National Center for Atmospheric Research

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR, pronounced "EN-car") has multiple facilities, including the I. M. Pei

I. M. Pei

Ieoh Ming Pei , commonly known as I. M. Pei, is a Chinese American architect, often called a master of modern architecture. Born in Canton, China and raised in Hong Kong and Shanghai, Pei drew inspiration at an early age from the gardens at Suzhou...

-designed Mesa Laboratory

Mesa Laboratory

The Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research is a research center located in Boulder, Colorado. The building complex was designed by modernist architect I. M. Pei in 1961 as his first project outside of city building design. It has been noted for its Anasazi-inspired...

headquarters in Boulder, Colorado

Boulder, Colorado

Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...

. NCAR is managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research is a nonprofit consortium of more than 75 universities offering Ph.D.s in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research and provides additional services to strengthen and support research and...

(UCAR) and sponsored by the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

(NSF). Studies include meteorology, climate science, atmospheric chemistry, solar-terrestrial interactions, environmental and societal impacts.

Research, services, and facilities

NCAR provides a broad array of tools and technologies to the scientific community for studying Earth’s atmosphere, including,

Specialized instruments to measure atmospheric processes
Research aircraft
High-performance computing and cyberinfrastructure, including supercomputers
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory
The Mauna Loa Solar Observatory is a collection of instruments for observing the sun located on the slopes of the Mauna Loa volcano on the island of Hawaii, USA at an elevation of .-General information:...
Cooperative field campaigns
Atmospheric model
Atmospheric model
An atmospheric model is a mathematical model constructed around the full set of primitive dynamical equations which govern atmospheric motions. It can supplement these equations with parameterizations for turbulent diffusion, radiation, moist processes , heat exchange, soil, vegetation, surface...

s of weather, chemical, solar, and climate processes, including cooperatively developed models such as:
- Community Climate System Model
  Community Climate System Model
  The Community Climate System Model is a coupled Global Climate Model developed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research with funding from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and NASA...
  
  (CCSM)
- Weather Research and Forecasting model
  Weather Research and Forecasting model
  The Weather Research and Forecasting model, , is a specific computer program with a dual use for forecasting and research. It was created through a partnership that includes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , the National Center for Atmospheric Research , and more than 150 other...
  
  (WRF)
- Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model
  Upper Atmospheric Models
  Most climate models simulate a region of the Earth's atmosphere from the surface to the stratopause. There also exist numerical models which simulate the wind, temperature and composition of the Earth's tenuous upper atmosphere, from the mesosphere to the exosphere, including the ionosphere...
  
  (WACCM)
Technology transfer to support societal needs
Data sets, data services, and other resources

The center is staffed by scientists, engineers, technicians, and support personnel who develop and extend these capabilities. Key research areas include

Climate
Climatology
Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences...

(Earth’s past, present, and future climate; the greenhouse effect, global warming, and climate change; El Niño, La Niña, and other large-scale atmospheric patterns; drought, wildfires)

Meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...

/Weather
Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. Most weather phenomena occur in the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers, generally, to day-to-day temperature and precipitation activity, whereas climate...

(short-term forecasts; weather forecasting and predictability; weather's effect on climate; hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe storms; physical processes)

Environmental and societal impacts (impacts of climate change on the natural and managed environment; interactions of weather, climate, and society; weather hazard systems for aviation and ground transportation; national security)

Pollution
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....

and air chemistry
Atmospheric chemistry
Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets is studied. It is a multidisciplinary field of research and draws on environmental chemistry, physics, meteorology, computer modeling, oceanography, geology and...

(air pollution on local, regional, and global scales; air chemistry and climate; chemical evolution and transport in the atmosphere)

the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

and space weather
Space weather
Space weather is the concept of changing environmental conditions in near-Earth space or thespace from the Sun's atmosphere to the Earth's atmosphere. It is distinct from the concept ofweather within the Earth's planetary atmosphere...

(the structure of the Sun, from its interior to sunspots to the solar corona; the solar cycle; the Sun’s effect on Earth’s weather and climate; space weather)

Other components of the Earth system
Earth system science
Earth system science seeks to integrate various fields of academic study to understand the Earth as a system. It considers interaction between the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere , biosphere, and heliosphere....

