Ocean and coastal observing systems - National Ocean Service

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law summary: “Shall be for supporting improved and enhanced coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes observing systems.”

NOAA will support the fortification of critical ocean observing assets to ensure the long-term sustainability of the U.S. ocean observing enterprise. These investments capitalize on an opportunity to transform the ocean observing community into a truly sustainable oceanography enterprise that will fuel the development of the New Blue Economy. The New Blue Economy is the knowledge-based ocean economy that develops and manufactures the technology needed to observe the ocean and supports decision support tools built from data and information to benefit society in areas such as coastal resilience, climate change adaptation, and inform stewardship and resource management.

Investing in these observing systems now will address the need to minimize risk and gaps in service. Funding will be used to stabilize, modernize, and enhance the national network of coastal, ocean, and Great Lakes observing systems to deliver data and information necessary to support coastal communities as they respond to changing coastal conditions, including flooding, increased harmful algal blooms, extreme storms, and other risks for society. This funding will also modernize and improve parts of the global ocean observing system, in support of predictions of subseasonal to seasonal weather, climate, and extremes.

 $100M over 5 years

• Funding will likely be distributed internally, therefore no external funding opportunity is expected at this time.

• NOAA awards $20.5 million for ocean and coastal resource management (January 17, 2022)