National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Archives

Possible government shutdown: DOE says it will be open Monday

Posted at 11:17 am January 19, 2018
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Y-12 National Security Complex Aerial Photo

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge is pictured above in June 2012. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

Note: This story was last updated at 1:35 p.m.

A possible government shutdown is looming with federal funding expiring today, but the U.S. Department of Energy, which has facilities in Oak Ridge, said it will be open for business on Monday.

For now, federal employees are expected to continue to report for work as scheduled, DOE said in a shutdown plan posted on its website Friday. That approach appeared similar to DOE’s guidance during the last shutdown more than four years ago.

But “a prolonged lapse in appropriations may require subsequent employee furloughs,” DOE said of this year’s possible shutdown on Friday. “If there is an imminent threat to human life or protection of property, a limited number of employees may be recalled from furlough status.”

Federal sites in Oak Ridge include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, the Oak Ridge Office, Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, and East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, among others. Those are DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration sites, and they include a mix of federal and contractor employees. There is also a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility on South Illinois Avenue. [Read more…]

Senate committee rejects proposal to close NOAA lab with Oak Ridge division

Posted at 3:27 pm July 31, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge is pictured above on Tuesday, July 11, 2017. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has rejected a Trump administration proposal to close a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration laboratory that has a division in Oak Ridge.

The budget submitted to Congress by President Donald Trump on Tuesday, May 23, had proposed closing NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory. That air research laboratory has a field office in Oak Ridge, the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, on South Illinois Avenue.

But an appropriations bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee in a 30-1 vote on Thursday explicitly rejected the proposed elimination of the Air Resources Laboratory, which is part of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. (See page 40 here.)

The Senate committee recommended providing at least as much funding for the Air Resources Laboratory in fiscal year 2018 as in fiscal year 2017. Fiscal year 2018 starts October 1.

The bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday is the Fiscal Year 2018 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. It’s not clear when the legislation will be considered by the full Senate. [Read more…]

President’s budget would close NOAA lab that has Oak Ridge division

Posted at 12:43 pm July 12, 2017
By John Huotari 4 Comments

Note: This story was last updated at 9:20 a.m. July 13.

The Trump administration’s budget request for the next fiscal year would close a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration air research laboratory that has a division in Oak Ridge, according to budget documents posted online.

The budget request for fiscal year 2018, which starts October 1, would close NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, or ARL, which has headquarters in College Park, Maryland. The Air Resources Laboratory has satellite campuses in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Mercury, Nevada. Those satellite campuses would also close, according to the documents, which were posted by the NOAA Budget Office.

The Oak Ridge campus is on South Illinois Avenue, in a historic building that was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD. The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division is one of several field divisions of the Air Resources Laboratory. The ARL in turn is part of NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

There are 33 employees at the Oak Ridge campus, including NOAA and ORAU workers. The primary focus of the ATDD is to maintain NOAA’s Climate Reference Network, a network of weather stations across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, to monitor climate change.

The Oak Ridge division also works with other NOAA groups that study the formation of tornadoes, using unmanned aerial vehicles to understand tornado formation. It also works with the Air Resources Laboratory headquarters on air quality modeling and forecasting.

The NOAA budget request, which has not been approved by Congress, proposes zeroing out funding and employment at the Air Resources Laboratory, cutting base funding from about $4.7 million and 34 full-time equivalents (FTE) to $0 and zero FTE. President Donald Trump submitted his administration’s budget request to Congress on Tuesday, May 23. [Read more…]

Climate data: Knox County could have 20-80 more days above 95 by 2100

Posted at 11:20 pm June 8, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

By 2100, Knox County could have 20-80 more days when the maximum temperature is above 95 degrees Fahrenheit, according to climate data used by the City of Knoxville and developed with help from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NOAA Climate Explorer.

The additional 20 days with a high over 95 is considered the best-case scenario. That would be almost three more weeks of high temperatures.

The 80 more days with a high over 95 would be a worst-case scenario. That would be close to three more months of high temperatures.

The higher and lower number of days appear to be correlated with, or caused by, higher and lower emissions.

