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| Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences in the FY 2000 Budget
Eugene W. Bierly and Randy Showstack, AGU ; H. Frank Eden, AMS |
HIGHLIGHTS
INTRODUCTION AND POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences are an integral part of the Earth system. Perhaps even more importantly, the air we breathe and the water we drink provide the basic material to sustain life as we know it. Research in these two areas of science provides information on the constituency of these two media, how they change in time and space, how and where they move, and how they affect other components of the Earth system. They are interdisciplinary because they are intertwined with so many other fields. The research on the role of carbon in the environment is an example of this interdisciplinary character. Neither the atmosphere nor the oceans know national boundaries, so they are international by their very nature. A vivid example of this is the El Niño of 1997-1998 and the La Niña of 1999. Their effects have influenced life around the Earth. Because of the importance to life of atmospheric and ocean sciences, many agencies have research programs in these areas. Some agencies, such as NOAA, are almost totally involved with research and operational programs in these two sciences. The collection and analyses of data are necessary to understand the environment. Many analyses can not even be undertaken without having global data, so the free and open exchange of data is required for research, operations, and education. Activities in these disciplines often have impact on societal issues and extend across several government jurisdictions, both national and international. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) Overall, NSF's nearly $4 billion budget in FY 2000 would represent a 5.8 percent increase from FY 1999 (for details of the NSF request, see Table II-7 and Chapter 8). Two of the major research themes for NSFInformation Technology for the 21st Century (IT2) at $146 million and Biocomplexity in the Environment ($670 million)would provide additional resources for the atmospheric and ocean sciences. In addition, U.S. Polar Research Programs would receive a 2.3 percent increase (to $250.6 million) to enhance interdisciplinary studies of the Arctic System and research on Antarctic ice sheets. Continued investment in South Pole Station and upgrades for polar support aircraft are provided through the Major Research Equipment account. The National Center for Atmospheric Research would receive $68.8 million, an increase of $1.8 million, for research activities and for building and aircraft upgrades. The Academic Research Fleet would receive $44 million and the Ocean Drilling Program $32 million, an increase of $0.9 million for technical and operations support. NSF's Geosciences Directorate would receive a 2.6 percent increase (to $485 million) to enhance support for the U.S. Weather Research Program, National Space Weather Program, U.S. Global Change Research Program, and coastal and global ocean research. NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION (NOAA) The agency's budget request of $2.5 billion would represent a $220 million increase. NOAA's highest priorities among its strategic goals are advanced short-term warning and forecasts, building sustainable fisheries, and sustaining healthy coasts. The Oceans 2000 Initiative would provide funding to follow up on earlier commitments to ocean research and protection. NOAA's budget requests $78 million to support fisheries stock management, aquaculture, navigation, ocean climate variability studies, and exploring the ocean bottom. A $4.1 million line item would fund two new deep-sea observatories and help explore the National Marine Sanctuaries. A second cross-cutting initiative, the $42.1 million National Disaster Reduction Program, would help provide more accurate and timely natural hazard warnings and forecasts, information on coastal community vulnerability to hazards, and mitigation assistance to reduce vulnerability. The $19.1 million Climate in the 21st Century initiative would provide funds for studying El Niño-Southern Oscillation events and a massively parallel computer for climate and weather research. Within NOAA, the budget for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) would include $140 million for climate and air quality research, a $4 million increase for an array of 1,000 autonomous floats to track ocean climate variability, $3.1 million for ocean floor observatories, and an increase of $1.6 million to implement an ocean carbon program and an upgrade of the voluntary ship observing program. The National Weather Service budget of $688 million would include $39 million to operate the NEXRAD Doppler radar network and $38 million to continue the AWIPS program. The National Ocean Service's requested budget of $346 million would include an increase of $28 million for smart growth efforts and a $10 million increase for coral restoration. NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) NASA's $13.6 billion budget request (down from $13.7 billion) represents the sixth year the agency's funding has decreased and a $1 billion decrease since FY 1994 (see Table II-12 and Chapter 11). The Space Science budget request of $2.2 billion (up from $2.1 billion) includes funding for several research programs on the Earth's upper atmosphere and near-Earth Space. In 1999, the Earth Observing System (EOS) era of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise (ESE) will begin with the launch of EOS AM-1 (Terra) and Landsat-7. The QuikSCAT mission, which will obtain data on ocean surface winds, also will be launched. The largest part of the Earth Science Enterprise budget of $1.5 billion (up from $1.4 billion) would be allocated for mission implementation and operation. The budget would also provide $138 million for Earth Probes and the Triana mission to be located at the Sun-Earth L1 point to observe both the Sun and the full sun-lit Earth, including clouds and aerosols. OTHER AGENCIES The $2.8 billion request (a proposed increase of 5.2 percent) for the Department of Energy's Office of Science includes $20 million for the Climate Change Technology Initiative, funding for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), and $134 million for Environmental Processes. Biological and Environmental Research would continue full operation of three Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites to provide unique climate data. