National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA History is an intrinsic part of the history of the United States and the development of its science and commercial infrastructure. The ancestor agencies of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration include the United States Coast Survey established in 1807, the United States Weather Bureau established in 1870, and the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries established in 1871.
These organizations were the first physical science agency in the United States, the first agency formed specifically for observation and study of the atmosphere, and the first agency formed to study and conserve natural resources. Under these agencies and their descendants the United States has become recognized as a world leader in the sciences of geodesy, geophysics, metrology, oceanography, meteorology, climatology, marine biology, and marine ecology. Additionally, the impetus given to various types of engineering and the advancement of the mathematical sciences by these organizations was and still is a major contribution to the welfare and well-being of our Nation.
Besides the science that has grown up in these organizations, they have also been great humanitarian agencies concerned with the saving of life both on our shores and within the interior of the United States. Millions of passengers and trillions of tons of cargo have safely come to our shores while guided by the charts of the Coast Survey and its descendant organizations. The American citizens whose lives have been saved by the warnings of the Weather Bureau and its descendants and the dollars saved by our national economy as a result of better forecasting are beyond measure. And the fight to save our fisheries for future generations has been led by the Fish and Fisheries Commission and its descendants.
The personnel of these organizations served in peace and war; worked in the remote and frontier regions of our Nation; and experienced rough seas, violent weather, various and sundry hardships in accomplishing their mission, and separation from family and friends. But through all of this they persevered with quiet courage and a fierce loyalty to their organization and the Nation. Within the NOAA History Site you will find the stories of many of these dedicated public servants, the stories of their agencies, and the stories of the development of a major segment of American science.
Historic Timeline
1807 - Survey of the Coast established by President Thomas Jefferson. This was to become America’s first physical science agency. Ferdinand Hassler’s plan, based on scientific principles, was selected by Government as the best of many presented. Hassler, later selected to be Superintendent of the Coast Survey, imbues the organization with standards of accuracy, precision, and integrity.
1811-1815 - Ferdinand Hassler procures books and instruments for the United States Survey of the Coast.
1814 - Surgeon General orders surgeons to keep weather diaries; first government collection of weather data.
1816 - First field work accomplished by the United States Survey of the Coast.
1832 - An Office of Weights and Measures, the forerunner of the National Institute of Standards and Technology is formed under the U.S. Coast Survey.
1836 - Survey of the Coast renamed to U.S. Coast Survey.
1842 - James P. Espy appointed first official U.S. Government meteorologist.
1843 - Ferdinand Hassler, Superintendent of the Coast Survey, and America’s first professional full-time scientist, passes away. Alexander Dallas Bache, a great grandson of Benjamin Franklin, is appointed second Superintendent of the Coast Survey
1845 - U.S. Coast Survey begins systematic studies of Gulf Stream, first systematic oceanographic project for studying a specific phenomenon commenced by any government or organization. Physical oceanography, geological oceanography, biological oceanography, and chemical oceanography of the Gulf Stream and its environs were covered in the initial orders serving as a model for all subsequent integrated oceanographic cruises.
1847 - Naturalist Louis Agassiz sails on Coast Survey Steamer BIBB to study fish and fauna of offshore New England area.
1848 - Volunteer Weather Observers recruited through the Smithsonian Institution.
1849 - Smithsonian Institution supplies weather instruments to telegraph companies and establishes extensive weather observation network.
1851 - U. S. Coast Survey commissions Louis Agassiz to conduct first scientific study of the Florida Reef system.
1853 - First Tide Prediction Tables published.
1854 - United States Coast Survey begins using self-recording tide gages. One installed at San Francisco has begun the longest continuous series of tide observations in the Western Hemisphere.
1854-1855 - James McNeill Whistler employed by the U.S. Coast Survey as an engraver.
1861-65 - United States Coast Survey serves with Union Army and Navy in all theaters of the Civil War and with all major commanders. Coast Surveyors served as hydrographers, topographers, and scouts oftentimes in advance of the front lines. In the Army, Coast Surveyors were given assimilated military rank while attached to a specific command.
1870 - President Ulysses S. Grant signs a bill passed by Congress to establish a national weather warning service under the Secretary of War. The weather service was established within the Army Signal Corps.
1871 - President Ulysses S. Grant signs a bill authorizing America’s first conservation agency, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries (COF); administratively it is placed under the Smithsonian Institution. The Army Signal Service published the first daily weather maps, a series that has continued up to the present day. Ulysses S. Grant signs a bill authorizing the Coast Survey to carry geodetic surveys into the interior of the United States and begins the continent-spanning survey of the 39th Parallel.
