"Understanding our global environment and our role in it is the first step toward living in better harmony with nature."

Reports to the Nation: Our Changing Planet

NOAA Watercycle Program

NOAA is in the beginning stage of developing a NOAA water cycle program to support CCRI (Climate Change Research Initiative) and USGCRP (U.S. Global Change Research Program) water cycle activities. The mission of the NOAA water cycle program is to improve the prediction and evaluation of water system risks. NOAA water cycle program has three proposed goals: 1) to quantify the role of surface and atmospheric processes in seasonal-to-interannual predictions of precipitation and its hydrologic consequences; 2) to assess the risk to water systems through improved climate projections and analysis of long-term changes in the global water cycle; 3) in partnership with USWRP, to improve the representation of precipitation processes in climate models.

Currently GAPP (GEWEX Americas Prediction Project) is the pillar USGCRP water cycle component in NOAA. During the last seven years, GAPP and its predecessor, GCIP (GEWEX Continental-scale International Project) have made substantial progress in understanding and modeling the water cycle. However, many research and operational activities within NOAA are also linked to the USGCRP water cycle plans. Some examples are the river flow and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico (National Ocean Service or NOS), freshwater fluxes and fish migration into oceans (National Marine Fisheries or MFS), development of satellite water cycle products (NESDIS), development of land-surface and hydrological models and datasets (NCEP and OHD of NWS), and fundamental understanding of water cycle variations (OAR labs). The NOAA water cycle program is expected to coordinate all of these activities and to improve NOAA climate and water research and services. Moreover, the NOAA water cycle program will help NOAA access and influence national and international water cycle research and activities.

In the future, NOAA will develop a NOAA water cycle implementation plan to support CCRI and USGCRP water cycle plans and support NOAA water and climate services. The implementation plan will be based on relevant NOAA activities including MFS, NOS, OAR (OGP, and research labs), NESDIS, and NWS.