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has requested $838.5 million for FY 2000, an increase of $40.6 million. A budget restructuring creates a new Integrated Science account funded at $47.7 million. There would be a slight decrease in the National Mapping Program. The budget for geological hazards, resources and processes decreases from $239 million to $198 million, including cuts in investigations into coastal erosion, sea level rise, tsunami hazards, mapping of sea floor habitats, and assessments of offshore minerals resources. U.S. GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH PROGRAM (USGCRP) The USGCRP is an interagency, national research program under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC) Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. It began as a Presidential Initiative and was codified by the Global Change Research Act of 1990. Its fundamental purpose is to increase understanding of the Earth system and thus provide a sound scientific basis for national and international decision making on global change issues. The FY 2000 budget proposes $1.8 billion (a 6.2 percent increase) to observe, understand, predict, and assess the state of the Earth and how it changes in response to natural and human-induced forces. The program is divided into a space-based observation component (54 percent of the program) that would receive an increase of 2.2 percent above the FY 1999 budget level and a scientific research component (46 percent) that would receive an increase of 11.3 percent above the FY 1999 budget level. The research component consists of seven elementsunderstanding the Earth's climate system, the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere, global water cycle, carbon cycle science, biology and biochemistry of ecosystems, human dimensions of global change, and paleoenvironment / paleoclimate. There are nine agencies actively involved in USGCRP. Details are in Table I-10. In FY 2000, USGCRP will address a range of critical unanswered scientific questions: the origins of natural and human-induced changes, the role of multiple stresses on the rate and severity of environmental change, how climate change may vary by region and over time scales of decades rather than centuries, and the potential for abrupt and surprising changes in the global climate. USGCRP will establish a Carbon Cycle Science Initiative that will provide a comprehensive, unbiased scientific understanding of sources and sinks of carbon dioxide on continental and regional scales, and how sinks might change naturally over time or be enhanced by human activities. USGCRP will produce a long-term research plan and seek endorsement of the plan by the National Academy of Sciences before the end of FY 2000. Significantly enhanced interagency collaboration will be featured in the implementation of the program. By FY 2000, joint announcements of opportunity will be issued in the area of climate research in which representative agencies 1) share overarching research goals, 2) participate in one collaborative merit-review process, 3) coordinate funding support, and 4) convene regular interagency workshops to document progress and propose changes in the integrated climate research agenda, with workshop outputs to be reflected in future budget requests. Such joint funding arrangements follow successful joint announcements in areas such as terrestrial ecosystems and paleoclimate research. In the development of new programs such as carbon cycle research, agencies are collaborating in seeking scientific guidance in common from a single scientific advisory panel. In this way, programs are integrated at their inception. CLIMATE CHANGE TECHNOLOGY INITIATIVE (CCTI) The budget proposes $1.8 billion for the second year of this research and technology initiative to promote energy efficiency, develop low-carbon energy sources, and develop and demonstrate technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This would be an increase of $510 million or 40 percent. Of the amount proposed, $1.4 billion would be for R&D spending on energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, sequestration (storage) of carbon, extending the useful life of existing nuclear plants, and development of highly efficient fossil fuel technologies. The remainder, $0.4 billion, is for tax credits to stimulate the adoption of energy efficient technologies in buildings, homes, industrial processes, vehicles, and power generation. The President's proposal encourages the production of wind- and biomass-powered electricity. Current tax credits for electricity produced by wind and biomass cover facilities in service before July 1, 1999. Under the FY 2000 budget, this date would be extended five years so more facilities will be eligible for the credit. Additionally, the new proposal aims to expand the definition of eligible biomass to include certain forest-related resources and agriculture and other sources. | |