1872 - Fur seal research begins on Pribilof Islands under Treasury Department - marks beginnings of U.S. marine mammal studies and protection. Publication of Monthly Weather Review begun by Army Signal Service. Fish culture begins at Baird Station on McCloud River near Mt. Shasta, California.
1873 - The Commission of Fish and Fisheries utilizes the Coast Survey steamer BACHE for first deep water sampling and dredging cruises. This cooperative relationship continued for many years until the Fisheries Service obtained its own deep water steamers.
1874-1878 - Many major innovations made on Coast and Geodetic Survey Steamer BLAKE including Sigsbee sounding machine and use of steel cable for oceanographic operations. The BLAKE also pioneered deep ocean anchoring during Gulf Stream studies and was perhaps the most innovative oceanographic vessel of the Nineteenth Century.
1875 - Permanent fisheries laboratory structure erected at Woods Hole, Massachusetts, although all modern facilities not completed until 1885.
1874-1877 - The great naturalist John Muir employed as guide and artist by Coast Survey on Survey of the 39th Parallel across the Great Basin of Nevada and Utah.
1878 - U.S. Coast Survey name changed to U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to reflect role of geodesy and earlier authorization to conduct geodetic surveys in the interior of the United States.
1882 - U.S.S. ALBATROSS launched - first government research vessel built exclusively for fisheries and oceanographic research; first volume of the Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission is published, a publication which is continued today as the Fishery Bulletin.
1885 - Wood Hole, MA, first purpose-built marine fisheries research lab. Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship BLAKE pioneers deep sea anchoring. Anchors in up to 2200 fathoms during classic Gulf Stream studies.
1888 - U.S. Fish Commission established as independent agency of the Federal Government.
1890 - Cooperative Weather Observer Network established a system that now has over 11,000 observers nationwide.
1891 - Congress transfers weather service from Army Signal Corps to Department of Agriculture; a civilian weather service, termed the United States Weather Bureau begins.
1893 - U.S. Fish Commission becomes responsible for northern fur seal research. Sea Islands Hurricane devastates African-American Communities on Sea Islands between Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, killing approximately 2,000 people (Clara Barton placed total between 4,000-5,000) on August 28. On October 2 the Cheniere Caminada Hurricane occurred striking the Louisiana coast and killing another 2,000. These two storms account for the second worst hurricane casualty year on record.
1898 - Weather Bureau begins regular kite observations for studying upper-air ; last flight made in 1933. Weather Bureau begins hurricane warning network.
1899 - Coast and Geodetic Survey opens field office in Seattle, WA, to support ships and survey field expeditions; future Pacific Marine Center.
1900 - Galveston Hurricane kills over 6,000. The greatest single natural disaster to affect the United States or its territories. President Roosevelt signs bill authorizing construction of the second fisheries laboratory at Beaufort, North Carolina Fisheries Laboratory.
1901 - National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) established from U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Office of Weights and Measures.
1903 - Commission of Fish & Fisheries transferred to Bureau of Fisheries (USBF) in Commerce and Labor Dept. Coast and Geodetic Survey transferred from Treasury Department to Commerce and Labor Department.
1909 - Weather Bureau begins balloon observations.
1912 - First Fire Weather Forecast issued.
1914 - Aerological Section of Weather Bureau begins.
1915 - First radio broadcast of a weather forecast from Illiopolis, Illinois.
1917 - U. S. enters WWI. Commissioned Officers Corps created from field corps of the Coast and Geodetic Survey; that organization is the forerunner of NOAA Corps. Half of commissioned officer service transferred to Armed Services, ships SURVEYOR and BACHE transferred to Navy. Ship ALBATROSS from Bureau of Fisheries transferred to Navy. Numerous personnel from Weather Service serve as meteorologists during WWI.
1918 - The Weather Bureau begins issuing bulletins and forecasts for domestic military flights and for new air mail routes.
1920 - Meteorologists form a professional organization, the American Meteorological Society.
1923-24 - Coast and Geodetic Survey begins use of acoustic sounding systems; develops radio acoustic ranging, the first marine navigation system ever devised to not have to rely on some visual means of position determination. This system led to discovery of SOFAR, telemetering radio sono-buoys, and marine seismic exploration techniques.
1926 - The Air Commerce Act directs the Coast and Geodetic Survey to begin charting the Nation’s airways and directs the Weather Bureau to provide for weather services to civilian aviation. The fire weather service formally inaugurated when Congress provides funds for seven fire weather districts.
1927 - The Weather Bureau establishes a West Coast prototype for an Airways Meteorological Service
1928 - Teletype replaces telegraph and telephone as the primary method for communicating weather information.
