NOAA Gets 3 Percent Boost in Funding for FY2013

The budget presented by the White House today proposes that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration receive a 3 percent boost in overall funding for fiscal year 2013. This would bring the total funds made available to the organization to $5.06 billion (€3.85 billion).

The good news is that the critically-important Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) satellite program will continue to receive funds, as will NOAA's main research agency, the Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) office.

The bad news is that a wide array of programs dedicated to wildlife and habitat conservation, as well as to marine research, will not receive funding at the appropriate levels. In essence, this puts the agency in a position where it has to back out from at least some of them.

Additionally, NOAA will have to let about 166 employees go. The budget proposal calls for just 12,222 full-time positions. At this point, the organization employs 12,388 people, Science Mag reports.