The Climate and Radiation Laboratory seeks a better understanding of Earth's climate on all time scales, from daily, seasonal, and interannual variability through changes on geologic time scales. Our research focuses on integrated studies of atmospheric measurements from satellites, aircraft and in-situ platforms, numerical modeling, and climate analysis.
We investigate atmospheric radiation, both as a driver for climate change and as a tool for the remote sensing of Earth's atmosphere and surface. The Laboratory research program strives to better understand how our planet reached its present state, and how it may respond to future drivers of change, both natural and anthropogenic.
The National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) is a joint mission to extend key measurements in support of long-term monitoring of climate trends and of global biological productivity.
The instruments aboard NOAA’s Suomi NPP bridge some of the observational capabilities from NASA Aura, launched in 2004, to the other satellite instruments in NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), which includes two satellites yet to be launched.
EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera) is a 10-channel spectroradiometer (317 – 780 nm) onboard DSCOVR (Deep Space Climate Observatory) spacecraft. EPIC provides 10 narrow band spectral images of the entire sunlit face of Earth using a 2048x2048 pixel CCD (Charge Coupled Device) detector coupled to a 30-cm aperture Cassegrain telescope. Click here to see the EPIC website
The PolSIR instrument – short for Polarized Submillimeter Ice-cloud Radiometer – will help humanity better understand Earth’s dynamic atmosphere and its impact on climate by studying ice clouds that form at high altitudes throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions. Specifically, identical pairs of the radiometers (325 and 680 GHz) will fly aboard two CubeSats (small satellites like a portable electric oven) to provide crucial information about how ice clouds act in Earth climate system.
The 2017 Decadal Survey, and subsequent PBL study team and NASA Decadal Survey Incubation (DSI) program prioritize the need for improved PBL observations for Earth Science and societal benefit and recommend a decadal path of ‘PBL incubation’ towards a future spaceborne mission.
