National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA /ˈnoʊ.ə/ NOH-ə) is a scientific and regulatory agency within the Washington, D.C.–based United States Department of Commerce, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Agency overview
October 3, 1970
- 321 NOAA Commissioned Corps (2018)
- 12,000 civilian employees (2021)[3]
$6.9 billion (est. 2022)
- Rick Spinrad, NOAA Administrator and
Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
The agency is charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep sea exploration, and managing fishing and protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the U.S. exclusive economic zone.
NOAA traces its history back to multiple agencies,[8] some of which were among the oldest in the federal government:[9]
The most direct predecessor of NOAA was the Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA), into which several existing scientific agencies such as the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Weather Bureau and the uniformed Corps were absorbed in 1965.[9]
NOAA was established within the Department of Commerce via the Reorganization Plan No. 4[9] and formed on October 3, 1970, after U.S. President Richard Nixon proposed creating a new agency to serve a national need for "better protection of life and property from natural hazards… for a better understanding of the total environment… [and] for exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources".[10] NOAA is a part of the Department of Commerce rather than the Department of Interior because of a feud between President Nixon and his interior secretary, Wally Hickel, over the Nixon Administration's Vietnam War policy. Nixon did not like Hickel's letter urging Nixon to listen to the Vietnam War demonstrators,[11] and thus punished Hickel by not putting NOAA in the Interior Department.[12]
In 2007, NOAA celebrated 200 years of service in its role as successor to the U.S. Survey of the Coast.[13]
NOAA was officially formed in 1970[14] and in 2021 had 11,833 civilian employees.[6] Its research and operations are further supported by 321 uniformed service members who make up the NOAA Commissioned Corps.[15]
Organizational structure[edit]
Silver Spring Campus[edit]
NOAA's administrative headquarters has been located at the Silver Spring Metro Center office complex in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland since 1993.[16][17] The consolidated 1.2 million SF, four-building campus was originally constructed in 1993 and is home to over 40 NOAA sub-agencies and offices, including the National Weather Service.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change[edit]
Since 2001, the organization has hosted the senior staff and recent chair, Susan Solomon, of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's working group on climate science.[62]
Flag[edit]
The NOAA flag is a modification of the flag of one of its predecessor organizations, the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. The Coast and Geodetic Survey's flag, authorized in 1899 and in use until 1970, was blue, with a white circle centered in it and a red triangle centered within the circle. It symbolized the use of triangulation in surveying, and was flown by ships of the Survey.[70]
When NOAA was established in 1970 and the Coast and Geodetic Survey's assets became a part of NOAA, NOAA based its own flag on that of the Coast and Geodetic Survey. The NOAA flag is, in essence, the Coast and Geodetic Survey flag, with the NOAA logo—a circle divided by the silhouette of a seabird into an upper dark blue and a lower light blue section, but with the "NOAA" legend omitted—centered within the red triangle. NOAA ships in commission display the NOAA flag; those with only one mast fly it immediately beneath the ship's commissioning pennant or the personal flag of a civilian official or flag officer if one is aboard the ship, while multi masted vessels fly it at the masthead of the forwardmost mast.[71] NOAA ships fly the same ensign as United States Navy ships but fly the NOAA flag as a distinguishing mark to differentiate themselves from Navy ships.