About ARL

The Air Resources Laboratory’s (ARL) mission is to improve the ability of the Nation to protect human and ecosystem health and to support a vibrant economy through advanced atmospheric sciences and technologies. ARL’s research focus is on the surface of the earth from a few feet below the soil up to 2-3 miles in the atmosphere (aka the boundary layer), which has a direct impact on people’s health and safety, business, and the environment. ARL studies the physical and chemical processes that occur in the boundary layer, on time scales spanning a few hours to several years.

ARL studies the mixing, exchange, and transformation of energy, moisture, trace gases, and particles, and contributes inputs to meteorological models and forecast operations that are vital in improving weather, climate and air quality forecasts. Primary applications include emergency response, homeland security, air quality, weather forecasts and climate outlooks, and commerce and transportation. ARL’s vision is to effectively protect people, the environment, and commercial activities from atmospheric risks using the best available scientific understanding of boundary layer processes.

ARL News & Updates

ARL Welcomes John Cortinas

ARL Welcomed NOAA Research’s Deputy Assistant Administrator of Science, John Cortinas on March 7, 2024.

ARL hosts Staff from the Office of NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research’s Chief Financial Officer

Staffers from the Office of NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Chief Financial Officer (CFO) visited ARL’s Atmospheric Sciences and Modeling Division in College Park, MD, on Tuesday, February 20.

NOAA’s ARC Goes to UMD Medical School

On February 12, NOAA Air Resources Laboratory scientists Phillip Stratton and Jiayang Sun spoke to the medical and law students taking a Climate Change and Health class at the University of Maryland’s Medical School in Baltimore.