Government's Sustainability Moment - CGI Initiative for Collaborative ...

WeatheringChangeMary Glackin applies science and service to keep citizensinformed of the changing environment around them.By John PulleyPHOTOGRAPHY By CHRIS FLYNNToday, the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration warns of flash floods 15minutes before they hit—a life-or-death difference forsomeone hiking in a slot canyon, for instance. It’s ahuge advance from 1977, when Mary Glackin joinedthe agency. Back then, “we had zero lead time,” sherecalls. “Once it started, we’d tell you about it.”Glackin, 56, NOAA’s deputy under secretary for operations,started her career in the agency’s NationalWeather Service, so she’s proud of the flood-warningprogress. But NOAA’s newest early-warning challengeswamps the challenge of predicting flash floods. Theagency is taking on the all-encompassing effects ofchanges in the earth’s climate.Aspects of climate—such as future precipitationand temperatures; ocean currents, levels and acidification;and even melting rates for sea ice—affect multiplefacets of life and business. For example, climateplays an important role when deciding power plant locations,setting home insulation standards, predictingcrop yields and fishing hauls, plotting shipping routesand scheduling sporting events. So governments,businesses, nonprofits and universities are clamoringfor climate data. While NOAA has addressed climateissues for years in different parts of its organization,the agency is now proposing to create a single climateservice to integrate its approach.Building the new service will require the largest realignmentin the history of the $5.5 billion, 13,000-employeeagency, but far from the only one, Glackinsays. The agency continually adapts to the oceansand atmosphere it monitors. “I’ve seen a tremendousamount of change in 33 years,” she says. “One of thethings that has driven it is our understanding of howthe earth system works and how earth sciences work.”NOAA’s fiscal 2012 budget request outlines the newClimate Service, pending congressional approval. Itis to be cost neutral, bringing together capabilitiesnow dispersed across existing organizations. Its budgetwould be $346 million with a staff of 610, and itwould be comprised of people and funding from threeline offices: the National Weather Service, Office ofOceanic and Atmospheric Research and the NationalEnvironmental Satellite, Data and Information Service.S P R I N G 2 0 11 | COLL ABOR ATIVEGOV.ORG/LE AD | Leadership 35