NSERC launches climate research initiative

A new $35-million, five-year program for climate and atmospheric research is being launched more than a year after it was announced in last year's federal Budget (R$ March 31/11). The Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) initiative will be managed by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) as a partial replacement to the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science (CFCAS) which was allowed to sunset last year (R$, January 25/10). CCAR will provide grants of up to $5 million for projects integrating academic, government and other researchers in three theme areas: earth system processes; weather, climate and end environment prediction; and, changes to Arctic and cold region environments. The first call for applications has been issued with letters of intent due May 17th and grants awarded by the end of the year. In the meantime, CFCAS announced its final grants, awarding $965,000 for research projects ranging from drought on the prairies, impacts of permafrost thaw in the Northwest Territories and tree mortality due to climate change. As the CFCAS was established as a $110-million foundation, it was able to invest the funding and generate an additional $20 million for research….