Air Quality, Weather, & Climate Research

ORAU works in partnership with NOAA's Atmospheric Turbulence & Diffusion Division (ATDD) to perform advanced weather and climate research. This may involve activities such as flying drones to better understand patterns of unpredictable weather or engineering and maintaining the U.S. Climate Reference Network.

As a part of NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory, ORAU’s atmospheric scientists at ATDD provide engineering expertise on the development and deployment of instrumentation and data analysis for short intensive campaigns to multi-decade, nationwide climate monitoring stations and systems. These innovative systems offer insight into the implications of climate change and air quality on a nationwide scale.

If you’ve ever questioned why tornadoes are disproportionately deadly in the Southeast, how pollutants affect local air quality, or how to continually improve monitoring and prediction of climate, then you’re asking the questions ATDD experts are actively seeking answers to in their research.

What is the Climate Reference Network?

The U.S. Climate Reference Network is a system of 115 climate monitoring stations scattered throughout the continental United States, with an additional 25 stations in Alaska (eventually 29 stations by 2027) and two in Hawaii. An additional station is located in Canada to benchmark the U.S. networks with our North American partners.

All of the stations have sensors with the capabilities to read air temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. Additionally, most of these stations also have sensors to read soil moisture, and soil temperature. The data collected through the U.S. Climate Reference Network are used to monitor trends in the nation's climate and support climate-impact research, while supporting water resource management.

Areas of expertise

Air Quality

Atmospheric modeling
Reactive nitrogen
Surface-atmosphere exchange

Climate

U.S. Climate Reference Network
Snow measurements
Surface Energy Budget Network

Boundary Layer Processes

Surface-layer meteorology
Hydrometeorology
Severe weather information
Uncrewed aircraft

ATDD: 50 years of weather stations, atmospheric dispersion and a forecast of sunny skies

The Atmospheric Turbulence & Diffusion Division (ATDD) is one of the oldest research laboratories within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ATDD is a division within NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory (ARL). In supporting ARL, ATDD is part of ORAU’s scope of work.

Read the blog post

ORAU’s 50-year partnership with ATDD has thrived through innovation.

A ripple effect: the broad impact of ODRD funding on NOAA and beyond

The ORAU Directed Research and Development (ODRD) program invests in research collaboration between ORAU researchers and university faculty at ORAU consortium member institutions. Learn how NOAA has been impacted in recent projects.

Read the news feature

A ripple effect: the broad impact of ODRD funding on NOAA and beyond

VIDEO: Behind the scenes maintaining the U.S. Climate Reference Network

This network of measurement stations is collected from remote areas across the country that are not influenced by human sprawl (things like asphalt impacting surface temperature and buildings impacting wind and rain).

Watch the video

VIDEO: Behind the scenes maintaining the U.S. Climate Reference Network

How ORAU is connected to the atmospheric science work of NOAA

Discover how ORAU is connected to the important work of NOAA in climate research and atmospheric science.

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How ORAU is connected to the atmospheric science work of NOAA

ORAU is making an impact on air quality, weather, and climate research

ORAU's work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atmospheric Turbulence and Diffusion Division is one of the hidden gems of our company. Our team's work focuses on climate research, atmospheric chemistry and dispersion, and boundary layer characterization. The Climate Reference Network, in particular, is a series of 100+ stations around the country that collect data to monitor climate. Kathy Rollow and Mark Hall discuss the importance of the Climate Reference Network, how they keep these stations operating in harsh conditions, and the importance the work of the team working for NOAA ATDD.

Watch the videocast Listen to the podcast Transcript (.DOCX)

Contact us

For more information about contracting with ORAU, contact Kathy Rollow at (865) 206-4264 or kathy.rollow@orau.org.