The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has selected the University of Washington as a key partner for expanded, in-depth study of some of the most pressing environmental challenges involving the oceans and the atmosphere.
The Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, part of the UW’s new College of the Environment, potentially will receive $100 million, as much as $20 million per year for five years, with an option to extend the partnership for another five years.
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The research partnership will focus on 10 core areas critically important to the long-term health of the planet, said Thomas Ackerman, director of the joint institute. Those areas are climate and its impacts; polar regions; atmospheric particles called aerosols; environmental chemistry; ocean acidification; geological and other processes that occur on the seafloor; marine ecosystems; protecting and restoring marine resources; tsunami observations and modeling; and ocean and coastal observations.
Two of those areas – ocean acidification and protecting and restoring marine resources – are new focal points for the institute, but they reflect work already going on at the UW and issues to which NOAA is devoting more attention, Ackerman said. He added that the ongoing partnership with NOAA helps extend the institute’s history of environmental research in the public interest.
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University of Washington, newswise, 9 June 2010. Full article.
