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NASA NTRSDate not supplied

CERES Monthly Gridded Single Satellite Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) in HDF (CER_FSW_Terra-FM1-MODIS_Edition2C)

The Monthly Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (FSW) product contains a month of space and time averaged Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) data for a single scanner instrument. The FSW is also produced for combinations of scanner instruments. All instantaneous fluxes from the CERES CRS product for a month are sorted by 1-degree spatial regions and by the Universal Time (UT) hour of observation. The mean of the instantaneous fluxes for a given region-hour bin is determined and recorded on the FSW along with other flux statistics and scene information. The mean adjusted fluxes at the four atmospheric levels defined by CRS are also included for both clear-sky and total-sky scenes. In addition, four cloud height categories are defined by dividing the atmosphere into four intervals with boundaries at the surface, 700-, 500-, 300-hPa, and the Top-of-the-Atmosphere (TOA). The cloud layers from CRS are put into one of the cloud height categories and averaged over the region. The cloud properties are also column averaged and included on the FSW. [Location=GLOBAL] [Temporal_Coverage: Start_Date=1998-01-01; Stop_Date=2005-12-31] [Spatial_Coverage: Southernmost_Latitude=-90; Northernmost_Latitude=90; Westernmost_Longitude=-180; Easternmost_Longitude=180] [Data_Resolution: Latitude_Resolution=1 degree; Longitude_Resolution=1 degree; Horizontal_Resolution_Range=100 km - < 250 km or approximately 1 degree - < 2.5 degrees; Temporal_Resolution=1 month; Temporal_Resolution_Range=Monthly - < Annual].

NET FLUX↗
NASA NTRS2004

Making NASA Earth Observing System Satellite Data Accessible to the K-12 and Citizen Scientist Communities

The Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (ASDC) at NASA s Langley Research Center houses over 700 data sets related to Earth s radiation budget, clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. These data sets are produced to increase academic understanding of the natural and anthropogenic perturbations that influence global climate change. The Mentoring and inquirY using NASA Data on Atmospheric and earth science for Teachers and Amateurs (MY NASA DATA) project has been established to systematically support educational activities at all levels of formal and informal education by reducing these large data holdings to microsets that will be easily explored and understood by the K-12 and the amateur scientist communities

Moore, Susan W.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Atmospheric Science Measurements by the EOS Geoscience Laser Altimeter System

Scheduled for Launch in July 2001, the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) is to be the first satellite instrument to provide full global lidar profiling of clouds and aerosol in the earth's atmosphere. GLAS is an EOS program instrument that is on its own satellite, now called the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite. The instrument is both a surface laser ranging system and an atmospheric profiling lidar. A most important surface measurement for the instrument is to study the change in the mass balance of the polar ice sheets by measuring the change in regional altitudes to an accuracy of 1.5 cm per year. The strategy to combine the surface measurement with a Cloud and aerosol lidar profiling mission is based on the compatibility of the altimetry instrument requirements with those for the required lidar measurements. The primary atmospheric science goal of the GLAS cloud and aerosol measurement is to determine the radiative forcing and vertically resolved atmospheric heating rate due to cloud and aerosol by directly observing the vertical structure and magnitude of cloud and aerosol parameters that are important for the radiative balance of the earth-atmosphere system, but which are ambiguous or impossible to obtain from existing or planned passive remote sensors. A further goal is to directly measure the height of atmospheric transition layers (inversions) which are important for dynamics and mixing, the planetary boundary layer and lifting condensation level.

Spinhirne, James↗
NASA NTRS2010

Synergy of Satellite-Surface Observations for Studying the Properties of Absorbing Aerosols in Asia

Through interaction with clouds and alteration of the Earth's radiation budget, atmospheric aerosols significantly influence our weather and climate. Monsoon rainfalls, for example, sustain the livelihood of more than half of the world's population. Thus, understanding the mechanism that drives the water cycle and freshwater distribution is high-lighted as one of the major near-term goals in NASA's Earth Science Enterprise Strategy. Every cloud droplet/ice-crystal that serves as an essential element in portraying water cycle and distributing freshwater contains atmospheric aerosols at its core. In addition, the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric aerosol properties is complex due to their dynamic nature. In fact, the predictability of the tropical climate system is much reduced during the boreal spring, which is associated with the peak season of biomass burning activities and regional/long-range transport of dust aerosols. Therefore, to accurately assess the impact of absorbing aerosols on regional-to-global climate requires not only modeling efforts but also continuous observations from satellites, aircraft, networks of ground-based instruments and dedicated field experiments. Since 1997 NASA has been successfully launching a series of satellites the Earth Observing System - to intensively study, and gain a better understanding of, the Earth as an integrated system. Through participation in many satellite remote-sensing/retrieval and validation projects over the years, we have gradually developed and refined the SMART (Surface-sensing Measurements for Atmospheric Radiative Transfer) and COMMIT (Chemical, Optical & Microphysical Measurements of In-situ Troposphere) mobile observatories, a suite of surface remote sensing and in-situ instruments that proved to be vital in providing high temporal measurements, which complement the satellite observations. In this talk, we will present SMART-COMMIT which has played key roles, serving as network or supersite, in major international research projects such as the Joint Aerosol Monsoon Experiment (JAM EX), a core element of the Asian Monsoon Years (AMY, 2008-2012). SMART-COMMIT deployments during 2008 AMY/JAMEX were conducted in northwestern China to characterize the properties of dust-laden aerosols and in the vicinity of Beijing for mega-city aerosols. In 2009, SMART-COMMIT also participated in the JAMEX/RAJO-MEGHA (Radiation, Aerosol Joint Observations-Monsoon Experiment in the Gangetic-Himalayan Area; Sanskrit for Dust-Cloud) to study the aerosol properties, solar absorption and the associated atmospheric warming, and the climatic impact of elevated aerosols during the pre-monsoon season in South Asia. We will show results from these field experiments, as well as discuss a new initiative of 7-SEAS (7 South East Asian Studies) to study the interaction of anthropogenic aerosols with regional meteorology, particularly with clouds.

