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Overview:

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is the research agent of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is also referred to as NOAA Research. OAR and its scientists study different aspects of the environment in an effort to understand, protect, and predict climate variability, water resources, and the world’s different ecosystems. The Office has three main research areas: 1) climate, 2) oceans, great lakes, and coasts, and 3) weather and air quality. In 2007 OAR won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore in distributing information about its subject and immediacy. This advancement comes in conflict with President Bush’s original stance against the idea of climate change; however, he is now moving forward to accepting the idea with recent reports on preparations to cut greenhouse emissions. (See Controversies).

more
History:

OAR was formed with the creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in October 1970, which merged the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries into one agency. NOAA was placed under the administration of the Department of Commerce by means of the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970.

 

During the 1970s this research branch of NOAA continued to expand its activities including accelerating research on hurricane intensity and movement, a federal-state cooperative program to evaluate the effectiveness of weather modification in Utah and North Dakota, and passing the National Climate Program Act in 1978 to develop a plan with federal and non-federal participants to estimate climate trends and predict future changes. Undersea research also expanded during this time, with the creation of the Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office in 1971; by 1977 they had established the first regional undersea research facility in St. Croix.

 

With its primary focuses being climate, oceans, great lakes, and coasts, and weather and air quality, OAR continued to make gains in several fields. In 2007, its scientists’ climate model discovered that warming-induced wind shear changes could impact hurricane development and intensity. Also in 2007, NOAA Research scientists were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Vice President Al Gore for their efforts to build up and distribute knowledge about man-made climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was represented by Dr. Susan Soloman of OAR’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), and Dr. Dan Albritton, former director of ESRL’s Chemical Sciences Division. Other 2007 achievements include launching the first buoy to measure acidification, measuring oceanic methane emissions for climate impact, and continued undersea exploration of the Ring-of-Fire.

more
What it Does:

NOAA Research studies and predicts changes in the environment through its many components. Its Research Laboratories combine research, technology development, and services to improve our understanding of the world’s environment and how to predict changes. The laboratories have also established collaborative programs with universities and non-profit institutions that form Joint Research Institutes relating to the earth’s oceans, inland waters, intermountain west, atmosphere, and arctic environments.

 

OAR’s second component is the National Sea Grant College Program that connects the nation’s top universities and research institutions in conducting scientific research, education, and extension projects to understand and use our ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources. Currently, there are 30 programs at locations including the University of Southern California, Scripps Institution at UC San Diego, Louisiana State University, University of Georgia, and the University of Florida.

 

In addition, the NOAA Undersea Research Program and its scientists explore, sample, and live under the ocean using advanced technologies and techniques. With one national office and six national undersea research centers, scientists use mixed gas scuba diving, underwater remotely operated vehicles and other technologies to study fisheries, diversity of life, and environmental change.

 

OAR also has a Climate Program Office (CPO), created in 2005, which leads NOAA’s Climate and Global Change Program. CPO incorporates the Office of Global Programs, the Arctic Research Office, and the Climate Observations and Services Program in sponsoring research and climate activities across NOAA aimed at predicting climate variability.

 

OAR is also involved in many cooperative research partnerships with universities, research institutions, and other branches of NOAA including the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research in Alaska, the Cooperative Institute for Climate Applications and Research in New York, the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies in Oklahoma, and the Joint Institute for Marine Observations in California.

 

Research Programs

NOAA Research Laboratories

National Sea Grant College Program

NOAA Undersea Research Program

NOAA Climate Program Office

 

Research Partnerships

Cooperative Research Institutes

Sea Grant Programs

Undersea Research Centers

more
Controversies:

Recently, there has been speculation that the Bush administration has changed and/or ignored data from government scientists regarding global warming and climate change. There has been a major push by scientists and Congress on President Bush to change his opinions and stop pressuring federal scientists to change their information. The follow reports address these issues, including reports that the Government Accountability Project found that 43% of surveyed federal scientists saw edits during review of their work that changed the meaning of their findings. Currently, the Bush administration is changing its position on climate change from disbelief to inviting countries to a climate change summit.

