NSF NCAR studies the atmosphere, of course. But that's just the start.

The hundreds of scientists who work here are experts across a wide range of disciplines, including meteorologists, hydrologists, solar physicists, atmospheric chemists, machine learning scientists, oceanographers, cryospheric scientists, engineers, educators, and others. This range of expertise yields a broad range of research outcomes with real-world impact. 

NSF NCAR’s unique value lies in its capacity to treat the Earth as a single, integrated system, where all the different components — atmosphere, oceans, land, and Sun — are connected. Better understanding of these relationships, which we meticulously model and observe, allows us to better serve society by providing the predictive capabilities and applications needed by a range of stakeholders, from agriculture to commercial airlines, resource managers, and the military, to plan for the future.

We believe this work is more important than ever. NSF NCAR is focused on providing solutions to some of the most difficult environmental challenges facing American communities today, including developing the nation’s capacity to make longer-term and more accurate forecasts of droughts, floods, heatwaves, and other phenomena that threaten agriculture, water supplies, and community infrastructure.