There could be some variability in the temperature increases from year to year, but the overall trend would be up, according to the data, which used the NOAA Climate Explorer. (NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)

An animated image based on the data shows projected changes from 2011 to 2050 in an eight-county region, including Knox and Anderson. Overall, there would be a general increase in the number of days with a maximum temperature above 95 degree Fahrenheit, compared to a 1981-2005 average. There could be some variability by location, even between counties. You can the animated image here: ORNL Climate Data Summary Movie. (The movie moves quickly through the slides after the animation; you can find a PDF version of those slides in the link at the end of this article.) [Read more…]

UT, NOAA to collaborate on atmospheric sciences research

Posted at 1:07 pm February 21, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Taylor Eighmy, UT vice chancellor for research and engagement, left, and Bruce Baker, director of NOAA’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, headquartered in Oak Ridge, right, sign a memorandum of agreement in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

Taylor Eighmy, left, UT vice chancellor for research and engagement, and Bruce Baker, right, director of NOAA’s Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, which has headquarters in Oak Ridge, sign a memorandum of agreement in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville has signed a memorandum of agreement with the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Air Resources Laboratory to advance collaborative research in atmospheric sciences. ATDD has headquarters in Oak Ridge.

The agreement was signed Wednesday, February 15, at ATDD headquarters in Oak Ridge, and it will help with joint efforts to advance understanding of air pollution, atmospheric transport processes, and weather on a regional and national level, a press release said. It also will create educational opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to collect scientific data, develop models and simulations, and transition research to applications and commercial use.

“The mission of the collaboration will be to train the next generation of scientists and engineers and provide the best available atmospheric data and scientific analysis to the global scientific community, to local and national decision makers, and to the general public,” said Bruce Baker, director of the ATDD. [Read more…]

Preservationists concerned as NOAA seeks comment on possible move from historic building

Posted at 2:12 pm November 18, 2016
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Preservationists are concerned as federal officials seek public comment on the possibility of moving out of a historic building that is one of the few World War II-era buildings remaining on main roads in Oak Ridge—and possibly the only one left on Illinois Avenue. It was once an emergency hospital and then a health department. It now houses the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, at 456 South Illinois Avenue. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division, or ATDD, of the Air Resources Laboratory, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is now at 456 South Illinois Avenue. It’s just north of Ole Ben Franklin Motors and across from new shopping centers on the other side of South Illinois Avenue.

During World War II, the single-story white building was an emergency hospital to serve federal plants. Oak Ridge was built in the mid-1940s, during the war, to help make the world’s first nuclear weapons as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, and it enriched uranium for the first atomic bomb used in wartime.

After the war, the building, which is now owned by NOAA, was used as the city’s health department, said Mick Wiest of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association, or ORHPA.

Wiest said the building is well-maintained, and it’s received a historic preservation award from ORHPA. [Read more…]

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

Posted at 1:04 am August 31, 2016
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Photo via ORAU on Twitter

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. [Read more…]

ORFD: Sign up for CodeRed Severe Weather Alert System

Posted at 11:56 pm March 29, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Fire Department is encouraging home and business owners to commit to being a leader for weather readiness by signing up on the CodeRed Severe Weather Alert System.

The system is designed to help spread the word about severe weather and make employees and members of the community better prepared, a press release said.

“Know the risks, take action, and be an example by signing up,” a press release said. [Read more…]

Lionfish invasion, sharks to be featured in ‘Classroom Under the Sea’

Posted at 8:29 am October 23, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The invasion of the lionfish will be one of the topics covered during the October 23 broadcast of “Classroom Under the Sea.” Lad Akins, director of special projects for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF), shows a lionfish. (Submitted photo)

One of the most destructive forces in the ocean today is a fish. One of the most misunderstood fish in the ocean is known for its destructive force.

The lionfish and the shark will be the topics of the next episode of “Classroom Under the Sea,” an online lecture series hosted by two educators living underwater for 73 days.

The live program start at 1 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, October 23. Viewers can watch at roanestate.edu/classroomunderthesea and on youtube.com/classroomunderthesea.

Biology professor Bruce Cantrell and adjunct professor Jessica Fain from Roane State Community College in East Tennessee are living and working in an underwater habitat—Jules’ Undersea Lodge on Key Largo in the Florida Keys—for 73 days. While in the habitat, Fain and Cantrell are hosting “Classroom Under the Sea,” presented by Roane State and the Marine Resources Development Foundation on Key Largo. [Read more…]

UT Arboretum Society has presentation on NOAA weather station

Posted at 8:55 am July 22, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society is sponsoring a presentation this evening on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather station at the UT Arboretum in Oak Ridge. (Image courtesy of UT)

The University of Tennessee Arboretum Society is sponsoring a presentation this evening (Monday, July 22) on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather station located at the UT Arboretum in Oak Ridge.

The program will be led by Tilden Meyers, deputy director of the Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division of NOAA. A scientist with NOAA for nearly 28 years, Meyers has worked on issues related to acid deposition, air quality, and climate change. Much of his research is focused on land-atmosphere interactions, particularly the role various land surface types (grasslands, forests, crops) play in both the water and carbon cycles and how these are affected by significant climatic events such as droughts and extreme temperature events, a press release said. [Read more…]