NOAA Cooperative Institutes: NOAA Research Council: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAA Cooperative Institutes are academic and non-profit research institutions that demonstrate the highest level of performance and conduct research that supports NOAA’s Mission Goals and Strategic Plan. Because many Cooperative Institutes are collocated with NOAA research laboratories, there is a strong, long-term collaboration between scientists in the laboratories and in the university. Cooperative Institutes not collocated with a NOAA laboratory often serve diverse research communities and research programs throughout NOAA. Cooperative Institutes serve an additional important function: they help educate and train the next generation of NOAA’s and the nation’s scientific workforce. Many of the cooperative agreements between NOAA and our academic partners provide for formal NOAA sponsorship of students through fellowships.

Currently, NOAA supports 22 Cooperative Institutes consisting of 45 universities and research institutions.[more]

ACTIVITIES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

NOAA Announces Competitions for Three New Cooperative Institutes

NOAA has announced competitions for three new Cooperative Institutes (CIs) to (1) Support NOAA Research Facilities in the Pacific Northwest; for (2) Southwestern U.S. Marine Ecosystems, Climate, and Ocean Studies; and for (3) Southeastern Regional Atmospheric and Marine Studies. Full descriptions of these opportunities can be found at Grants.gov.

The deadline for receipt of proposals is February 10, 2010. Proposals received after this date will not be considered.

NOAA Selects New Cooperative Institute to Study Climate and North Atlantic Ecosystems

NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research and National Marine Fisheries Service, have selected a consortium of five institutions for the new Cooperative Institute for North Atlantic Region (CINAR). The institutions will join NOAA to conduct ocean and climate research to better understand the correlation between climate change and variability, fishing practices and fish populations, and to develop an integrated capability to research emerging issues from an ecosystem perspective.

Led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, the consortium will include Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD; University of Maine, Orono, ME; and Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Portland, ME. The group was selected through a competitive process. [more]

NOAA Selects Colorado State University Institute to Study Satellite Applications for Improved Regional and Global Weather Forecasts

NOAA announced today its renewed affiliation with the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. Chosen through a competitive process, the cooperative institute will continue to investigate satellite applications for improving regional and global-scale weather forecasts, water resource forecasts, and provide integrated weather information to meet future aviation and surface transportation needs. [more]

Harbor Branch Consortium: NOAA’s Newest Cooperative Institute

NOAA announced the award of a new cooperative institute to focus on ocean exploration, research, and technology development for the U.S. East Coast. The institute is a consortium to be led by and headquartered at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University in Fort Pierce, FL. The University of North Carolina Wilmington will be the co-managing partner and limited partners are SRI International, St. Petersburg, FL, and the University of Miami. [more]

HOT ITEMS

JIMAR Scientists Report on Status of Hawaii Tuna Tagging Project

At a meeting of the Western Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) recently concluded in Vanuatu in August 2009, scientists from the Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR) at the University of Hawaii reported on the status of the Hawaii Tuna Tagging Project 2 (HTTP2) – an initiative designed to provide updated information on the ecology, behavior, and movement of commercially important tuna species. This project will use a combination of conventional, acoustic, internal archival and popup archival tags to investigate the movement, exploitation, and behavior of skipjack, bigeye, and yellowfin tuna. The HTTP2 has been designed to address fishery issues of direct relevance to Hawaii and the central Pacific. However, the project has also been developed as an integrated component of the WCPFC-endorsed Pacific Tuna Tagging Project being implemented by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Common tag release and recapture techniques will be used by both programs with arrangements in place for integrated data storage and analysis. [more]

CIOSS Researchers Develop Pilot Ocean Prediction System

Supported by NOAA/NESDIS/STAR’s Satellite Oceanography and Climatology Division, Research Fellows led by Alexander Kurapov at the Cooperative Institute for Oceanographic Satellite Studies (CIOSS) at Oregon State University have developed three-day forecasts of ocean conditions off Oregon and Northern California. Forecast fields have been available on the IOOS/NANOOS web site since July 2009 through efforts of CIOSS Fellows Jack Barth and Craig Risien. These fields have been enthusiastically used by tuna fishers since their introduction in late-summer 2008. Improvements (under development) include the assimilation of satellite data, along with the addition of ecosystem components and dissolved oxygen models, to allow forecasts of algal blooms and hypoxic conditions. [more]

CIMRS Researchers Discover Burgeoning Life Amidst Acidic Environments at Deep Sea Volcano Eruptions

Comprehending how life may have begun amidst uncertain conditions associated with big bang theories has always been challenging - but our own deep ocean may harbor important clues. The National Science Foundation recently funded the return of researchers from the Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS) at Oregon State University to study the NW Rota-1, an active submarine volcano in the Mariana Arc near the Island of Guam. They found that the volcano has grown considerably during the past three years, and its unique biological community is thriving despite ongoing eruptive activity. [more]

You are the