ORAU, University of Oklahoma win $8.4 million NOAA award for weather, climate change research

 

The University of Oklahoma and Oak Ridge Associated Universities were recently awarded $8.4 million over three years from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct weather and climate change monitoring research. The funding provides OU with the opportunity to expand its Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies’ research capabilities through a partnership with NOAA’s ORAU-managed Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, program, a press release said.

“CIMMS is one of OU’s treasures as it has played a significant role in advancing our understanding of the atmosphere as well as provided valuable technologies and tools for operational forecasters,” said Kelvin Droegemeier, OU vice president for research. “This new award will build upon these historical strengths to address some of today’s most compelling challenges in weather and climate.”

The award will help further OU’s key research in areas such as boundary layer characterization, which is the atmospheric layer closest to Earth’s surface, and climate observations and analyses. This research will directly support NOAA’s goal to improve prediction of severe weather near the earth’s surface and will provide funding for a research position at the ATDD location in Oak Ridge.

Through the ATDD program, ORAU works closely with NOAA to perform lower atmosphere research in the areas of air quality, contaminant dispersion, and climate studies.

“ORAU has supported NOAA’s ATDD since its early beginnings in 1948 as a weather bureau funded by the Atomic Energy Commission,” said ORAU President and CEO Andy Page. “We are thrilled to collaborate with the University of Oklahoma, an ORAU member school, to continue ATDD’s major contributions to many of the classic models of air pollution dispersion and expanding that important work under this new contract.”

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