NSF NCAR Research Applications Laboratory

🔥 Proud to support this vital work! Our tools help predict wildfire behavior so firefighters & communities can respond faster & smarter - protecting lives & property. 🚒🌤 Learn more about the Benefits and Impacts of our Wildfire Weather Research: ral.ucar.edu/impacts/wild...

It's great to see the big crowd here in Boulder for the UCAR Members Meeting. I will be at the CISL booth during the reception this evening, so please come say hi and learn more about all the AI work we're doing at NSF NCAR.

ENCORE!📣 NSF NCAR scientist Kelly Barsanti will be giving an encore presentation of her Explorer Series lecture on air quality. Join us on Thurs., Oct. 9 at the Longmont Museum from 7-9PM; hope to see you there!

https://longmontcolorado.gov/event/ncar-explorer-series-a-history-of-urban-air-quality/

Following their dance together near the United States' East Coast, the last few days saw Hurricane Imelda absorb the remnants of Hurricane Humberto after its dissipation.

Graphic includes text "Heroes Assemble" in an exclamation bubble, the text "Super Science Saturday" with an orange background. One photo on the top includes scientists at an activity table talking to children, and the bottom photo shows a scientist helping a group of children to deploy a weather balloon.

The 2025 Super Science Saturday is going to be… well, SUPER! 🦸‍♂️ Hosted by UCAR SciEd, our heroic staff are assembling on Sat, Nov. 1 from 10AM-4PM for a super-powered day of science and fun for the whole family at the Mesa Lab! https://scied.ucar.edu/visit/ncar/super-science-saturday

✈️ 🚙 🌨️ Travel safety is at the heart of what we do! ❤️ From aviation turbulence, icing, wind shear, & severe storms, to road weather snow, ice, & fog, our research helps keep travelers moving safely. Proud to advance aviation & surface transportation innovation.
ral.ucar.edu/what-we-do

Hi res image of Typhoon Ragasa using the experimental model.

NSF NCAR scientists are working on an experimental hurricane forecast using advanced computing w/ Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) run on the Derecho supercomputer. So far, this new system predicted Typhoon Ragasa, the strongest weather system this year, many days ahead in high definition.

Waymo’s driverless cars will face big test in Denver: winter weather - Denver Gazette There’s a noticeable trend among the cities Waymo looks to for expansion: snowier weather. This week, Waymo announced it would begin an exploratory phase in Denver and Seattle. The company also made p...

🌨️🚗 As Waymo begins testing driverless cars in Denver, one big question stands out: Can autonomous vehicles handle snow, ice, hail, & Colorado’s unpredictable weather? Curtis Walker, RAL Scientist specializing in transportation meteorology, shared his thoughts: www.denvergazette.com/2025/09/05/w...

🤩 👏 Stronger research means stronger communities. At NSF NCAR RAL, our work in high-resolution, short-term forecasting helps users across sectors - aviation, transportation, military, water, emergency, & more - make safer, faster decisions during severe weather. More:
ral.ucar.edu/technologies...

A scientist holding a weather balloon outside that a group of kids are reaching out to touch.

Suit up, scientists in training! 🥼 Super Science Saturday is just around the corner on November 1st from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm at the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder, CO. Heroes unite to harness the superpowers of science!

Tropical Storm Mitag makes landfall in southeastern China while Tropical Storms Ragasa and Neoguri strengthen over the western Pacific Ocean.

The Advanced Study Program’s Graduate Visitor Program Fellowship is accepting applications! This fellowship allows graduate students to work on their thesis, dissertation, or final project equivalent, with guidance from NSF NCAR scientists and engineers.

Machine Learning training is in serious demand in the Earth System Science community. But what is needed? Help UCAR Community Programs (UCP) at @ncar-ucar.bsky.social figure that out by taking our survey.

✅ Take the survey here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A major milestone for @ncar-ucar.bsky.social : The Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX) @ncar-gdex.bsky.social transition is complete 🎉This strategic initiative unifies 3 data repositories into a single, modernized, analysis-ready research data commons. www.cisl.ucar.edu/news/geoscie...

With Rice University, a new project called the SCI-SWIM will help our Community Earth System Model trace where water comes from by focusing on stable water isotopes that give clues to the origins of water, from ice sheets to the ocean and everything in between.
news.ucar.edu/133039/new-m...

