Glossary Terms & Definitions

CIF - Community Instrumentation and Facilities  

The CIF program provides the NSF-sponsored atmospheric sciences research community with access to specialized instrumentation for field and laboratory-based studies.  The program requests proposals from instrument and facility providers who will make their equipment available for community use through an NSF-defined request process.  Support will be provided for limited technician time, minor upgrades, and travel for outreach.  

NSF Deployment Pool

The NSF Deployment Pool is funding dedicated to the exclusive support of expenses directly associated with the deployment of the NSF Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities for NSF-supported research. Allowable expenses include extraordinary salaries and benefits, aircraft/field system operations, travel, materials, and supplies and purchased services, including equipment rental. Non-allowable expenses include regular salaries and benefits, operation and maintenance, research and development costs, PI expenses, non-NSF supported instruments, and observing systems

FARE - Facilities for Atmospheric Research and Education

To facilitate fundamental research in the atmospheric sciences, the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) supports state-of-the-art instruments and facilities through the Facilities for Atmospheric Research and Education (FARE) Program.  The FARE Program includes the Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities (LAOF) and the Community Instruments and Facilities (CIF)

FIRP - Facility and Instrumentation Request Process  

The NSF FIRP solicitation describes the mechanism by which the research community can propose projects that require access to instrumentation and facilities sponsored by the Facilities for Atmospheric Research and Education (FARE) Program in the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS).  FARE provides funding to a variety of organizations to make specialized instrumentation and facilities available to the atmospheric science research community through the Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities (LAOF) and the Community Instruments and Facilities (CIF) programs. FIRP allows for parallel evaluation of intellectual merit and broader impacts along with the feasibility of the proposed project.

LAOF - Lower Atmosphere Observing Facilities

NSF's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS) Lower Atmospheric Observing Facilities (LAOF)  Program oversees a portfolio of multi-user national facilities that are sponsored by NSF for use by the geosciences research community. Program management resides within AGS in the NCAR and Facilities Section (NFS) which provides a single point for coordination of planning and resources. The LAOF program enables geoscience research through the provision of specialized facilities, instrumentation, and field support services necessary to carry out the scientific field work associated with investigations of a wide range of geophysical phenomena. The program is actively involved in oversight of LAOF facilities and decisions about the acquisition, operation, maintenance, upgrading and replacement of these facilities based on input from the scientific community. LAOF funding supports both the planning for scientific field programs (e.g., experimental design, operational plans, logistical support) and the deployment of NSF-sponsored facilities.