UCAR Goals
The highlights on the following pages encompass only a few of the many
activities at UCAR, NCAR, and UOP. Below is a listing of UCAR’s
six goal areas and a sampling of recent accomplishments and plans in each.
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 Science
Foster a broad scientific program of highest quality to address present
and future needs of society
New scientists, new ideas
An infusion of 17 early-career scientists brought fresh blood to NCAR’s
research in 2003–04. The new researchers are part of a multiyear
plan to bolster the scientific and demographic diversity of the center’s
staff. With backgrounds ranging from applied mathematics and geography
to physical chemistry and marine science, these recent arrivals will play
key roles in NCAR’s multidisciplinary strategic initiatives and
new institutes. Many young scientists at the universities now meet with
their counterparts at NCAR each summer for a three-day forum that stimulates
discussion and collaboration on such topics as Sun-climate connections
and the role of coastal zones in global biogeochemistry.
 Research
facilities
Develop and acquire state-of-the-art scientific research facilities
for the atmospheric and related sciences community
A portrait of drought-quenching rains
The 2004 field phase of the North Amercan Monsoon Experiment (NAME)
analyzed the surge of moisture that brings critical rain each summer from
northwest Mexico into the southwest United States. NCAR’s S-Pol
radar, deployed near Mazatlan, provided key data on torrential storms
and the microphysics unfolding within them. Three of NCAR’s Integrated
Sounding Systems gathered vertical profiles of wind, moisture, and temperature.
NCAR scientists also helped deploy nearly 100 rain gauges along remote
Mexican mountainsides. UOP’s Joint Office for Science Support maintained
the NAME database and helped coordinate logistics for the field work,
which was led by NOAA and Mexico’s weather service.
 Education
and training
Devote significant attention to education and training, with emphasis
on women and minorities
Cultivating the geoscientists of tomorrow
In response to the decreasing flow of geoscience students into U.S. graduate
schools, UCAR cohosted a March 2004 event aimed at bringing more undergraduates—especially
those from underrepresented groups—into the field. Held at the National
Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., the daylong GEO Forum brought
dozens of college students from the mid-Atlantic region to hear talks
from 14 eminent speakers and to network with peers and mentors. The meeting
was sponsored by TIAA-CREF, The Weather Channel, and RS Information Systems.
 Engaging
the senses in climate
New exhibits at NCAR’s Mesa Laboratory are bringing color, sound,
and texture to the story of the Earth system. The Climate Discovery exhibit
offers a dynamic and comprehensive view of Earth’s past, present,
and future climate. Touch-friendly elements include a tree-ring sample
and a trilobite fossil. Weather and climate experts guide thousands of
visitors through the Mesa Lab via audio tours on compact disk, now available
at child and adult levels in both English and Spanish. A team of NCAR
scientists and educators is producing a visitor’s guide for teachers
that delves into more detail on the Little Ice Age and solar effects on
climate.
 Advocacy,
public policy, and communication
In cooperation with other institutions, play a strong role in developing
enhanced and more effective methods of communication among scientists,
policy makers, and the public in order to foster the use of science in
the service of humankind
A voice for weather research
According to best estimates, weather shapes more than a quarter of U.S.
economic output. To help make the nation’s policy makers more aware
of the importance of weather research, UCAR has teamed with several private
firms and nonprofit associations and over a dozen universities to form
The Weather Coalition. Through joint statements and visits to Congress,
the coalition serves the weather sector by advocating for research to
improve U.S. weather prediction and warning capabilities and to map the
nation’s societal and economic vulnerability to storms and other
weather hazards.
 Technology
transfer
In conjunction with the UCAR Foundation, transfer appropriate UCAR
technology to the public and private sectors
Smart system for airport safety
A software-and-sensor blend that offers improved short-term forecasts
of winter weather could save money and boost passenger safety at airports
often hobbled by snow and ice. Weather
Support to Decision Making has been refined through more than a decade
of NCAR research supported by the Federal Aviation Administration. Tested
in Denver, WSDM is being considered for deployment at New York’s
three major airports and at Minneapolis-St. Paul. The system has been
licensed by the UCAR Foundation to Peak Weather, a for-profit firm launched
in 2003 to help bring NCAR technology to market; it is being commercialized
through a joint venture among Peak Weather, CLH Inc., and Weather Decision
Technologies.
 Research
and operational partnerships
Strengthen the relationship between the operational and research
communities in the atmospheric and oceanic sciences
Teamwork spanning agencies and countries
To be launched in late 2005, an array of six satellites in low Earth orbit
will intercept signals from Global Positioning System satellites. By analyzing
the atmosphere-induced bending of these signals, the system will produce
some 2,500 vertical profiles of temperature, moisture, and electron density
each day across the globe. Encouraged by landmark research conducted by
UOP in the mid-1990s, Taiwan and the United States funded the $100 million
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate.
UOP and NSF worked closely to shepherd the project through diplomatic
and funding channels. COSMIC data may prove to be a vein of gold for climate
research and monitoring, especially for the poorly sampled atmosphere
above Earth’s oceans. Once brought into computer models at NOAA’s
National Centers for Environmental Prediction and other global centers
for weather prediction, the data will help guide daily weather forecasts
in the United States and around the world. COSMIC data will also be used
to support ionospheric research and space weather forecasting.
(Photos by Carlye Calvin. Satellite image courtesy
COSMIC.)
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