Page 182 - Inflation-Reduction-Act-Guidebook

     

Improving Climate Science and Weather Forecasting

Strengthening America’s resilience to climate change depends on continuing to hone scientists’
ability to understand, model, and track potential climate impacts and extreme weather events
with greater specificity and longer lead-times. Better scientific understanding of how a warmer
ocean intensifies a hurricane or what path a potential hurricane may take, for example, can help
federal, Tribal, state, and local governments make difficult decisions about evacuations,
prepositioning of response assets, and resource allocations. Better seasonal and interannual
forecasting of soil moisture, temperature, and precipitation can allow agricultural producers to
make informed decisions about what to plant and when; municipalities to purchase deicing
materials and contract for snow removal; and businesses to plan in advance. The Inflation
Reduction Act invests in the latest forecasting science and technology and 3-D mapping
programs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Geological Survey.

Programs Covered in This Chapter

IRA
Agency Section Program Name Amount
Department of Commerce 40004 Research and Forecasting for Weather and Climate $200,000,000

Department of Commerce 40005 Computing Capacity and Research for Weather, $190,000,000
Oceans, and Climate

Department of Commerce 40006 Acquisition of Hurricane Forecasting Aircraft $100,000,000

Department of the Interior 50271 USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) $23,500,000

B U IL D IN G A C L E A N E N E R G Y E C O N O MY 177
G U ID E B O O K | J AN UARY 20 2 3 | VE RS I O N 2