Investigators proposing research that requires access to FARE facilities must submit an appropriate facility request to the cognizant facility provider and include a copy of the request as supplementary documentation with their NSF proposal.

A copy of the PI-submitted facility request and Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimate, available through the FARE Planner Tool, must be included as supplementary documentation with the GEO Core proposal. 

Please note that the FIRP solicitation and its Tracks, prescribed budgets, and submission timelines expired on August 31, 2026. Under the new NSF Geosciences Core solicitation, there are no longer prescribed facility-request timelines. Investigators should contact the NSF FARE Program Director early in the planning process to determine the appropriate lead time for their proposed campaign.

Facility requests and associated cost estimates are managed through the FARE Planner Tool. The FARE Program Director will work with investigators and the relevant facility provider(s) to establish an appropriate facility request and proposal submission timeline.

For detailed proposal guidance, please refer to the NSF Geosciences Core solicitation.

 

EOL Request Process 

To allow sufficient time for preparation and coordination, investigators requesting EOL facilities should:

  • Engage with NSF FARE Program Director during proposal development to discuss facility needs and appropriate lead time
  • Engage with EOL during proposal development to discuss facility suitability and availability for the proposed research.
  • Submit a facility request through the FARE Planner Tool following the timeline established by NSF.
  • EOL prepares a draft feasibility assessment and ROM cost estimates for the requested LAOF.
  • EOL uploads the draft feasibility assessment and ROM cost estimates to the FARE Planner Tool in advance of the proposal deadline.
  • PI downloads the required documents from the FARE Planner Tool and includes them with the GEO Core proposal submission.
  • If funded, EOL updates the feasibility assessment and develops detailed cost estimates and uploads them to the FARE Planner Tool.
  • PI and EOL start the project planning and implementation.

 

Required & Supplementary Documents in FARE Planner

Prepare the following required documents in PDF format for upload to the FARE Planner Tool as part of the facility request.

  • Experiment Plan (no more than 15 pages)
    This document should describe the experiment setup and planned use of the requested LAOF 
  • Data Management Plan (no page limit)
    This document should provide an overview of how project data will be managed, shared, and archived through the project lifecycle.
  • List of Publications (no page limit)
    This document should list relevant publications resulting from previous NSF LAOF support for the PI and Co-PIs within the last five years. Provide the information in a table format, including the campaign name and year, LAOF used, publication citation, and digital object identifier. If there are no publications, upload a document indicating so.
  • User-supplied Scientific Payload [for NSF/NCAR aircraft requests only]
    Completed the appropriate LAOF Aircraft User-supplied Airborne Instrumentation Form for each instrument (no page limit). 
  • Any additional facility information, if other relevant information as needed in PDF format that pertains to this request (no page limit).

 

Contact:
Brigitte Baeuerle (baeuerle@ucar.edu)