Millions in NOAA funds would cover tech, research projects

The federal agency charged with studying the earth's environment and leading scientific research in ecosystems, global climate change, weather and related fields would get $3.9 billion in fiscal 2008 under an appropriations bill the House passed last month. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's allocation in the measure, H.R. 3093, is $140 million more than the Bush administration's request and $56 million more than the 2007 budget. The Senate measure, which awaits a floor vote, would provide about $4 billion to NOAA. An American Association for the Advancement of Science analysis earlier this year said NOAA's research and development funding under the White House's plan would fall 9.5 percent, to $544 million. Appropriators then added billions of dollars back into the budget, a more recent AAAS examination showed. NOAA research and development would get a 9.9 percent increase from the House and an 18 percent surge from the Senate, AAAS reported. The largest increases in the House bill would go to oceans and climate research under the oceanic and atmospheric research budget line. That R&D aid would jump 23 percent, to $346 million. The Senate would provide even more for those programs, said AAAS researcher Kei Koizumi. The House bill would reserve $6 million for a climate-change study under which the National Academies would make recommendations about actions and strategies for the issue. Congressionally requested studies are typical, but it is rare for such a study to be funded explicitly in a bill's text, Koizumi said. The House Appropriations Committee report on the measure seeks an additional $3 million for NOAA supercomputing to support the assessment of abrupt climate change; $20 million for competitive research grants; $1.3 million for NOAA's national climate data center; and $157 million for the National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a bill (S. 1745) that includes $636 million for the National Ocean Service, $927 million for the National Weather Service, $765 million for the National Marine Fisheries Service, $1 billion for satellite efforts, and $439 million for research. Despite the funding hike, the Senate panel's report criticizes NOAA for failing to fund recent recommendations of the Pew Ocean Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, Koizumi said. The House bill is mostly silent on ocean-related research. Given the growing fiscal demands on the Commerce Department, which houses NOAA, and increasing satellite costs incurred by the agency, Senate appropriators said it was "doubtful this administration will ever show the leadership and bold thinking required to address the true needs of our planet's oceans and atmosphere." AAAS said senators proposed $53 million in NOAA earmarks. A sampling of tech-intensive project proposals include:

• A geospatial data analysis center for soil moisture data at Alabama A&M University.
• A program for technological costal restoration at Louisiana State University.
• Research to address abrupt climate change at the University of Maine at Orono.
• A feasibility study on the applicability of advanced radar technologies in Wyoming.
• A coastal and inland hurricane-monitoring effort at the University of South Alabama.
• Advanced undersea mapping technology at the Mystic, Conn., aquarium.
• An international arctic research center at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
• And a New England weather technology initiative in Plymouth, N.H.