5.1.1: Earth System
A holistic understanding of the Earth system through research Other Information:
NOAA's strategic progress and future operational capacity will depend upon a strong and vibrant scientific enterprise that
draws from NOAA research capabilities and the extended community of public, private, and academic researchers with whom NOAA
collaborates routinely, including Cooperative Institutes, NOAA grants and programs, and interagency coordination and funding
efforts. NOAA's long-term goals and objectives hinge on an enhanced understanding of the complex interrelationships that exist
across NOAA's climate, weather, ocean, and coastal domains. To explore, observe, and understand Earth system dynamics and
enable the Nation to make informed decisions about our changing environment, NOAA needs to advance innovative research that
pushes the boundaries of scientific understanding and integrates information across scientific disciplines. This innovative
research will enable improved understanding of the Earth system from global to local scales, and improve the ability to forecast
weather, climate, water resources, and ecosystem health. To achieve this objective, NOAA will expand and maintain a reliable
and accessible suite of climate, weather, ocean, marine ecosystem, and living marine resource and geospatial information,
to improve the understanding of key environmental processes—including occurrence and effect of high impact events— and build
capacity in the social, behavioral, and economic sciences to support the valuation of ecosystem services, risk and vulnerability
assessments, and decision-support services. NOAA will develop advanced technologies in sensors, computing and networking,
and user interfaces to better observe, understand, model, and communicate knowledge of complex systems, and promote existing
and future scientific excellence and collaborations in its science workforce. Connecting new capabilities to operations will
require test beds to accelerate the transition of technologies to applied use. NOAA will balance technology development, deployment,
and relatively low-risk applied research and development, providing steady increases to current understanding through high-risk
research that fosters unpredictable, radical innovation and transforms NOAA science and mission functions. Across all domains,
NOAA will need to characterize the uncertainties inherent in the process of scientific discovery, and effectively communicate
scientific information and its associated uncertainties to policy makers, the media, and the public. Over the next five years,
evidence of progress toward this objective will include: * Increased understanding of climate, weather, oceans, ecosystems,
human activities, and their interrelationships; * Improved understanding of the processes contributing to, and impacts of
ocean acidification, changes in ocean temperature and freshwater input, and sea level change; * Improved understanding of
ecosystems (e.g., Gulf of Mexico, Arctic, Great Lakes) and the effects of human activities on the ecosystem, and coastal communities
and economies; * Increased investigation and assessment of unexplored and ecologically, economically and culturally important
coastal and oceanic regions; * Research on ecosystem impacts, processes, dynamics and biodiversity transitioned to enable
ecosystem approaches to management and coastal community resilience; * Social, behavioral, and economic research advanced
and transitioned into NOAA's delivery of climate, weather, ocean, and coastal services; * Meteorological, atmospheric, climatic,
and oceanic research advanced and transitioned to NOAA's production of enhanced weather, climate, and marine forecasts and
services, including those supporting renewable energy; * More effective development and transition of technologies to operational
services and stewardship applications; and * An integrated research agenda supported by portfolio management that promotes
transformative research and innovation.
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