The Project Requests Online (PRESTO) is the submission platform to request one or more of the NSF Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities (LAOF). We are currently in the beta testing, so that the form questions may be subject to change. PRESTO is managed and maintained by the NCAR Earth Observing Laboratory (EOL) in collaboration with the XSEDE Resource Allocation Service (XRAS). PRESTO guides investigators interested in requesting LAOF through a set of online forms and opportunities to provide required documentation. Listed below are step-by-step instructions to prepare the request information, access the online system, and complete and submit the facility request forms.
Follow the instructions below to request the NCAR/Earth Observing Laboratory, the University of Wyoming, and the Center for Severe Weather Research LAOF.
With the development of the Next Generation King Air, the University of Wyoming will be unable to support any flight requests for a 12 to 18 month period beginning in May of 2022. This includes projects that utilize the UWKA or projects requesting the WCR on the NSF/NCAR C-130.
The Next Generation King Air is expected to come online in the Spring of 2023. Those wanting to request either the UWKA and/or the WCR for projects beginning in May 2023 should work closely with the UWKA facility management team. They expect support for limited payload projects will be available in May 2023 at the earliest. More complex payloads and/or project logistics will likely become supportable later in 2023. The University of Wyoming will continue to update the Next Generation King Air webpage throughout the development of the project.
See the UWKA project Calendar for upcoming projects and scheduling of the UWKA.
Step-by-step Guidance
Step 1: Create an XSEDE user account
Step 2: Prepare PDFs to upload
Step 3: Login to PRESTO
Step 4: Select the appropriate opportunity
Step 5: Provide form question responses
Step 6: Save and continue editing
Step 7: Submit the Facility Request form
Step 1
Create an Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) user account
If you need to update your existing XSEDE account information, i.e., affiliation, email, phone, follow these steps:
Prepare the following required and supplemental documents based on the project size and submission phase. Please note that PRESTO only accepts documents that are in PDFs format.
Large Project - Phase I (15 Jan)
Prepare the following required PDFs
Small Project (1 Jul & 1 Dec) and Large Project - Phase II (15 Aug)
Prepare the following required PDFs
Prepare the following supplementary PDFs; they are not required but helpful
Step 4
Select the appropriate opportunity
Step 5
Provide form question responses
Step 6
Save and continue editing
Step 7
Submit the Facility Request form
Go to the Projects Request Online (PRESTO) to complete the Facility Request form.
For further assistance, please contact the PRESTO Team: eol-presto@ucar.edu
1The eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) is an NSF-funded program (Award Number: 1053575) to develop an unprecedented, comprehensive, advanced digital services cyberinfrastructure (CI) to enable transformative open science and engineering research and innovative training and educational programs. The goal of XSEDE is to offer users tremendous capabilities with maximum productivity, enabling them to advance and share knowledge across domains. The XSEDE architecture, engineering, operations, support, and education activities are co-designed by an unparalleled team to achieve this goal, far surpassing TeraGrid in usability, reliability, capability, performance, and security, and ultimately, in user productivity and science impact. XSEDE will enable scientists, engineers, and educators to exploit powerful digital services and social networking environments to support knowledge exchange and advance understanding across domains.