NCAR Annual Budget Review

1. NCAR Annual Budget Review October 8, 2007 Tim Killeen NCAR Director

4. NCAR’s Annual Budget Review (ABR) • Strategic Planning and the ABR • Overview of 08/09 ABR • Managing NCAR’s Budget • Summary of Laboratory Presentations

5. Strategic Planning and the ABR • NCAR’s long-range planning provides the context for our short-term planning process – the ABR. • The ABR ensures that our activities are consistent with our values and goals and illustrates where we need to make adjustments.

6. NSF Priorities NCAR Strategic Plan NCAR Annual Report Annual Budget Review Operating Plan Strategic Planning and the ABR

7. FY 2008/09 ABR Process • Internal Lab ABRs • Labs developed budget and program materials • Accomplishments to date • Plans and priorities for FY 2008 and FY 2009 • 5-year challenges and opportunities • Presentations to NCAR Executive Committee • Series of Executive Committee discussions on allocations • Met with NSF on interim allocation proposal • With NSF input, implementation and ABR close-out meetings held in late August

8. Budget Assumptions for FY 2008 • Plan at a conservative level • Assume 0% to +3%, or $2.4M (Base) NCAR’s projected cost-of-business: 5%, $4.4M

9. Director’s ABR Guidance Letter for FY 2008dated March 1, 2007 Long-term Institutional priorities are: • Support for community user facilities and models • Creation of budgetary and programmatic flexibility • Support for Early Career Scientists • Support for programmatic innovation • Support for strategic integrative science • Proposed actions in response to the NSF review of NCAR/UCAR

10. NSF Guidance Letter for FY 2007dated May 5, 2007 • “[S]upport and stewardship to the atmospheric science community through its observing and computing facilities, including its community models.” • “[C]reate programmatic and budgetary flexibility to ensure participation in community-driven atmospheric science research activities.”

11. 2009/2010 Annual Budget Review On-going dialogue with NSF through: • Planning Meetings • NSF visits to the Laboratories • Programmatic Presentations at NSF

12. Managing our Budget • Appropriation process uncertain and drawn-out. • NCAR frequently receives its target in the third or fourth quarter of the year. • Program activities must fall within the fiscal year. • Base funds carryover is limited to 3% (or ~$2.4M) of its program target. • SPERs - Allows NCAR to accumulate funds for large events, i.e., aircraft inspections, super computer acquisitions. • Carryover is always below 3% and NCAR has not had a deficit.

13. Summary of Laboratory ABR Presentations

14. CISL Priorities • Data Center Replacement • Computer acquisition fund • Mass Store Archive

15. CISL Discussion Items • Balance of service and research • Managing risk in the data center replacement project • NCAR participation in NSF cyberinfrastructure competitions

16. EOL Priorities • HAIS • Support for Deployment Pool observational systems • Field Program support and data services • Commitment to 2 aircraft concurrent operations • Wing-Inspection • Build up a long-term equipment replacement reserve (i.e., C-130 Avionics) • Provide high level of service to increasingly complex field projects

17. EOL Discussion Items • Balance of facilities with development • Budget flexibility to support minor fluctuations in field program support levels. • Facility Development Concepts • CAPRIS • Modular Profiling Network • Virtual Operations Center

18. ESSL Priorities • Climate Prediction (emphasis on short-term) • Biosphere-Hydrosphere-Atmosphere-Interactions • Water System • Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting System • Space Weather • Chemical Weather • Prediction Across Scales: Towards Earth System Modeling

19. ESSL Discussion Items • Plans for the Earth System Model • Promising integrated research (e.g., BEACHON) • Strategic Partnerships

20. RAL Priorities and Discussion Items • Ensure the continued success of the Developmental Testbed Center (DTC) and the Data Assimilation Testbed Center, expanding their testing and evaluation efforts to better serve the modeling community. • Continue to demonstrate the value of improved weather and climate information through the Societal Impacts Program. • Improve short-term forecasts of convective weather through the NCAR-wide Short-Term Explicit Prediction (STEP) program. • Develop innovative methods and techniques to improve the verification of weather forecasts. • Develop advanced decision support tools for water resource planning and management. • Work with partners in developing countries to build expertise and infrastructure needed to address weather and climate hazards.

21. Societal-Environmental Research and Education Laboratory (SERE) Priorities and Discussion Items • Build capacity required to ensure resilient communities prepared to cope with and mitigate against climate, water and weather uncertainties. • Development of the Societal-Resilience System of Systems (SRSS) Conceptual Framework, its Strategic Partners, and Guiding Questions. • Use of coupled human and natural scientific information in the development of decision processes and assessment tools. • Design and implement educational programs to ensure the availability of a scientifically literate and engaged workforce and the diversity of scientific excellence required to advance, implement and sustain SRSS.

23. Summary • Continued augmentation of EOL (HAIS) • Increased climate and weather modeling • Initiated new diversity program • Enhanced the central visitor program • Began Earth System Modeling strategic initiative • Augmented CISL supercomputing fund • Sub-inflationary base budgets elsewhere • Slowed rejuvenation program (temporary)

24. Discussion

25. FY07 expenses are assumed level at this time.

29. Note: FY07 represents preliminary targets & partial transfers * Includes Directorate Transfers

34. NCAR Total Non-Base Proposal Submissions $ Amount Proposed