The NOAA Climate and Global Change Program

The NOAA Climate & Global Program has its origins in the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Program. In 1985 NOAA establish a line of funding to support the TOGA Program and was selected to host the interagency TOGA Project Office. While NOAA’s funding was mainly directed at establishing the observing system required by TOGA, a sum of money was set aside to support a TOGA competitive research grants program. The research grants program was initially conducted in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, but in a short time NOAA was managing its own research grants program. In 1990, NOAA identified a line of funding for the Climate & Global Change Program and established the Office of Global Programs (OGP) to manage it. OGP continued the competitive research grants program and began issuing an annual program announcements. By 2000 the program had grown to include an array of proposal driven competitive research subprograms that included the following research areas: Aerosols, Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle Science, Climate Dynamics and Experimental Prediction, Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR), and Global Energy and Water Cycle (GEWEX) as well as others. The presentation will highlight a number of the major scientific successes of the C&GC Program over its lifetime. Today the NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO) continues the tradition of the competitive research grants program in support of NOAA’s mission.