Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans to provide $14 million for new grants to universities, other academic institutions, non-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, and other federal agencies within the area of Atmospheric System Research (ASR).
Grants will focus on studies of cloud, aerosol, and precipitation processes and interactions. It is expected that grants will use data from DOE-sponsored observations, including those collected at DOE's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility, a Public Reusable Research (PuRe) Data Resource.
Specific topics solicited in ASR funding opportunity announcements vary from year to year to take advantage of new observations from DOE's ARM User Facility and address the Office of Science's Biological and Environmental Research (BER) priorities. For this Funding Opportunity Announcement, grants will be required to emphasize process-level scientific understanding of atmospheric aerosol-cloud interactions, aerosol processes affecting cloud lifecycle, properties, and/or processes; convective cloud processes; and high-latitude atmospheric processes.
"America's leadership in the climate sciences dates back to the earliest general circulation models of the 1950s, and DOE investments in the atmospheric sciences have been critical to our nation's overall leadership in making accurate projections of climate change and impacts on society," said Sharlene Weatherwax, DOE Associate Director of Science for Biological and Environmental Research. "These grants will ensure a strong atmospheric sciences program and expand the robust scientific workforce of our country, which will lead to improved understanding of atmospheric Earth systems that play important roles in addressing the nation's climate challenge."
The Department anticipates that $14 million will be available for this program in Fiscal Year 2022. Funding is to be awarded competitively, on the basis of peer review, and is expected to be in the form of three-year grants with total award amounts ranging from $200,000 to $900,000, beginning in Fiscal Year 2022.
The DOE Funding Opportunity Announcement, issued by DOE's Office of Science, can be found here.
More information on the Office of Biological and Environmental Research can be found here. More information on the Atmospheric System Research program can be found here.
Source: https://www.energy.gov/