NOAA Advances National Climate Service

"SILVER SPRING, Maryland -- U.S. government and university scientists are partnering to form a new cooperative institute that will use satellite observations to detect, monitor and forecast climate change and its impact on the environment.

Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, will work with experts from the University of Maryland and North Carolina State University to create the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, NOAA announced today.

The institute is part of NOAA's ongoing effort to create a National Climate Service to provide longer-term forecasts and warnings related to climate change, just as the National Weather Service does for storms and other short-term weather changes.

The institute will gather "some of the best minds to study satellite imagery and data will shed more light on how our climate is changing," said Mary Kicza, assistant administrator for NOAA's Satellite and Information Service."

Environment News Service had the story May 28, 2009.