Bush Administration in Hot Seat Over Warming (Associated Press/MSNBC)

Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming (by Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times)

Bush Seeks Climate Change Talk (by Deb Riechmann, Associated Press)

US Prepared to Cut Greenhouse Emissions (CNN)

more

Comments

mew 7 years ago
It is sad that we do not consider how our actions impact on marine life. Please keep on fighting for climate change, it is a worldwide problem for all life forms. https://hotaccessories.org

Leave a comment

Founded: 1970
Annual Budget: $5.1 billion (FY 2013 Request)
Employees: Around 12,222 (FY 2013 Request)
Official Website: http://research.noaa.gov/
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
McLean, Craig
Assistant Administrator

Craig N. McLean was named January 21, 2015, to head the office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He’s responsible for the agency’s research laboratories, climate program, National Sea Grant, and ocean exploration.

 

McLean was born August 21, 1957, and grew up on the Passaic River in Rutherford, New Jersey, at a time when the Passaic was too polluted to swim in. He began taking diving lessons at the age of 14 and soon performed decompression diving in order to explore deep-ocean shipwrecks. He worked on dive boats on weekends and when one client filmed the dumping of sewage, McLean took an underwater camera and recorded a sewage barge as it dumped a load on top of him.

He earned a B.A. degree in Zoology in 1979 from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While at Rutgers, he gained his first experience with the NOAA, sailing on a ship that was investigating sludge dumping and its effect on public health.

 

After college, McLean worked for a diving company for two years and helped create a nonprofit marine education program for urban students. He then joined the NOAA Commissioned Corps. He began what was to become his almost 25-year association with the Corps as a deck officer and diving officer on a hydrographic survey ship, mapping nautical charts. He then worked at the National Marine Fisheries Service, specializing in developing sustainable fish harvesting strategies. He was executive officer on the Albatross and captain of the NOAA’s largest fisheries ship, the 225-foot Gordon Gunter. He was also deputy director of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program.

 

McLean returned school to become a lawyer, earning his Juris Doctor from the Quinnipiac College School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut, and did additional studying at George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and Georgetown University Law Center.

As an attorney, McLean practiced marine resource law for NOAA, and provided legal advice in the NOAA General Counsel’s office. He prosecuted violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. He was also the lawyer and deputy for the National Marine Sanctuary System.

 

In 2001, McLean was chosen to be the founding director of the NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration. In 2003 and 2004, he directed NOAA expeditions to study the sunken remains of the R.S.S. Titanic.

 

In 2006, McLean was named deputy assistant administrator for programs and administration of NOAA’s OAR. He subsequently served in NOAA as executive officer of the National Ocean Service. Beginning in April 2010, McLean was OAR’s acting assistant administrator.

 

McLean is a former chairman of the board of the Sea-Space Symposium. He is a fellow in the Explorer’s Club and the Marine Technology Society (MTS), and former chairman of MTS’s Marine Law and Policy Committee.

 

He is married to JoAnn McLean and lives in Maryland.

                                                                        -David Wallechinsky, Danny Biederman

 

To Learn More:

Official Bio

Interview with NOAA’s Craig McLean (Dive and Discover)

more
Spinrad, Richard
Previous Assistant Administrator

After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, Richard W. Spinrad earned an M.S. in physical oceanography and a Ph.D. in marine geology from Oregon State University. He began his career as a research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, where his study of the relationship between water clarity and marine biological productivity was critically acclaimed.

 
Spinrad served as manager of oceanographic research at the Office of Naval Research and was first manager of the Navy’s ocean optics program. He eventually became the Division Director for all of the Navy’s basic and applied research in ocean, atmosphere and space modeling and prediction. By 1994 Spinrad became the Executive Director of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, and in 1999 he became the Technical Director to the Oceanographer of the Navy.
 
