The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) Infrastructure Cluster (IC), which manages and supports facilities for research in atmospheric and geospace sciences. Key components include the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the Facilities for Atmospheric Research and Education (FARE), and Geospace Facilities (GF).

NCAR, based in Boulder, Colorado, supports university-level atmospheric research with advanced tools like computer models, data sets, and supercomputers, and it also provides training for new Earth system scientists. NCAR is managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) through a cooperative agreement with NSF.

The FARE programs include the Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities (LAOF), managed by NCAR and the University of Wyoming, and the Community Instruments and Facilities (CIF), which provides specialized instruments for community research. Proposals to LAOF are accepted by invitation only, while CIF accepts proposals on a rolling two-to-three-year basis.

Geospace Facilities support large observatories and arrays for studying the geospace environment. Proposals for large geospace observatories are also invitation-only.

The Infrastructure Cluster also oversees data infrastructure to facilitate data access and supports the NSF Unidata Program Center, which provides real-time and archived geoscience data. Proposals for using these facilities should be submitted through the Facility and Instrumentation Request Process (FIRP).

Applications for funding are accepted anytime, but some require invitations or specific deadlines. Full proposals must comply with NSF’s Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide, depending on whether they are submitted via Research.gov or Grants.gov.

Program contacts include Bernard Grant and Maria Womack for NCAR, Nicholas Anderson (interim) for FARE, and Roman Makarevich for Geospace Facilities.