UCAR MANAGEMENT OF NCAR SCIENCE,FACILITIES,EDUCATION, AND SERVICE Prepared for the National Science Foundation and UCAR Scientific Programs Evaluation Committee Review of the Management of the National Center for Atmospheric Research August 2001 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research National Center for Atmospheric Research UCAR Member Universities UCAR Academic Affiliates University of Alabama in Huntsville Air Force Institute of Technology University of Alaska Fairbanks University of Charleston University of Arizona Clark Atlanta University Arizona State University Dalhousie University California Institute of Technology Jackson State University University of California, Davis University of Kansas University of California, Irvine University of Louisiana at Monroe University of California, Los Angeles Lyndon State College University of Chicago Universidad Metropolitana of Puerto Rico Colorado State University Millersville University of Pennsylvania University of Colorado City College of the City University of New York Cornell University State University of New York at Brockport University of Denver University of North Dakota Drexel University Plymouth State College Florida State University Rhodes College Georgia Institute of Technology St. Cloud State University Harvard University San Francisco State University University of Hawai’i San José State University Howard University South Dakota School of Mines and Technology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign U.S. Naval Academy Iowa State University University of Iowa Johns Hopkins University UCAR International Affiliates University of Maryland at College Park Massachusetts Institute of Technology Australian National University, Canberra McGill University Atmospheric Environment Service, Downsview, Ontario, Canada University of Miami Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia University of Michigan Central Weather Bureau, Taipei, Taiwan University of Minnesota Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Mexico University of Missouri Centro del Agua del Trópico Húmedo para América Latina y Naval Postgraduate School El Caribe, Panama University of Nebraska–Lincoln City University of Hong Kong University and Community College System of Nevada Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft und Raumfahrt, University of New Hampshire Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany University at Albany, State University of New York Hong Kong Royal Observatory New York University Hong Kong University of Science and Technology North Carolina State University Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain Ohio State University Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Oklahoma Beijing Old Dominion University Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), São José dos Oregon State University Campos, Brazil Pennsylvania State University International Meteorological Institute, Stockholm, Sweden Princeton University Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Lima Purdue University Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Madrid, Spain University of Rhode Island Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany Rice University Lanzhou Institute of Plateau Atmospheric Physics, Lanzhou, China Rutgers University Macquarie University, North Ryde, Australia Saint Louis University Malaysian Meteorological Service, Kuala Lumpur Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, Manila Observatory, Philippines San Diego Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany Stanford University Meteorological Research Institute, Ibaraki, Japan Texas A&M University Meteorological Service of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain University of Texas at Austin Monash University, Clayton, Australia Texas Tech University National Central University, Chung-Li, Taiwan University of Toronto National Taiwan University, Taipei Utah State University Peking University, Beijing, China University of Utah Risø National Laboratory, Roskilde, Denmark University of Virginia Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Washington State University Seoul National University, Korea University of Washington Tel Aviv University, Israel University of Wisconsin–Madison Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Universität Hamburg, Germany Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Universität Köln, Germany University of Wyoming University of Manchester, England Yale University University of Nairobi, Kenya York University University of Tokyo, Japan TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES.................................................................................................................................................v PREFACE.........................................................................................................................................................................................vii I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................................1 II. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................3 A. History and Background of UCAR and NCAR .............................................................................................................4 B. NSF, UCAR, NCAR and the Universities: A Unique Partnership ...............................................................................6 C. Management Philosophy and Objectives .......................................................................................................................6 D. Present Review of NCAR and UCAR .............................................................................................................................7 III. STRATEGIC PLANNING AND PRIORITY SETTING .....................................................................................................9 A. External and Internal Context ......................................................................................................................................10 1. NSF Strategic Plan .....................................................................................................................................................11 2. NSF Directorate for Geosciences Strategic Plan: Geosciences beyond 2000 (GEO 2000) ......................................11 B. NCAR Strategic Plan ......................................................................................................................................................11 1. Strategic Planning Process .........................................................................................................................................11 2. Scientific Strategy ......................................................................................................................................................12 3. Strategy for NCAR’s Scientific Personnel and Diverse Workforce ...........................................................................13 4. Information Technology Strategy ..............................................................................................................................14 5. Education and Outreach Strategy ..............................................................................................................................14 C. Reporting and Priority Setting ......................................................................................................................................14 1. Annual NCAR Program Plan ....................................................................................................................................16 2. Budget Reviews .........................................................................................................................................................16 3. NCAR Directors Committee .....................................................................................................................................16 IV. PROGRAM PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................................................................17 A. Fundamental Research ............................................................................................................................................17 1. Extra-Solar Planet Discoveries ...........................................................................................................................17 2. North Atlantic Oscillation ..................................................................................................................................18 3. Geophysical Turbulence Program ........................................................................................................................19 B. Understanding and Predicting the Earth System .................................................................................................20 1. Community Climate System Model ...................................................................................................................20 Simulation of the 20th and 21st Century Climate ..............................................................................................20 2. The Versatile MM5 .............................................................................................................................................21 Hurricane