Earth Equity News

NOAA Administrator to Step Down. Posted by Ashley Yeager, Nature.com, October , 2008. "Conrad Lautenbacher, who has led the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for almost seven years, will step down on 31 October... During his time at NOAA's helm, the retired Navy vice admiral guided the US effort to create the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, an international network that links Earth-monitoring systems. That project started as a 'gleam' at the beginning of Lautenbacher's tenure and has now actualized into a global collaboration among 75 countries and 50 intergovernmental organizations. The goal is to understand and provide to decision makers information about climate, water and natural disaster cycles, he says. Lautenbacher also advocated that the US develop a stronger tsunami warning system in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans after the devastating 2004 tsunami." See Protest at NOAA HQ Over Alleged Suppression of Info Connecting Hurricanes to Climate Change. USAToday, October 23, 2006.