1931 - The Weather Bureau begins regular 5 a.m. EST aircraft observations at Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas and Omaha, at altitudes reaching 16,000 feet. This program spells the demise of "kite stations."
1933 - Coast and Geodetic Survey opens ship base in Norfolk, Virginia.
1934 - Weather Bureau establishes an Air Mass Analysis Section.
1934–1937 - During height of the Depression, Coast and Geodetic Survey organizes surveying parties and field offices that employ over 10,000 including many out of work engineers.
1934-37 - "Dust Bowl" drought in southern plains causes severe economic damage and generates one of the great migrations in human history, from the Central United States to the West Coast showing dramatically the effect of climate changes on human society.
1937 - First Weather Bureau balloon carried radio-meteorograph, or radiosonde, sounding made at East Boston, Mass. Full implementation of this program ends the era of manned aircraft soundings since balloons could be launched in virtually all weather conditions and could fly substantially higher than aircraft. Twelve pilots died flying weather missions.
1937 - January flood on the Ohio River is the greatest ever experienced, with Ohio River levels exceeding all previously recorded. Cincinnati's 80-foot crest and Louisville's 81.4 foot crest have never been exceeded. Seventy percent of Louisville under water, 175,000 of its residents flee their homes; the entire city of Paducah, Kentucky, (population 40,000) is evacuated.
1939 - Bureau of Fisheries transferred from Commerce Department to Department of the Interior and becomes incorporated into the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries; Weather Bureau initiates automatic telephone weather service in New York City; the American Geophysical Union establishes the Bowie Medal, its highest honor, named for Captain William Bowie of the Coast and Geodetic Survey for his "spirit of helpfulness and friendliness in unselfish cooperative research." Bowie was the first president of AGU (1920–1922) and served again from 1929-1933, the only person to hold this position twice. He was the first recipient of the medal.
1940 - Weather Bureau transferred to Department of Commerce from the Department of Agriculture; Army and Navy establish weather centers; President Roosevelt orders Coast Guard to man ocean weather stations.
1941 - Dr. Helmut Landsberg, "the Father of Climatology", writes the first edition of his elementary textbook entitled Physical Climatology.
1941-1945 - World War II. Technical capabilities of the Coast and Geodetic Survey and Weather Service are devoted completely to the war effort.
1942-1945 - The Coast and Geodetic Survey sends over 1000 civilian members and over ½ of its commissioned officers to the military services. Coast Surveyors serve as hydrographers, artillery surveyors, cartographers, army engineers, intelligence officers, and geophysicists in all theaters of the war. Civilians on the homefront produced over 100 million maps and charts for the Allied forces. Eleven members of the C&GS give their lives during WWII.
1942-45 - The Weather Bureau is declared a war agency. Over 700 Weather Bureau members join the Armed forces. Women are recruited to fill their positions for the duration of the war marking the first widespread professional opportunities for women in the field of meteorology. Eleven members of the Weather Bureau give their lives for the United States during WWII.
1942 - A Central Analysis Center, forerunner of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, is created to prepare and distribute master analyses of the upper atmosphere; Joint Chiefs of Staff establish a Joint Meteorological Committee to coordinate wartime civilian and military weather activities; Navy gives the Weather Bureau 25 aircraft radars to be modified for ground meteorological use, marking the start of a weather radar system in the U.S. Navy aerologists play key role as U.S. Carrier-based Navy planes decimate Japanese fleet in mid-Pacific Battle of Midway Island in early June 1942, marking a turning point in the Pacific War. A cooperative thunderstorm research effort is undertaken by the Bureau, military services, and the University of Chicago.
1944 - The decision to invade Normandy on June 6th was based on weather forecasts, which indicated the correct combination of tides and winds.
1945 - First fallout forecast for a nuclear explosion made at Alamagordo, NM.
1945 - Coast Survey adapts “Gee” aerial bombardment electronic navigation system to hydrographic surveying helping usher in the era of marine electronic navigation.
1946 - The U.S. Weather Bureau selects Cincinnati, Ohio and Kansas City, Missouri, as locations for the nation's first hydrologist-staffed River Forecast Centers. Eventually, 13 RFC's would be established to serve the United States.
1948 - USAF Air Weather Service meteorologists issue first tornado warnings from a military installation. Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies begins research into use of a computer for weather forecasting; this has evolved into today’s National Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. Chicago Weather Bureau office demonstrates use of facsimile for map transmission. Coast and Geodetic Survey established Pacific Tsunami Warning System.
1948 - Pacific Tsunami Warning System established in Honolulu, HI.
