FY2020 Office of Weather and Air Quality Research Programs

      In alignment with the Weather Forecasting and Innovation Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-25), the funded projects should improve NOAA’s understanding and ultimately its services of weather and water forecasting through engagement with the external scientific community on key science gaps of mutual interest. Through this funding opportunity, NOAA will support new weather, water, climate, earth system, and air quality observing and forecasting applications, including improved analysis techniques, better statistical or dynamic forecast models and techniques, and communication of that information to better inform the public.

      To achieve success with these objectives, selected projects should focus on advancing science and technology from the research stage to commercialization or prototype products that NOAA could further develop into practical applications and operations. For the purposes of NOAA-funded projects, the maturity of projects is broadly classified using Readiness Levels (RLs), as adopted by NOAA and other federal agencies. The numerical RL scale from 1 to 9 is designed to track project maturity across the progressive spectrum from research to development to demonstration to deployment. RLs are defined in the context of NOAA’s overall process for transitioning funded research into operations, commercialization, or other applications in NOAA’s Policy on Research and Development Transitions described in NOAA Administrative Order 216-105B at http://www.corporateservices.noaa.gov/ames/administrative_orders/chapter_216/216-105B.html, and in Appendix A.

      Depending on the program objectives, the individual competitions within this notice of funding opportunity may favor projects at specific stages of maturity as signified by their estimated current RL. Program-specific project maturity considerations for funding are included in Section I.A “Program Objective.” While all programs in this funding opportunity encourage an acceleration of research toward operationalization, commercialization, and/or other application, no program directly supports an actual research-to-NOAA operations transition (i.e., the RL 8-to-9 transition) itself; however, any projects that produce output that may be adopted into NOAA operations after their conclusion are expected to work with NOAA operational center representatives to develop strategies for the potential transition performed by NOAA.

      NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) is also announcing a companion Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 federal grant funding opportunity to this OAR opportunity through their Collaborative Science, Technology, and Applied Research (CSTAR) Program in September 2019. Though there can be overlap, CSTAR funds research that is often directed toward local forecasting applications at individual or regional NWS Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs), while OWAQ funds research that is more often directed toward broadly applicable forecasting applications, such as at NWS national forecast centers or multiple WFOs.

      NOAA, OAR, and OWAQ encourage applicants and awardees to support the principles of diversity and inclusion when writing their proposals and performing their work. Diversity is defined as a collection of individual attributes that together help organizations achieve objectives. Inclusion is defined as a culture that connects each employee to the organization. Promoting diversity and inclusion improves creativity, productivity, and the vitality of the weather and water research community in which OWAQ engages.