GEO supports basic research that advances the frontiers of knowledge and drives technological innovation while improving our understanding of the many processes that affect the global environment. These processes include the role of the atmosphere and oceans in climate, the planetary water cycle, andocean acidification. Support is provided for interdisciplinary studies that contribute directly to national research priorities such as: understanding, adapting to, and mitigating the impacts of global change; developing and deploying integrated ocean observing capabilities to support ecosystem-based management; and understanding future availability of fresh water. Lives are saved and property is preserved through better prediction and understanding of natural environmental hazards such as earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, tsunamis, drought and solar storms. Basic research supported by GEO enables preparation for and subsequent mitigation of, or adaptation to, the effects of these and other disruptive natural events. GEO provides about 64 percent of the federal funding for basic research at academic institutions in the geosciences.