NOAA administrator reviews agency progress and challenges

Abstract

The approach of the new year is a traditional time to tally up successes, failures, and the path ahead. Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), examined some agency advances and significant challenges during the 7 December Union Agency Lecture at the AGU Fall Meeting, during a press briefing, and in an interview with Eos. Lubchenco focused on several key areas including the concern about monitoring, mitigating, and managing extreme events; budgetary pressures the agency faces in current fiscal year (FY) 2012 and in FY 2013, with President Barack Obama on 18 November having signed into law a bill, HR 2112, following congressional agreement on a budget legislation conference report; and NOAA's newly released scientific integrity policy (see “NOAA issues scientific integrity policy,” Eos Trans. AGU, 92(50), 467, doi:10.1029/2011EO500004, 2011).