Proposed Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations | NOAA OAR CIPO 2021 2006682

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is this funding opportunity?

This is a NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) funding opportunity to establish a single Proposed Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations. The institute is intended to advance the science and operational understanding of severe and high-impact weather and to support NOAA forecasting, warning operations, and extreme-weather decision-making.

Which federal agency is offering the opportunity?

The opportunity is offered by the U.S. Department of Commerce through NOAA, specifically NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR).

What is the Funding Opportunity Number (FON)?

The Funding Opportunity Number is NOAA OAR CIPO 2021 2006682.

What is the CFDA number listed for this opportunity?

The CFDA number provided is 11.432.

What type of award instrument will NOAA use?

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement.

What does it mean that the award is a cooperative agreement?

Based on the description, the cooperative agreement structure is meant to create a long-term partnership in which NOAA and the selected institute work closely together. It also implies substantial NOAA involvement in shaping, coordinating, and leveraging research and transition activities so the work can directly support real-world forecasting and warning needs.

How many awards does NOAA anticipate making?

NOAA anticipated making one award.

What is the award ceiling?

The award ceiling is listed as $208,000,000, indicating a potentially large, institute-scale, multi-year investment.

What is the overall purpose of the Cooperative Institute?

The purpose is to improve NOAA's ability to understand, observe, model, and communicate threats from severe storms and other high-impact events. The institute is also expected to examine how these hazards may change over time as the climate changes.

What kinds of weather hazards are included?

The opportunity centers on severe and high-impact weather, including dangerous events such as tornadoes, damaging winds, hail, and flash flooding, along with broader extreme weather risks.

What core scientific topics does the research emphasize?

The scope is wide but focused on key physical processes that drive severe storms and their impacts. NOAA highlights mesoscale and storm-scale dynamics, atmospheric electricity, microphysics, and planetary boundary layer processes as major focus areas.

What are mesoscale and storm-scale dynamics in the context of this opportunity?

They refer to the atmospheric motions and storm structures that help determine where storms form, how they intensify, and how they evolve into severe outcomes (for example tornadoes, damaging winds, hail, and flash flooding).

Why does the opportunity mention atmospheric electricity?

Atmospheric electricity is called out to reflect interest in lightning processes and how lightning relates to storm intensity and hazards.

What does microphysics research cover here?

Microphysics is described as the study of how cloud and precipitation particles form and interact. This is tied to important operational impacts such as rainfall rates, hail development, storm longevity, and radar signatures.

What are planetary boundary layer processes and why are they important?

The planetary boundary layer is the lowest part of the atmosphere. The description emphasizes it because storms draw in heat and moisture there and interact with terrain and land surface conditions, which often influences storm initiation and severity.

What observation and instrumentation activities are expected?

A substantial part of the work is expected to involve developing and applying observational tools that capture storms and their environments at high spatial and temporal resolution. Examples listed include weather radar, profilers, mobile mesonets, and lidars, along with similar platforms and techniques.

Is the opportunity limited to analyzing existing data, or does it include improving observing systems?

It includes more than analysis. The description points to improving instruments, deployment strategies, retrieval methods, and data quality control approaches so observations become more useful for research and operations.

How does the opportunity connect observations to forecasting operations?

The observing work is intended to strengthen capabilities that feed situational awareness, diagnostic studies, and model initialization, which supports forecasting and warning operations.

What modeling work is emphasized?

The institute is expected to develop and apply high-resolution numerical prediction models and associated systems. This includes improving physical parameterizations, advancing data assimilation systems, and building ensemble systems to quantify uncertainty.

What are physical parameterizations in this context?

They are the methods models use to represent processes such as turbulence, cloud formation, and precipitation.

What is data assimilation and why is it included?

Data assimilation refers to ingesting observations into models to create better initial conditions. It is included because better initial conditions can improve high-resolution prediction performance for severe and high-impact events.

Why does NOAA emphasize ensemble-based uncertainty estimates?

The opportunity notes a need for ensemble-based uncertainty estimates, signaling interest in probabilistic forecasting approaches that communicate confidence, risk ranges, and plausible outcomes rather than relying on a single deterministic prediction.

Does the opportunity include social science research?

Yes. It explicitly includes social science and risk communication research focused on how different strategies for informing the public about imminent severe weather affect societal outcomes.

What kinds of risk communication questions are within scope?

The description provides examples such as how people interpret watches and warnings; how message timing and wording affect protective action; how false alarms and missed events influence trust; and how communications can be tailored for different communities and decision contexts (including schools, hospitals, emergency management, and vulnerable populations).

How is climate change addressed in the scope?

The institute is expected to conduct research on how climate change may affect the frequency, intensity, and geographic distribution of extreme weather, linking near-term operational needs with longer-term hazard pattern changes.

How should applicants treat overlap with other NOAA Cooperative Institutes?

NOAA states the portfolio is defined to complement, rather than duplicate, work at other Cooperative Institutes, except where overlap provides clear benefits. This indicates applicants are expected to map activities to the existing Cooperative Institute landscape, show unique contributions, and justify any intentional overlap as strategically valuable (for example through shared datasets, coordinated testbeds, or combined expertise).

Who is eligible to serve as the Cooperative Institute?

The institute may be a single academic or nonprofit degree-granting institution, or a consortium of multiple institutions, as long as the partnership collectively demonstrates an outstanding research program aligned with NOAA's mission.

Are partnerships beyond the main awardee encouraged?

Yes. The opportunity strongly encourages collaboration beyond the core awardee, including partnerships with other federal agencies, private industry, non-traditional partners, NOAA laboratories and science/data centers, other Cooperative Institutes, Cooperative Science Centers, and Sea Grant Colleges.

What is NOAA looking for in terms of the institute's role in the broader community?

The description suggests NOAA is looking for an institute that functions as a hub, connecting fundamental research to operational transition pathways and building networks that increase the reach and usefulness of the work.

When was the opportunity originally posted?

The original posting date was December 15, 2020.

What was the original closing date?

The original closing date was February 15, 2021.

What does "severe and high-impact weather research and operations" imply about expected outcomes?

Based on the description, the institute is expected to pursue research that can directly support forecasting and warning operations and broader decision-making tied to extreme weather risks, including improving observations, models, uncertainty information, and communication of hazards.