Congress Asks NOAA to Study Setting Up National Climate Service

Among the climate change research programs and clean energy initiatives in the spending bill just approved by the U.S. Senate are provisions to determine how best to create a National Climate Service that could act as a clearinghouse for climate information and forecasts.

The idea of an NCS has been discussed for a while, and the need for one has been recognized by policymakers and agency officials since at least the spring, but what exactly it would do beyond the current climate programs that already exist in a variety of federal agencies is still an open question. Also an open question is where such a service would be located in the Washington bureaucracy.

Originally, it was thought the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would be the natural home for a climate service, seeing as NOAA already studies and provides information on oceans and climate science. This was the plan when the House of Representatives’ Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) bill was being discussed this spring. But when the bill was eventually passed in June, it was the White House that was designated with overseeing the design of the service.

Now, the omnibus appropriations bill that was approved by the Senate on Sunday puts the job of studying options for creating an NCS back in NOAA's hands. It asks NOAA to set up a contract with the National Academy of Public Administration within the next two months in order to do a feasibility study of a National Climate Service.

“Discussions within the agency are under way, and we are reviewing a scope of alternatives for providing climate services,” Scott Smullen, a NOAA spokesperson, told SolveClimate.

Of the $446.8 billion allotted in the bill, already approved by the House and now awaiting President Obama’s signature, about $4.7 billion will go to NOAA. The fiscal year 2010 budget, meant “to increase important ocean, weather, and climate research and provide for satellite acquisitions,” is the agency’s largest ever, $372 million above last year's.

What Will a National Climate Service Do?

One of the strongest proponents for the creation of an NCS, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, outlined her vision for the proposed service at a hearing before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment in May. Her main concern is having in place a straightforward way to get information to people, communities and businesses affected by – or likely to be affected by – changes brought on by a changing climate.

“To appropriately prepare their communities, decision-makers will need to be supported with access to the best climate information science can provide, and tools to apply that data to guide their decisions. Meeting the climate challenge will require an unprecedented level of coordination among federal agencies,” Lubchenco said.

She cited specific examples of farmers, renewable energy entrepreneurs and agencies that manage resources like water and land who have a need for access to scientific information and forecast about the future in order to make informed decisions.

Having a dedicated climate service would make the gathering and distribution of this information much more efficient than is currently possible with the various and diffuse current climate programs spread out among the Departments of Energy and Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, National Science Foundation and others.

Lubchenco’s vision is of an NCS that acts in partnership with these other federal agencies, as well as state and regional governments and the private sector. Its mission would be “to provide the essential climate change information needed for effective decision-making.”

The model most frequently cited as the closest relation to an NCS is the National Weather Service, which provides a plethora of data to the public and policymakers on weather and climate.

“The nation needs an objective, authoritative, and consistent source of consolidated, reliable, and timely climate information to support decision-making,” Lubchenco said.

The Case for NOAA