NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

Funds oceanic, atmospheric, and climate research through laboratories, cooperative institutes, and applied science programs.

NOAA's Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research is NOAA's primary research line office. It funds fundamental and applied work on oceans, atmosphere, climate, weather, and coastal ecosystems, and its FY2026 budget was $630M. The office sits behind NOAA Research, with climate and Sea Grant programs split into their own funder records.

OAR operates through 16 Cooperative Institutes hosted by about 80 universities and research institutions, seven research labs, and program offices such as the Weather Program Office, the Ocean Acidification Program, the NOAA Global Ocean Monitoring and Observing Program, the Ocean Exploration office, the Uncrewed Systems Research Transition Office, and the Technology Partnerships Office that runs NOAA SBIR. Its award structure includes large cooperative agreements for university consortia, with the Cooperative Institutes program reaching up to $100M on a single award.

The office is a strong fit for universities and research teams that can connect basic science to operational NOAA needs. Its competitions tend to favor institutional partners, multi-year research capacity, and projects that move data, models, or field observations into forecasting and decision support.