NCAR

NCAR
en:user:Daderot · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Name	National Center for Atmospheric Research
Established	1960
Headquarters	Boulder, Colorado
Website	ncar.ucar.edu

NCAR

The National Center for Atmospheric Research is a major United States research institution focused on atmospheric, climate, and Earth system science, established to support scientific investigation and technological development in meteorology and related fields. The center collaborates with universities, federal agencies, and international organizations to study weather, climate, air quality, and atmospheric chemistry, while operating advanced facilities and instruments for observational and computational research. NCAR plays a central role in coordinating research initiatives, training scientists, and informing public policy and operational forecasting through partnerships with agencies and academic institutions.

History

NCAR traces origins to post-World War II initiatives linking academic researchers and federal agencies, building on influences from National Science Foundation, World Meteorological Organization, and earlier efforts such as the U.S. Weather Bureau modernization and the GARP planning era. Founding efforts involved leaders from University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, founders who coordinated with presidents of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Early decades saw growth through programs influenced by the National Academy of Sciences, the Cloud Physics community, and landmark field campaigns like Project Stormfury and Monsoon Experiment (MONEX). Expansion in the 1970s and 1980s paralleled developments at NOAA, NASA, Department of Energy, and collaborative projects with European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Met Office, and Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. NCAR’s computational and observational capabilities matured amid technological advances in supercomputing from vendors such as Cray Research and later collaborations tied to initiatives like the Earth System Modeling Framework and assessments influencing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Mission and Organization

The institutional mission coordinates basic and applied research, workforce development, and infrastructure support involving partners such as University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado State University, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Columbia University, and Stanford University. Governance is through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research board and interfaces with federal sponsors including National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Energy, and international funders like European Commission research programs. Leadership and advisory roles have included scientists affiliated with American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, Royal Society, and prize recipients such as Nobel Prize laureates who collaborate on interdisciplinary initiatives. Internal divisions align with centers for atmospheric chemistry, climate dynamics, and computational research, interfacing with infrastructure programs such as NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center and community-modeling efforts.

Research and Programs

NCAR conducts research across atmospheric dynamics, climate variability, cloud microphysics, and biogeochemical cycles, contributing to modeling systems used in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, Climate Model Intercomparison Project, and assessment reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Programs include development of the Community Earth System Model, frameworks for data assimilation used by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and National Centers for Environmental Prediction, and participation in field campaigns such as ARM Climate Research Facility deployments, Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting model intercomparisons, and observations supporting the Global Precipitation Measurement mission. NCAR scientists publish in venues like Science (journal), Nature (journal), Journal of Geophysical Research, and collaborate on interdisciplinary projects with partners including Smithsonian Institution, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory. Initiatives address topics studied in programs such as GEWEX, SPARC, CLIVAR, and SOLAS.

Facilities and Instruments

NCAR operates major facilities and instruments including supercomputing resources aligned with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, airborne platforms analogous to NSF/NCAR C-130, remote sensing instruments similar to those on Terra (satellite), field observatories used in ARM Mobile Facility deployments, and laboratory facilities for cloud chamber experiments inspired by early work at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Instrumentation suites include Doppler radars comparable to NEXRAD, lidars like those used in Caltech research, and aerosol and trace-gas samplers used in studies with NOAA Earth System Research Laboratories and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Collaborative observatories and testbeds have been sited at locations including Mauna Loa Observatory, South Pole Station, Barrow (Utqiagvik), and high-altitude platforms connected to University of Wyoming partnerships.

Education and Outreach

Educational programs engage students and professionals through workshops, postdoctoral fellowships, and summer schools in collaboration with National Science Foundation, Fulbright Program, and university partners such as University of Washington and New York University. NCAR supports curriculum development, public lectures, and citizen science initiatives aligned with organizations like American Meteorological Society and museums including Denver Museum of Nature & Science and Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Outreach includes media interactions with outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, The Washington Post, and contributions to public-facing reports and tools used by educators at National Science Teaching Association events.

Partnerships and Funding

Funding and partnerships span federal agencies—National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Energy—and international collaborations with entities like the European Commission, World Meteorological Organization, and national research councils including Natural Environment Research Council and Australian Research Council. Cooperative research agreements exist with universities such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and national laboratories including Los Alamos National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. NCAR also partners with industry collaborators and philanthropic organizations analogous to Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Simons Foundation to support targeted projects, infrastructure upgrades, and fellowship programs.

Category:Research institutes in Colorado