1950 - First annual Fisheries of the United States published; Weather Service begins 30-Day Weather Outlook; releases Tornado Alerts.
1951 - National Weather Records Center established in Asheville, NC, which eventually becomes the National Climatic Data Center; Severe Weather Warning Center begins operation at Tinker AFB, OK; World Meteorological Organization established by the U.N., Weather Bureau Chief Francis Riechelderfer is elected its first head.
1952 - Bureau organizes Severe Local Storms Forecasting Unit in Washington, D. C. and begins issuing tornado forecasts.
1954 - The Weather Bureau, Navy, Air Force, MIT's Institute for Advanced Study, and the University of Chicago form a Joint Numerical Weather Prediction Unit at Suitland, MD, which becomes operational 1 July 1954. NCEP, AFWA, and FNMOC all can trace their roots to this facility. First radar specifically designed for meteorological use, the AN/CPS-9, is unveiled by the Air Weather Service, USAF.
1955 - Coast and Geodetic Survey Ship PIONEER conducting surveys off United States West Coast tows magnetometer invented by Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Discovers magnetic striping on the seafloor, a key element in formulating the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
1956 - Dept. of Interior divides fisheries duties of Fish and Wildlife Service into Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and Bureau of Sport Fishing and Wildlife.
1956 - The Weather Bureau initiates a National Hurricane Research Project.
1957 - Coast and Geodetic Survey celebrates 150 years since President Thomas Jefferson signed law authorizing Survey of the Coast. International Geophysical Year provides first concerted world wide sharing of meteorological research data. Weather Bureau supports first study to modify Navy Doppler radars for severe storm observations – the beginnings of modern Doppler weather radar.
1958 - The National Meteorological Center is established.
1959 - The Weather Bureau's first WSR-57 weather surveillance radar is commissioned at Miami hurricane forecast center. The Thomas Jefferson and John Campanius Holm awards are created by the Weather Bureau to honor volunteer observers for unusual and outstanding accomplishments in the field of meteorological observations.
1960 - World's first weather satellite, TIROS I, successfully launched. In cooperation with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Weather Bureau meteorologists issue first advisories on air pollution potential over the Eastern United States.
1962 - National Severe Storms Laboratory established. Great Lakes Research Center established.
1963 - Weather Bureau obtains two DC-6 aircraft, forming the nucleus for the Research Flight Facility. Polar orbiting weather satellite TIROS III is launched with automatic picture transmission (APT) capability, eventually to provide continuous cloud images to over 100 nations.
1965 - Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) created consolidating the Coast and Geodetic Survey and the Weather Bureau, a major step on the road to NOAA.
1966 - Marine Resources and Engineering Development Act initiates Stratton Commission. National Sea Grant Colleges and Programs Act signed into law. The national operational weather satellite system is formally established on March 5, when NASA transfers control of ESSA 2 to the National Environmental Satellite Center.
1967 - Eleven ESSA research centers established including Atlantic Oceanographic Laboratory, Pacific Oceanographic Laboratory, National Severe Storms Laboratory, and National Hurricane Research Laboratory. National Council for Marine Research, Resources and Engineering Development endorses the formation of the National Data Buoy Development Program within the U.S. Coast Guard - forerunner of the NOAA's National Data Buoy Center.
1968 - Implementation of the World Weather Watch begins.
1969 - Stratton Commission report Our Nation and the Sea recommends a new oceanic and atmospheric agency. Barbados Oceanographic and Meteorological Experiment (BOMEX), the first project of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (GARP), is conducted off Barbados during May, June, and July.; ESSA Ship and aircraft partake in this milestone experiment. Hurricane Camille, a Category 5 Hurricane, strikes the Mississippi Coast causing widespread damage.
1970 - February 9, 100th Anniversary of formation of Weather Bureau.
October 3, NOAA created within Dept of Commerce combining Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Weather Bureau, Coast and Geodetic Survey, Environmental Data Service, National Oceanographic Data Center, National Satellite Center, Research Libraries, and other components.
1971 - February 9, 100th Anniversary of the formation of the oldest ancestor agency of the National Marine Fisheries Service. First Sea Grant Colleges designated - Texas A&M University, University of Rhode Island, Oregon State University, and the University of Washington.
1972 - Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act established NOAA's National Marine Sanctuaries Program. National Coastal Zone Management Program begins. NOAA Corps becomes first uniformed service to recruit women on the same basis as men.
1973 - Endangered Species Act enacted; NMFS designated responsible agency for marine species.
