National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration
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President-Elect Barack Obama nominated Lubchenco in mid-December 2008 as part of his inaugural ‘Science Team’, as captured in this article in The Economist, Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the Earth. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate March 19, 2009 and sworn in on March 20, she served nearly 4 years, resigning on February 27, 2013. During her tenure, NOAA employed around 12,800 federal employees, with a budget that went from $3.9B to $5.3B, a 36% increase.
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Mission
Lubchenco brought a strategic focus to NOAA’s diverse mission of science, service and stewardship of the ocean and atmosphere. Under her leadership, NOAA focused on restoring fisheries to sustainability and profitability, restoring the ocean and coasts to a healthy state, ensuring continuity of the nation’s weather and environmental satellites, developing a Weather-Ready Nation, promoting climate and ocean acidification science and delivering quality climate products, strengthening science and ensuring scientific integrity at NOAA, and delivering the highest quality science, services and stewardship possible. A healthy ocean and coasts and a nation prepared for severe weather, disasters and climate change are keys to economic prosperity and a strong democracy.
NOAA-funded coral restoration in Florida (Photo: Tom Moore)
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NOAA Seattle
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Touring a Coast Guard vessel
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Priority Areas
Science: Lubchenco focused on strengthening NOAA’s science mission by increasing scientific career positions and reestablishing the Chief Scientist position that had languished for 16 years. NOAA’s first Scientific Integrity Policy, established under Jane’s leadership, forbids distortion, manipulation, suppression, or cherry picking of science, and allows scientists to speak freely to the media about their findings. It was labeled ‘the platinum standard’ for agency scientific policies.
Ocean/Coasts: NOAA played a central role in designing and implementing the Nation’s first National Ocean Policy. Established by Executive Order in June 2010, the policy’s main message is that ‘A Healthy Ocean Matters.’ The policy declares a responsibility for stewardship of the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes that relies on coordination across federal agencies, regional engagement and empowerment, science and ecosystem-based management.
Ocean/Coasts: NOAA played a central role in designing and implementing the Nation’s first National Ocean Policy. Established by Executive Order in June 2010, the policy’s main message is that ‘A Healthy Ocean Matters.’ The policy declares a responsibility for stewardship of the oceans, coasts and Great Lakes that relies on coordination across federal agencies, regional engagement and empowerment, science and ecosystem-based management.
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Fisheries: After decades of overfishing, NOAA turned the corner in ending overfishing in U.S. federal waters, rebuilt numerous depleted stocks, and returned fishing to profitability through use of catch limits, catch shares, and accountability measures that align conservation and economic incentives. During Jane’s time at NOAA, overfishing in federal waters was curtailed, depleted fisheries began to recover, and jobs and revenue increased. NOAA also led international efforts to address Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing and reform regional fishery management organizations. A new book, Sea Change: Unlikely Allies and a Success Story of Oceanic Proportions (2025), by James Workman and Amanda Leland tells the story of the astonishing turn around in fisheries through the eyes of a fisherman. |
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Aquaculture: NOAA created a Sustainable Aquaculture Policy and launched the National Shellfish Initiative.
Climate: NOAA produced and supported world-class climate science, led federal agency efforts to develop the most ambitious National Climate Assessment ever, established regional climate centers, and developed a new generation of climate products that promote public understanding and support informed decision-making on mitigation and adaptation.
Satellites: An essential weather satellite program was restructured to ensure the continuity of climate and weather observations from space. Three NOAA satellites were successfully launched (GOES-14, GOES-15 and Suomi-NPP) and are delivering vital weather and other environmental data. These satellites directly support NOAA’s weather, climate and ocean monitoring and operational forecasting missions.
Weather: NOAA consistently provided life-saving forecasts and warnings during a time of unprecedented extreme weather events. From 2009-2013, the U.S. witnessed 770 major tornadoes, 70 Atlantic hurricanes or tropical storms, 6 major floods, 3 tsunamis, historic droughts, prolonged heat waves, and record snowfall and blizzards. In 2011 alone, every type of extreme weather occurred: historic floods, blizzards, tornadoes, wildfires, drought and hurricanes, with a record-setting 14 >$1 Billion disasters. (Previously, the number of >$1Billion disasters averaged 3-4/year.) 2012 brought 11 of these disasters, including Super Storm Sandy and Hurricane Isaac. In March 2011, NOAA upgraded 160 weather radar stations around the country with dual polarization technology – the most significant enhancement to the nation’s weather radar network since Doppler was established in the 1990s.
BP/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Disaster: NOAA was intimately involved in the federal response, leveraging its science, legal expertise, and response capacity to provide oil spill trajectories and weather forecasts, inform response efforts, keep seafood safe, protect wildlife and habitats, assess damage and restore natural resources and the public’s access to them. NOAA also led a novel, ecosystem-based approach to the Natural Resource Damage Assessment process that facilitated the successful lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice against the Responsible Parties, and now informs restoration efforts. A summary of how science was used during the disaster was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Tohōku Earthquake, Tsunami, Radiation and Marine Debris Disaster: NOAA integrated its assets across the agency to provide tsunami information to U.S. coastal communities; air and ocean plume modeling to help inform understanding the U.S. and other governments about where radioactive material would go; modeling, tracking and community assistance in understanding and predicting where marine debris from the tsunami was and would go; and assistance to coastal communities and states to prepare for and remove marine debris.
Protected Species: NOAA proposed or listed 6 subspecies of ice seals and 66 species of corals, all of which are threatened or endangered by climate change and other factors. These new and proposed listings more than doubled the number of ESA-listed species for which NOAA has responsibility.
Marine Protected Areas: Scientific analyses and public consultation during Lubchenco’s tenure laid the groundwork for President Obama’s actions in 2014 and 2016 that increased fourfold the amount of U.S. waters in highly-protected Marine Protected Areas, by expanding the boundaries of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument and what is now the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument in the Pacific, and by creating the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument in the Atlantic.
International Diplomacy: Lubchenco served as the Head of Delegation for the President’s Delegation to Yeosu, South Korea for U.S. National Day at the 2012 World Expo, and as Head of the U.S. Delegation to the World Climate Conference in Geneva, 2009.
