What Does NOAA Do?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is a multi-tasked organization which began its mission, though not having its present name, in 1807 as the agency organized by President Thomas Jefferson to map the coastline of America. The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration was created in 1971 in a bill signed by President Richard Nixon...the newly created organization managed three weather-related organizations. There have been duties added to NOAA since they were formed in 1971. Today there are six line offices or as I would describe them the functional arm of NOAA. Five of the line offices have a hands-on function while a sixth line office is the management arm of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration which is abbreviated simply NOAA.

Line Offices
National Environmental Satellite Data & Information Services
They are charged with monitoring weather satellites and processing the raw data for distribution to public weather forecasters--the National Weather Service-- and private forecasters such as your local television weather forecasters. The NESDIS monitors two types of satellites: geosynchronous satellites which orbit over a fixed spot on earth and orbiting satellites which orbit along a path and circle the earth gathering weather data along a longitudinal or latitudinal path. Those are of course separate satellites for each path.

National Marine Fisheries Service
The NMFS has been given the task of preserving Atlantic tunas: this is just one of several examples of tasks it has: ICCAT is a project striving to understand and protect the habitat of the Atlantic tuna. ICCAT is the acronym for the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas.

National Oceans Service
Their mission is to provide science-based solutions through collaborative efforts to address evolving economic, environmental, & societal pressures on oceans & coasts.

National Weather Service They are charged with receiving data from NESDIS and formulating weather forecasts for the United States and its territories. The National Weather Service, the NWS, produces a variety of reports as you might imagine which vary according the season of the year. Severe storm forecasting is a duty they have in hurricane season while they are tasked with reporting the presence of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research
OAR is the acronym for this branch of NOAA...it is sometimes referred to as "NOAA Research." OAR has water-borne data collection devices around the world to collect data on things such as water temperature, water flow, and tidal information. These data collection devices are used to gather data to monitor and better predict weather systems.

Office of Program Planning & Integration
PPI is the management arm of NOAA. They are responsible for defining and assessing the mission of the other five line offices and representing the other line offices when reporting to Congress.

Resources:
www.noaa.gov/about-noaa.html
www.noaa.gov/charts.html