1975 - GOES-1, NOAA's first owned and operated geostationary satellite launched. Site of final resting place of U.S.S. Monitor designated as NOAA's first National Marine Sanctuary. P-3 Orion "Hurricane Hunter"aircraft acquired. "Charlie 39", NOAA DC-6B research aircraft retired after 321 penetrations of 42 hurricanes.
1976 - Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act provides for NMFS protection of fisheries resources and enforcement activities in federal waters. The Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) deploys the first successful moored equatorial current meter - the beginning of the Tropical Atmosphere/ Ocean (TAO) array.
1978 - Ocean Pollution Planning Act recognizes need to investigate effects of pollutants on marine environment. This marks the beginning of NOAA's Hazardous Materials Response and Assessment (HAZMAT) involvement.
1979 - NOAA's first polar-orbiting environmental satellite launched.
1980 - National Undersea Research Program (NURP) established. "Dean of the Cooperative Weather Observers," Mr. Edward H. Stoll of Elwood,
Nebraska, is honored Mr. Stoll had faithfully served as a Cooperative Observer since October 10, 1905.
1982 - National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) established in Boulder, CO.
1983 - President Ronald Reagan declares a United States Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) extending out 200 nautical miles from our shores. NOAA embarks on program of multi-beam surveying of the EEZ leading to many discoveries including numerous economically important salt domes in the Gulf of Mexico. NOAA assumes operational responsibility for LANDSAT satellite system.
1984 - Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) program begins in response to massive 1982 El Nino. Moored buoy arrays with ocean temperature sensors monitor changes in the temperature regime of the tropical Pacific Ocean.
1985 - Earth Observation Satellite Company (EOSAT) assumes operation of LANDSAT; National Acid Precipitation Research Office established for coordinating efforts to study acid rain.
1986 - NOAA's Aeronomy Laboratory begins investigation of the Antarctic ozone hole at McMurdo Base, Antarctica.
1987 - NOAA GOES-7 satellite launched.
1988 - 75th Anniversary of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
1989 - North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) approved for federal
surveying and mapping activities; first official horizontal reference point established.
1990 - NOAA assumes operation of Cospas-Sarsat (Space-Based System for the Search of Vessels in Distress) program from the U.S. Air Force. The National Meteorological Center nstalled a supercomputer - the Cray Y-MP8 - to run higher resolution and more sophisticated numerical weather production models.
1992 - Following repeated collapse of New England ground fishing stocks, NMFS initiates large-scale ecosystem study of Georges Bank. First installations of WSR-88D Doppler Weather Radars at Weather Service Forecast Offices around the country and first installations of Automated Surface Observing Systems.
1993 - North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) approved for geodesy.
1994 - NOAA Coastal Service Center opened in Charleston, SC; National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Office established to coordinate efforts of civil and military satellite users.
1996 - Sustainable Fisheries Act passed giving NMFS new responsibilities. First NOAA ship-at-sea web page on NOAA Ship Ka'Imimoana.
1997 - Ronald H. Brown commissioned; first new NOAA ship in 15 years; NOAA's Science Advisory Board established.
1997/98 - NOAA successfully forecasts world-wide impact of El Niño.
1998 - NOAA is a major participant in the UN International Year of the Ocean.
1999 - Modernization of the NOAA National Weather Service completed; Sustainable Seas Expedition begins; NOAA Ship Ronald H. Brown returns from round-the-world atmospheric research cruise.
2000 - 30th Anniversary of NOAA; 40th anniversary of TIROS satellite; 50th Anniversary of NOAA Ship John N. Cobb; scheduled launch of NOAA-L satellite, NOAA Central Library declared Federal Library of the Year by the Library of Congress.
The Coast Survey was authorized by Congress and President Thomas Jefferson in 1807. From the Coast Survey has flowed much of the structure and the manner of conducting modern American science. The Coast Survey was founded by Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, a Swiss immigrant, who built an embryonic Coast Survey from the ground up. He brought together mathematicians, cartographers, geodesists, metrologists, hydrographers, topographers, sailors, laborers, and administrators and molded them into a coherent organization having the goal of surveying the coast of the United States.
During the evolution of this organization, it became the first United States Government agency to collect masses of geographic information, develop means to process that information, and produce products for the safety and welfare of the citizens of our Nation. The Coast Survey was the first Government agency to develop mathematical models for predicting future states of geophysical phenomena such as tides, currents, and geomagnetic declination. It was instrumental in the formation of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Academy of Sciences and the establishment of their early policies. It was the first Federal science agency to fight many of the political battles involving the proper place of science in a democratic society. Join the Coast Surveyors as they build the foundation of American physical science.
Many elements of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its commissioned officer service, the NOAA Corps, are direct descendants of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS), the oldest scientific agency