7
GOALS Program Management
The GOALS program is conceived as a complex scientific endeavor that would require long-term commitments and, as with the TOGA program, multiagency support. It would contribute to a larger international program, the World Climate Research Program's CLIVAR initiative, with the duration of the two programs—from 1995 to 2010—coinciding. Program management for GOALS would be modeled on the structure so successfully employed in the TOGA program, a prototype for programs designed to address complex issues of global climate change.
Figure 7-1 depicts the proposed organizational structure for GOALS and its relationship to CLIVAR. The GOALS program would be managed in a tripartite fashion, with a project office (GOALS Project Office), a scientific oversight body (NRC, with its Climate Research Committee and GOALS Panel), and a group of participating federal agencies.
The federal agencies would be responsible for implementing GOALS through coordinated funding of research grants. An interagency GOALS Project Office would serve as a focal point for the implementation of the national research effort. The responsibilities of the GOALS Project Office would include:
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Organization of U.S. participation in the international CLIVAR program in relation to (1) components of the observing system, (2) data management, (3) basic and applied research, and (4) modeling and prediction;
Figure 7-1 GOALS program management structure and its relationship to the international CLIVAR program. Shown are relationships among oversight committees, science panels, project offices, federal agencies, and groups participating in the GOALS program. Also depicted are relevant components of the CLIVAR management structure and its principal communication link to the GOALS program through the project offices (dashed line).
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Preparation of a multiagency plan to address the implementation of GOALS;
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Coordination of multiagency long-range budget estimates and preparation of annual budgets for GOALS research; and
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Regular reporting to the NRC GOALS Panel on the status of the program and providing for communication with other U.S. programs (for example, Atlantic Climate Change Program) and international programs (such as the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment) as needed.
With oversight of the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate through its Climate Research Committee (CRC), the GOALS Panel would provide scientific guidance for the program. The responsibilities of the GOALS Panel would include:
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Providing overall scientific leadership—with regular review and guidance on long-range scientific policy, planning, progress, and priorities—to the GOALS Project Office and involved agencies;
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Regularly reporting to the CRC on the panel's involvement in GOALS plans and activities, and receiving guidance from the CRC on GOALS matters in the context of the overall U.S. climate research program; and
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Reviewing plans, making recommendations on priorities, and otherwise providing inputs to the international CLIVAR program.
Principal investigators and consortia would carry out much of the actual implementation of the GOALS scientific plans. As the needs of the program dictate, the GOALS Project Office would invite groups to prepare coordinated sets of research proposals designed to address specific objectives of GOALS.
Close coordination between GOALS and international CLIVAR would be maintained through a formal link between the project offices for the two programs and an informal liaison between the GOALS Panel and the International CLIVAR Scientific Steering Group.
