The person underneath the umbrella

Weather touches every part of our lives–our flights, utility bills, commutes, work days, soccer games, and even our moods. For over a half century, NOAA has been studying the skies to better understand how our atmosphere works. Our efforts have led to rapid advances in weather detection and atmospheric modeling to ultimately deliver the best forecast possible to our core partners and the public. But over the years, NOAA has had a growing emphasis on studying not just the skies, but the people we serve.

NOAA employs social scientists that study society and how people perceive and respond to weather conditions and forecast information. They look at how to make a forecast understandable, accessible, and actionable and evaluate technological innovations and their potential impacts. Beyond the forecast, social scientists also look at how decisions are made by the public and core partners to make sure the right information is in the hands of the right people at the right time.

GSL’s Social and Behavioral Sciences Branch was launched in 2023 and is composed of researchers with a range of expertise and disciplinary backgrounds. Their mission is “to conduct and communicate social science weather-related research, develop and foster partnerships with key partners, and evaluate the utility and usability of weather products and services to enable informed decision-making among the diverse end-user groups the NOAA Global Systems Laboratory serves.” Integration of social and behavioral science within GSL and NOAA more broadly contributes immensely to the robust science that OAR produces.

This two-minute video explains what social science is, and how it works within NOAA.