NCAR is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the National Science Foundation and devoted to service, research and education in the atmospheric and related sciences. Significant additional support is provided by other U.S. government agencies, other national governments, and the private sector.
NCAR supports the community of atmospheric and geoscience researchers with:
tools—such as aircraft and radar, to observe the atmosphere, and
technology and assistance—to interpret and use these observations, including supercomputer access, computer models, and user support.
Our research projects cover a vast array of topics and are collaborations between NCAR scientists and university researchers:
atmospheric chemistry—such as the chemical structure of healthy and polluted air
climate—including temperature, rainfall, winds, and extreme events over decades or centuries, from prehistoric times to the present and into the future
weather science— including cloud physics, storm structure, and other keys to improved weather forecasting
weather hazards to transportation—including detection and warning systems for turbulence, icing, and other flight hazards and for weather-related hazards of road and rail travel
weather decision support systems for new and emerging economic sectors—including renewable energy, wildfire prediction, precision agriculture, and other areas of societal importance
interactions between the Sun and Earth—including solar and space weather
computer science innovation—for understanding and visualizing the whole Earth system
the effects of weather and climate on society and national security
Reducing methane emissions could slow global warming quickly and buy time for the world to wean itself off fossil fuels. But it must not distract from the challenge to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
What might sound like small changes – temperatures another tenth of a degree warmer, sea level a few centimeters higher – have big consequences for the world around us.
Antarctic sea ice cover fell to an all-time low recently and hasn’t yet recovered. Why? The initial answers could lie in an unlikely place – the tropics.
With California suffering another devastating wildfire year, more people are wondering about whether and how global warming is contributing. A climate scientist explains.
A panel of academics and scientists explain the damages to the Earth, the economy and US moral standing in the world by Trump’s decision to abandon the Paris climate accord.
Kevin Trenberth, National Center for Atmospheric Research and Reto Knutti, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
People worry Washington is losing respect for science and even the centuries-old scientific method. Two climate scientists explain how science can be done when talking about the future.
Extreme weather has an outsized impact on everyday life. Focusing on average weather patterns may make Americans dangerously complacent about how climate change is already affecting our lives.
Portée par un puissant El Niño et par le changement climatique, 2015 a battu tous les records de températures, faisant mentir les défenseurs de l’hypothèse d'une pause dans le réchauffement global.
NASA’s former climate chief, James Hansen, is lead author on a paper that predicts rapidly rising seas this century, but not all climate scientists believe the study’s models are convincing.
As first glance, asking whether global warming results in more snow may seem like a silly question because obviously, if it gets warm enough, there is no snow. Consequently, deniers of climate change have…
Many people around the world, in certain locations, have asked, “where is global warming?” This is because they have experienced very cold wintry conditions and weird weather that they do not associate…
This week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released the outcomes from Working Group I (WG-I) of the Fifth Assessment Report on the physical climate change. The IPCC has issued four…
Has global warming stalled? This question is increasingly being asked because the local weather seems cool and wet, or because the global mean temperature is not increasing at its earlier rate or the long-term…
A leaked draft report by the world’s top climate scientists has found that is virtually certain that humans are causing climate change but parts of it have been wildly misinterpreted by climate change…
As I write this, Hurricane Sandy remains a very large, powerful hurricane. On Sunday afternoon (local time), Sandy brought winds gusting to 103km/h to coastal North Carolina. Heavy rains are already occurring…