(the effects on weather and climate of interactions with: the oceans and other components of Earth's water cycle, including sea ice, glaciers, and the rest of the cryosphere; forests, agriculture, urbanization and other types of land use)

NCAR is organized into five laboratories and two programs:

Laboratories

Computational & Information Systems Laboratory (CISL)
Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL)
High Altitude Observatory (HAO)
NCAR Earth System Laboratory (NESL)
Research Applications Laboratory (RAL)

Programs

Advanced Study Program (ASP)
Integrated Science Program (ISP)

NCAR's service to the universities and larger geosciences community is reinforced by the offerings of UCAR's community programs

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

Computational and Information Systems Laboratory

The Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) is a laboratory within the National Center for Atmospheric Research. CISL was formerly known as the Scientific Computing Division (SCD). CISL manages and operates NCAR's supercomputers, mass storage system, networking, and other computing and cyberinfrastructure services. The Institute for Mathematics Applied to Geosciences (IMAGe) is a research division within CISL.

Participation in 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

Many NCAR scientists participate in national and international collaborations, projects, assessments, and panels. Notable among these is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a scientific intergovernmental body which provides comprehensive assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and...

. Scores of NCAR researchers and technical staff have contributed time and expertise to the IPCC assessments of climate change since they began in 1990, and all of them shared with colleagues around the world in the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

to Al Gore

Al Gore

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

and the IPCC.

Architecture

NCAR's flagship building is the award-winning Mesa Laboratory

Mesa Laboratory

, designed by architect I.M. Pei in the 1960s. This Boulder landmark sits atop 600-foot high Walter Orr Roberts

Walter Orr Roberts

Walter Orr Roberts was an American astronomer and atmospheric physicist. He received his doctorate in astronomy from Harvard University in 1943. He taught online for the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute in the mid-1980s, and also published an online weekly column entitled "Provocations"...

mesa above the city, against the Flatirons

Flatirons

The Flatirons are rock formations near Boulder, Colorado consisting of flatirons. There are five large, numbered Flatirons ranging from north to south along the east slope of Green Mountain, and the term "The Flatirons" sometimes refers to these five alone...

formation of the Rocky Mountains.

Public tours

The Visitor Center at the Mesa Laboratory

Mesa Laboratory

is open to the public daily at no charge. Guided tours and self-guided audio tours include one of the first supercomputers built by Seymour Cray

Seymour Cray

Seymour Roger Cray was an American electrical engineer and supercomputer architect who designed a series of computers that were the fastest in the world for decades, and founded Cray Research which would build many of these machines. Called "the father of supercomputing," Cray has been credited...

as well as NCAR's modern supercomputer fleet, many hands-on educational exhibits demonstrating weather phenomena and Earth's changing climate, and a scenic outdoor weather trail.

Scientific visitors

NCAR has many opportunities for scientific visits to the facilities for workshops, colloquia, and collaboration by colleagues in academia, government labs, and the private sector. Many NCAR staff also visit colleagues at universities and labs and serve as adjunct or visiting faculty.,

Funding and management

NCAR is managed by the nonprofit UCAR

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

and is one of the NSF

National Science Foundation

's Federally Funded Research and Development Center

Federally funded research and development center

Federally Funded Research and Development Centers conduct research for the United States Government. They are administered in accordance with U.S Code of Federal Regulations, Title 48, Part 35, Section 35.017 by universities and corporations....

s, with approximately 95% of its funding coming from the federal government. However, NCAR is not a federal agency and its employees are not part of the federal personnel system. NCAR employs about 1,000 staff. Its annual expenditures in fiscal year 2008 were $181 million. Roger Wakimoto became director of NCAR in 2010.

Notable scientists on the staff at the center include Tom Wigley

Tom Wigley

Tom Wigley is a climate scientist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research . He was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for his major contributions to climate and carbon-cycle modeling and to climate data analysis, and because he is "one of the...

, Kevin Trenberth, and Caspar Ammann.

External links

Official website
Public tours & exhibits, at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research is a nonprofit consortium of more than 75 universities offering Ph.D.s in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research and provides additional services to strengthen and support research and...

website
High-end Computing at NCAR, at the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory website
NCAR & Mallory Cave downloads, Information on hiking in the NCAR vicinity
NCAR Archives

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