Currently, Dr. Spinrad holds positions in many organizations. He is the United States’ permanent representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the UN’s Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, as well as a co-chair for the White House Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Service and Technology. In addition, Spinrad is the President of the Oceanography Society, a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He was once Editor-in-Chief of Oceanography magazine. 

 
more
Bookmark and Share
Overview:

The Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is the research agent of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is also referred to as NOAA Research. OAR and its scientists study different aspects of the environment in an effort to understand, protect, and predict climate variability, water resources, and the world’s different ecosystems. The Office has three main research areas: 1) climate, 2) oceans, great lakes, and coasts, and 3) weather and air quality. In 2007 OAR won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore in distributing information about its subject and immediacy. This advancement comes in conflict with President Bush’s original stance against the idea of climate change; however, he is now moving forward to accepting the idea with recent reports on preparations to cut greenhouse emissions. (See Controversies).

more
History:

OAR was formed with the creation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in October 1970, which merged the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau, and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries into one agency. NOAA was placed under the administration of the Department of Commerce by means of the Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1970.

 

During the 1970s this research branch of NOAA continued to expand its activities including accelerating research on hurricane intensity and movement, a federal-state cooperative program to evaluate the effectiveness of weather modification in Utah and North Dakota, and passing the National Climate Program Act in 1978 to develop a plan with federal and non-federal participants to estimate climate trends and predict future changes. Undersea research also expanded during this time, with the creation of the Manned Undersea Science and Technology Office in 1971; by 1977 they had established the first regional undersea research facility in St. Croix.

 

With its primary focuses being climate, oceans, great lakes, and coasts, and weather and air quality, OAR continued to make gains in several fields. In 2007, its scientists’ climate model discovered that warming-induced wind shear changes could impact hurricane development and intensity. Also in 2007, NOAA Research scientists were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Vice President Al Gore for their efforts to build up and distribute knowledge about man-made climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was represented by Dr. Susan Soloman of OAR’s Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), and Dr. Dan Albritton, former director of ESRL’s Chemical Sciences Division. Other 2007 achievements include launching the first buoy to measure acidification, measuring oceanic methane emissions for climate impact, and continued undersea exploration of the Ring-of-Fire.

more
What it Does:

NOAA Research studies and predicts changes in the environment through its many components. Its Research Laboratories combine research, technology development, and services to improve our understanding of the world’s environment and how to predict changes. The laboratories have also established collaborative programs with universities and non-profit institutions that form Joint Research Institutes relating to the earth’s oceans, inland waters, intermountain west, atmosphere, and arctic environments.

 

OAR’s second component is the National Sea Grant College Program that connects the nation’s top universities and research institutions in conducting scientific research, education, and extension projects to understand and use our ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources. Currently, there are 30 programs at locations including the University of Southern California, Scripps Institution at UC San Diego, Louisiana State University, University of Georgia, and the University of Florida.

 

In addition, the NOAA Undersea Research Program and its scientists explore, sample, and live under the ocean using advanced technologies and techniques. With one national office and six national undersea research centers, scientists use mixed gas scuba diving, underwater remotely operated vehicles and other technologies to study fisheries, diversity of life, and environmental change.

 

OAR also has a Climate Program Office (CPO), created in 2005, which leads NOAA’s Climate and Global Change Program. CPO incorporates the Office of Global Programs, the Arctic Research Office, and the Climate Observations and Services Program in sponsoring research and climate activities across NOAA aimed at predicting climate variability.

 

OAR is also involved in many cooperative research partnerships with universities, research institutions, and other branches of NOAA including the Cooperative Institute for Arctic Research in Alaska, the Cooperative Institute for Climate Applications and Research in New York, the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies in Oklahoma, and the Joint Institute for Marine Observations in California.

 

Research Programs

NOAA Research Laboratories

National Sea Grant College Program

NOAA Undersea Research Program

NOAA Climate Program Office

 

Research Partnerships

Cooperative Research Institutes

Sea Grant Programs

Undersea Research Centers

more
Controversies:

Recently, there has been speculation that the Bush administration has changed and/or ignored data from government scientists regarding global warming and climate change. There has been a major push by scientists and Congress on President Bush to change his opinions and stop pressuring federal scientists to change their information. The follow reports address these issues, including reports that the Government Accountability Project found that 43% of surveyed federal scientists saw edits during review of their work that changed the meaning of their findings. Currently, the Bush administration is changing its position on climate change from disbelief to inviting countries to a climate change summit.

