Noaa

NOAA is a federal agency that conducts scientific research and provides information on the conditions of the oceans and atmosphere. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. NOAA is dedicated to providing science-based solutions to address societal challenges related to coasts, oceans, weather, climate, fisheries, acoustics, commerce, national security, energy development, food safety & security issues connected with public health.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an American scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce that focuses on understanding both natural events as well as human impacts on climate change. The organization consists of many different elements including National Weather Service (NWS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR), Satellite and Information Service (NESDIS). All together these organizations make up what we know as NOAA.
Each element has their own specific focus but all come together under one goal: “to observe and understand Earth’s atmosphere and its interactions with land surfaces for weather forecasting; atmospheric dispersion modeling for air quality management; monitoring sea level rise caused by melting polar ice caps; assessing ocean acidification due to increasing levels of carbon dioxide in seawater; charting surface currents believed to be associated with global climate change; modeling wave height believed again associated with global climate change”(National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration). Under this broad goal are many smaller goals which help contribute to a better understanding our planet as a whole.
NOAA was established back in 1807 by then President Thomas Jefferson who signed into law “An act to provide for surveying the coasts of the United States” which commissioned The Survey Of The Coast.(National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration) This was done in order “to aid navigation” but also because at that time very little was known about coastlines which made them very dangerous for ships.(NationalOceanService) Over time NOAA has slowly grown adding new services such as NWS in 1870 which helped advance warning systems for severe weather events such as tornadoes.(NationalWeatherService) In 1965 NMFS was added after Congress passed The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation And Management Act which gave NMFS authority over fisheries 3 miles off US coastlines.(NOAAFisheries) OAR was established later on in 1970 when it became apparent that there needed to be more research conducted on atmospheric sciences if accurate long-term predictions were going to be made.(OfficeofOceanicAtmosphericResearch) NESDIS rounded out NOAA when it was created in 1974 taking over responsibility for managing civilian satellite programs.(NESDISSatellitesandInformationServicesDivision)

Today NOAA continues its tradition started over 200 years ago by providing critical data used not only by those in maritime industries but also by researchers studying everything from hurricanes(HurricaneResearchDivision)to space weather(SpaceWeatherPredictionCenter). Much progress has been made since 1807 but there is still much unknown about our planet making continuous research essential.