIS runs the Office of Projects, Planning, and Analysis (OPPA)] formerly the
Office of Systems Development,[18] the Office of Satellite Ground Systems (forme
rly the Office of Satellite Operations)[19] the Office of Satellite and Project
Operations,[20] the Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR)],[21]
the Joint Polar Satellite System Program Office[22] the GOES-R Program Office, t
he International & Interagency Affairs Office, the Office of Space Commercializa
tion[23] and the Office of System Architecture and Advanced Planning.
National Marine Fisheries Service[edit]
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) was initiated in 1871 to protect, s
tudy, manage and restore fish. The NMFS has a marine fisheries research lab in W
oods Hole, Massachusetts and is home to one of NOAA's five fisheries science cen
ters. Its law enforcement agency is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis
tration Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement based in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research[edit]
Main article: Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
NOAA's research, conducted through the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Researc
h (OAR), is the driving force behind NOAA environmental products and services th
at protect life and property and promote economic growth. Research, conducted in
OAR laboratories and by extramural programs, focuses on enhancing our understan
ding of environmental phenomena such as tornadoes, hurricanes, climate variabili
ty, solar flares, changes in the ozone, air pollution transport and dispersion,[
24][25] El Nio/La Nia events, fisheries productivity, ocean currents, deep sea the
rmal vents, and coastal ecosystem health. NOAA research also develops innovative

technologies and observing systems.

The NOAA Research network consists of seven internal research laboratories, extr
amural research at 30 Sea Grant university and research programs, six undersea r
esearch centers, a research grants program through the Climate Program Office, a
nd 13 cooperative institutes with academia. Through NOAA and its academic partne
rs, thousands of scientists, engineers, technicians, and graduate students parti
cipate in furthering our knowledge of natural phenomena that affect the lives of
us all.[citation needed]
The Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) is one of the laboratories in the Office of O
ceanic and Atmospheric Research. It studies processes and develops models relati
ng to climate and air quality, including the transport, dispersion, transformati
on and removal of pollutants from the ambient atmosphere. The emphasis of the AR
L's work is on data interpretation, technology development and transfer. The spe
cific goal of ARL research is to improve and eventually to institutionalize pred
iction of trends, dispersion of air pollutant plumes, air quality, atmospheric d
eposition, and related variables.[citation needed]
The Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), is part of NOAA
's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, located in Miami, Florida. AOML's
research spans hurricanes, coastal ecosystems, oceans and human health, climate
studies, global carbon systems, and ocean observations. AOML's organizational s
tructure consists of an Office of the Director and three scientific research div
isions (Physical Oceanography, Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems, and Hurricane Res
earch). The Office of the Director oversees the Laboratory's scientific programs
, as well as its financial, administrative, computer, outreach/education, and fa
cility management services. Research programs are augmented by the Cooperative I
nstitute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), a joint enterprise with the
University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. CIMA
S enables AOML and university scientists to collaborate on research areas of mut
ual interest and facilitates the participation of students and visiting scientis
ts. AOML is a member of a unique community of marine research and educational in
stitutions located on Virginia Key in Miami, Florida.[citation needed]
In 1977 the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) deployed the first su
ccessful moored equatorial current meter
the beginning of the Tropical Atmospher
e Ocean, TAO, array. In 1984 the Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere program (TOGA)
program began.
National Geodetic Survey[edit]
The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) is the primary surveying organization in the
United States.[citation needed]
National Integrated Drought Information System[edit]
The National Integrated Drought Information System is the lead federal agency fo
r the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).[citation needed]
Office of Program Planning and Integration[edit]
The Office of Program Planning and Integration (PPI) was established in June 200
2 as the focus for a new corporate management culture at NOAA. PPI was created t
o address the needs to foster strategic management among NOAA Line and Staff Off
ices, Goal Teams, Programs, and Councils, support planning activities through gr
eater opportunities for active participation of employees, stakeholders, and par
tners, build decision support systems based on the goals and outcomes set in NOA
A's strategic plan, and g uide managers and employees on program and performance
management, the National Environmental Policy Act, and socioeconomic analysis.[
citation needed]
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[edit]

Since 2001, the organization has hosted the senior staff and recent chair, Susan
Solomon, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's working group on cl
imate science.[26]
Flag[edit]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration flag, flown as a distinguish
ing mark by all commissioned NOAA ships.
The NOAA flag is a modification of the flag of one of its predecessor organizati
ons, the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Coast and Geodetic Survey'
s flag, authorized in 1899 and in use until 1970, was blue, with a white circle
centered in it and a red triangle centered within the circle. It symbolized the
use of triangulation in surveying, and was flown by ships of the Survey.[citatio
n needed]
When NOAA was established in 1970 and the Coast and Geodetic Survey's assets bec
ame a part of NOAA, NOAA based its own flag on that of the Coast and Geodetic Su
rvey. The NOAA flag is in essence the Coast and Geodetic Survey flag, with the N
OAA logo a circle divided by the silhouette of a seabird into an upper dark blue a
nd a lower light blue section, but with the "NOAA" legend omitted centered within
the red triangle. NOAA ships in commission display the NOAA flag; those with onl
y one mast fly it immediately beneath the ship's commissioning pennant or the pe
rsonal flag of a civilian official or flag officer if one is aboard the ship, wh
ile multimasted vessels fly it at the masthead of the forwardmost mast.[27] NOAA
ships fly the same ensign as United States Navy ships but fly the NOAA flag as
a distinguishing mark to differentiate themselves from Navy ships.