Bush Administration in Hot Seat Over Warming (Associated Press/MSNBC)

Bush Aide Softened Greenhouse Gas Links to Global Warming (by Andrew C. Revkin, New York Times)

Bush Seeks Climate Change Talk (by Deb Riechmann, Associated Press)

US Prepared to Cut Greenhouse Emissions (CNN)

more

Comments

mew 7 years ago
It is sad that we do not consider how our actions impact on marine life. Please keep on fighting for climate change, it is a worldwide problem for all life forms. https://hotaccessories.org

Leave a comment

Founded: 1970
Annual Budget: $5.1 billion (FY 2013 Request)
Employees: Around 12,222 (FY 2013 Request)
Official Website: http://research.noaa.gov/
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research
McLean, Craig
Assistant Administrator

Craig N. McLean was named January 21, 2015, to head the office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He’s responsible for the agency’s research laboratories, climate program, National Sea Grant, and ocean exploration.

 

McLean was born August 21, 1957, and grew up on the Passaic River in Rutherford, New Jersey, at a time when the Passaic was too polluted to swim in. He began taking diving lessons at the age of 14 and soon performed decompression diving in order to explore deep-ocean shipwrecks. He worked on dive boats on weekends and when one client filmed the dumping of sewage, McLean took an underwater camera and recorded a sewage barge as it dumped a load on top of him.

He earned a B.A. degree in Zoology in 1979 from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. While at Rutgers, he gained his first experience with the NOAA, sailing on a ship that was investigating sludge dumping and its effect on public health.

 

After college, McLean worked for a diving company for two years and helped create a nonprofit marine education program for urban students. He then joined the NOAA Commissioned Corps. He began what was to become his almost 25-year association with the Corps as a deck officer and diving officer on a hydrographic survey ship, mapping nautical charts. He then worked at the National Marine Fisheries Service, specializing in developing sustainable fish harvesting strategies. He was executive officer on the Albatross and captain of the NOAA’s largest fisheries ship, the 225-foot Gordon Gunter. He was also deputy director of the National Marine Sanctuaries Program.

 

McLean returned school to become a lawyer, earning his Juris Doctor from the Quinnipiac College School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut, and did additional studying at George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and Georgetown University Law Center.

As an attorney, McLean practiced marine resource law for NOAA, and provided legal advice in the NOAA General Counsel’s office. He prosecuted violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. He was also the lawyer and deputy for the National Marine Sanctuary System.

 

In 2001, McLean was chosen to be the founding director of the NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration. In 2003 and 2004, he directed NOAA expeditions to study the sunken remains of the R.S.S. Titanic.

 

In 2006, McLean was named deputy assistant administrator for programs and administration of NOAA’s OAR. He subsequently served in NOAA as executive officer of the National Ocean Service. Beginning in April 2010, McLean was OAR’s acting assistant administrator.

 

McLean is a former chairman of the board of the Sea-Space Symposium. He is a fellow in the Explorer’s Club and the Marine Technology Society (MTS), and former chairman of MTS’s Marine Law and Policy Committee.

 

He is married to JoAnn McLean and lives in Maryland.

                                                                        -David Wallechinsky, Danny Biederman

 

To Learn More:

Official Bio

Interview with NOAA’s Craig McLean (Dive and Discover)

more
Spinrad, Richard
Previous Assistant Administrator

After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, Richard W. Spinrad earned an M.S. in physical oceanography and a Ph.D. in marine geology from Oregon State University. He began his career as a research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, where his study of the relationship between water clarity and marine biological productivity was critically acclaimed.

 
Spinrad served as manager of oceanographic research at the Office of Naval Research and was first manager of the Navy’s ocean optics program. He eventually became the Division Director for all of the Navy’s basic and applied research in ocean, atmosphere and space modeling and prediction. By 1994 Spinrad became the Executive Director of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education, and in 1999 he became the Technical Director to the Oceanographer of the Navy.
 
Currently, Dr. Spinrad holds positions in many organizations. He is the United States’ permanent representative to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the UN’s Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, as well as a co-chair for the White House Joint Subcommittee on Ocean Service and Technology. In addition, Spinrad is the President of the Oceanography Society, a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He was once Editor-in-Chief of Oceanography magazine. 

 
more