The NCAR Archives is working to provide access to selected materials online. Complete collections are available for use in the NCAR Archives.
The ATD digital collection consists of publications, correspondence, and reports-- all rich resources for understanding the history of scientific ballooning, research aviation, computing, field observing facilities, and field projects. The collection includes the following publications: Facilities for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Technology, and the Research Aviation Bulletin.
The GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) was a large and complex international scientific experiment designed to gain an increased understanding of the atmosphere and causes of climatic variation and change. GATE sought to learn how cloud clusters in the tropic transformed and redistributed energy within the atmosphere, knowledge that was needed for the development of numerical models for long-range weather prediction and for assessing the long-term effects of pollutants on the atmosphere. The GATE digital collection includes GATE bulletins and selected correspondence, mission reports, press kits, and photographs.
The High Altitude Observatory (HAO) is a lab within the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) that conducts fundamental and applied research in solar-terrestrial physics using observational, theoretical, and numerical methods. Research at HAO extends from the solar core to the surface of the Earth. The HAO digital collection consists of the newsletters and photographs from the High Altitude Observatory, as well as the Solar Research Memorandum series, a collection of unpublished scholarly works by early HAO scientists.
Browse decades of NCAR history as told through press releases and correspondence. The history of UCAR/NCAR staff, buildings, and scientific projects are detailed in the collection. (Note: This collection is under construction with new material added weekly.)
This collection consists of the personal papers of UCAR/NCAR scientists who served as Lead Authors, Co-Authors, and Contributing Authors to the Climate Change 2007 - The Physical Science Basis, the contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Materials include articles, calendars, chapter drafts, correspondence, powerpoint presentations, notes, and photographs. This is not an official archive of the IPCC; rather it is a collection of items voluntarlly donated to the NCAR Archives by UCAR/NCAR scientists interested in preserving the historic record of climate science. A full guide to the collection is available here.
During March and April 1967, field parties from NCAR and other meteorological research organizations, universities, and governmental agencies established research bases in the Line Islands, a group of small atolls more than 1000 miles south of Hawaii. From these three islands and from aircraft and ships in the vicinity, observation groups collected one of the most comprehensive sets of meteorological data in the oceanic part of the Equatorial Trough Zone for a variety of basic studies. This digital collection consists of photographs taken during the experiment.
This collection includes correspondence, memos, design specifications, and budgets related to the design and construction of the Mesa Laboratory. Materials document the site selection committee, selection of an architect, bidding process for contractors, internal discussions on design and space allocation, interior design, and the dedication ceremony.
This collection consists of the records of the National Hail Research Experiment, an experiment aimed at making a contribution to the question of the operational and economic feasibility of hail suppression. Materials include selected correspondence, newsletters, press releases, reports, and photographs.
The National Scientific Balloon Facility (NSBF) Records document the early days of the NSBF while it was managed by NCAR. Records illuminate the logistics of conducting balloon flights abroad and at home, particularity during the Cold War era. The collection offers a window into instrumentation, modifications, and issues with balloons and electronics packages. The collection includes correspondence, memos, budgets, reports, proposals, and papers.
These papers document the earliest days of UCAR/NCAR history. Digitized records reveal the details of forming the National Center for Atmospheric Research, its governance in the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and its relationship to the National Science Foundation. The collection includes the minutes of the first UCAR Board meetings and correspondence between key players in the institution's history, such as Horace Byers, Henry Houghton, Walter Orr Roberts, and others.
The SCD Record and Computing News were publications of the Scientific Computing Division. Issues were sent to all users of record of Computing Division services, and to those who specifically requested copies. In a pre-internet era these issues were the main way to provide information about what was going on in the division. A typical issue would contain contacts for various issues, information on the status of computers, reports on User Group meetings, mass storage status, and new software and hardware. Issues usually ran about 15 or 20 pages and were read thoroughly by members of the SCD Staff as a way to keep track of the many activities occurring in SCD.
The Solar Research Memorandum series consists of unpublished, informal memos covering a variety of scholarly work undertaken by early HAO scientists.
Staff Notes is the in-house newsletter for the employees and retirees of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (including the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the UCAR Office of Programs). Staff notes includes articles on scientific research and administrative initiatives, in addition to staff profiles.
TWERLE was sponsored by the Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) and designed and implemented by NCAR and the University of Wisconsin. It was an intensive program of meteorological observations made from superpressure balloons orbiting the earth that were tracked and monitored by the Nimbus-6 satellite, providing data which increased understanding of atmospheric circulation. Crew members at three sites in the tropics launched about 100 balloons during the summer and early fall of 1975. The launch crews consisted of about five to seven NCAR staffers. A subsequent midlatitude phase, during which balloons were launched from Christchurch, took place from November 1975 to February 1976.
The Vincent E. Lally papers document over thirty years of using high-altitude balloons in the atmospheric sciences. Dr. Lally's papers include the many projects he oversaw as well as his work at the National Scientific Balloon Facility. These papers include correspondence, research notebooks, data, maps, graphs, and photographs.
This collection consists of writings and photographs created by NCAR's first Director, Walter Orr Roberts. Writings include Dr. Roberts' informal series called "Provocations," short essays posing provocative comments related to scientific issues that mostly focus on weather, climate, the sun, or near space. Photographs include images from his 1960s trips to Sweden, Denmark, and the then-U.S.S.R.
The papers of Warren M. Washington document his scientific, professional, and advisory activities, as well as his significant contributions to diversity issues, particularly the enhancement of opportunities for people of color in science. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, lectures, articles and manuscript drafts, teaching materials, notes and calculations, clippings, awards, and photographs.
Kate Legg, Archives & Digital Collections Librarian
303-497-8508
klegg@ucar.edu
Matt Ramey, Archivist
303-497-8559
mramey@ucar.edu
The NCAR Archives are open year round, Tuesday thru Friday, from 9:00-4:00. The archivist offers reference and information services for all users, and provides access to the collections. If you would like to visit the Archives, please contact us 24 hours in advance to schedule an appointment.
The Archives are located at the Mesa Lab in Boulder, CO. View directions and a map.