Join Us Today! 1-2 PM (MT) 🌲 Dr. Lijie Zhang, Washington State University presents: 🌲 Examining the Influence of Heterogeneous Forest Canopy on Shallow Convection at the Third ARM Mobile Site
🌎 Explore, Learn, Connect - RAL Seminar Series 🌎
Watch Live: ral.ucar.edu/live

💡⚡Here’s to a smarter, stronger grid! At NSF NCAR RAL, we're also helping to secure the nation’s energy with advanced modeling, forecasting, and decision-support tools - keeping energy reliable for communities across the country. Learn more! ral.ucar.edu/renewable-en...

A new study finds eastern Colorado is drying faster than the Western Slope due to climate change The split could leave the Front Range even more dependent on piping water across the continental divide.

💧🏔️New study finds eastern Colorado is drying faster than the Western Slope “The growing population & drying in the east is going to mean cities like Denver, Boulder & Longmont are going to become even more dependent on water we take from the west,” Alex Stebbins NSF NCAR.
www.cpr.org/2025/09/15/e...

The Ozone Hole Is Steadily Shrinking because of Global Efforts After nearly 40 years of global efforts, the ozone hole over Antarctica is continuing to heal

A little bit of good news for you. And a reminder that we *can* solve big, global problems--when we want to. 🧪

(by @meghanbartels.bsky.social)

A green field overlooking the Flatirons in the background on a sunny day

So, when you see an ozone alert, it's about air quality conditions near the ground where we live and breathe, and not about the protective ozone layer high above us!

A suite of instruments overlook a mountainous area.

A suite of instruments overlook a shrubby area in the morning sunrise.

🔭The development team has completed the Final Design Review for COSMO’s Large Coronagraph, a solar telescope helping scientists to study the magnetic processes before a geomagnetic storm.
📍The team has narrowed down the sites for this new observatory & deployed instruments to continue assess them.

Examining the Influence of Heterogeneous Forest Canopy on Shallow Convection at the Third ARM Mobile Site, Dr. Lijie Zhang, Washington State University

🌎 Explore, Learn, Connect - RAL Seminar Series 🌎
🌲 Examining the Influence of Heterogeneous Forest Canopy on Shallow Convection at the Third ARM Mobile Site
🌲 Dr. Lijie Zhang, Washington State University
🌲 WED, Sept 17 | 1-2 PM (MT) | Free hybrid event
More! ral.ucar.edu/events/2025/...

⭐We're honored to be a part of this mission & support our military with cutting-edge weather prediction tools that protect soldiers, strengthen security, & safeguard communities. Our tools are in operational use at the DoD supporting mission-critical decisions.
Learn more: ral.ucar.edu/urban-weather

As extreme weather events, poor air quality & solar storms increasingly threaten our nation, NSF NCAR’s research is more important now than ever. In our new Strategic Plan, we are charting a path forward to ensure our research advances a more resilient and safe future.

ncar.ucar.edu/who-we-are/s...

🌍 The MMM lab at @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is running experimental realtime forecasts with a global 3.75-km MPAS model.

Goal: Highlight the power of global km-scale models for weather prediction from local to planetary scales, incl. tropical cyclones.

👉 project.mmm.ucar.edu/real-time-fo...

#ICYMI Poor water quality can drastically affect air quality according to a collaborative study featuring NSF NCAR, @scrippsocean.bsky.social , @ucriverside.bsky.social & @sandiegostate.bsky.social. NSF NCAR's Kelly Barsanti assisted with gas analysis.

news.ucar.edu/133038/study...

Six students and three teachers around a table doing an experiment with empty plastic bottles and buckets of water

Interested in one of our award-winning field trips but can't come in person?
Good news! We offer virtual options as well, all you need to participate is a computer, webcam, and internet access. We bring the science to you!

Sunrise this morning on a category 4 Hurricane Kiko.

👏 Advancing hurricane resilience requires both leading-edge research & clear communication. 🤲 Together our organization is helping communities prepare, respond, & recover more effectively. Learn more about how we are helping drive this vital mission forward: ral.ucar.edu/tropical-cyc...

Diagram of the process for applying. Please see website for full details.

Applications are OPEN for the Faculty Innovator Program, supporting collaborative interdisciplinary projects pairing faculty with NSF NCAR researchers. Applicants will start with the Ideas Lab workshops to co-develop proposals. Due Sept. 15. https://edec.ucar.edu/university-partnerships/innovators