Tsay, Si-Chee↗
DOE OSTI2026

CMIP7 Data Request: atmosphere priorities and opportunities

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 7 (CMIP7) request for data unlocking key research avenues in atmospheric science and provides justification for the resources needed to produce this data. Topics within the CMIP7 Atmosphere Theme centre around processes and feedbacks in atmospheric science such as clouds, aerosols and atmospheric chemistry, atmospheric circulation, temperature variability and extremes, radiative forcings, and Earth system model evaluation. These topics are summarised in this paper as scientific “opportunities” which will be realised through CMIP7 experiments and Earth system model outputs. These opportunities were submitted by a thematic group of atmospheric science community representatives combined with an extended consultation process. The production of these variables will close key gaps and uncertainties identified during previous rounds of CMIP, and will be broadly used by scientific, policy, governmental, industry, and other communities that rely on climate model projections for research and decision making, including supporting the 7th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report (AR7). As an author group, we also reflect on the process used to collate this data request and make recommendations to future CMIP governance on implementing a consultation on this scale in the future.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1999

EOS Terra Validation Program

The EOS Terra mission will be launched in July 1999. This mission has great relevance to the atmospheric radiation community and global change issues. Terra instruments include ASTER, CERES, MISR, MODIS and MOPITT. In addition to the fundamental radiance data sets, numerous global science data products will be generated, including various Earth radiation budget, cloud and aerosol parameters, as well as land surface, terrestrial ecology, ocean color, and atmospheric chemistry parameters. Significant investments have been made in on-board calibration to ensure the quality of the radiance observations. A key component of the Terra mission is the validation of the science data products. This is essential for a mission focused on global change issues and the underlying processes. The Terra algorithms have been subject to extensive pre-launch testing with field data whenever possible. Intensive efforts will be made to validate the Terra data products after launch. These include validation of instrument calibration (vicarious calibration) experiments, instrument and cross-platform comparisons, routine collection of high quality correlative data from ground-based networks, such as AERONET, and intensive sites, such as the SGP ARM site, as well as a variety field experiments, cruises, etc. Airborne simulator instruments have been developed for the field experiment and underflight activities including the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS), AirMISR, MASTER (MODIS-ASTER), and MOPITT-A. All are integrated on the NASA ER-2, though low altitude platforms are more typically used for MASTER. MATR is an additional sensor used for MOPITT algorithm development and validation. The intensive validation activities planned for the first year of the Terra mission will be described with emphasis on derived geophysical parameters of most relevance to the atmospheric radiation community. Detailed information about the EOS Terra validation Program can be found on the EOS Validation program homepage i/e.: http://ospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/validation/valpage.html).

Starr, David↗
NASA NTRS2004

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS): Observing the Atmosphere, Land, Oceans, and Ice from Space

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a space-based observing system comprised of a series of satellite sensors by which scientists can monitor the Earth, a Data and Information System (EOSDIS) enabling researchers worldwide to access the satellite data, and an interdisciplinary science research program to interpret the satellite data. During this year, the last of the first series of EOS missions, Aura, was launched. Aura is designed exclusively to conduct research on the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the Earth's upper and lower atmosphere, employing multiple instruments on a single spacecraft. Aura is the third in a series of major Earth observing satellites to study the environment and climate change and is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The first and second missions, Terra and Aqua, are designed to study the land, oceans, atmospheric constituents (aerosols, clouds, temperature, and water vapor), and the Earth's radiation budget. The other seven EOS spacecraft include satellites to study (i) land cover & land use change, (ii) solar irradiance and solar spectral variation, (iii) ice volume, (iv) ocean processes (vector wind and sea surface topography), and (v) vertical variations of clouds, water vapor, and aerosols up to and including the stratosphere. Aura's chemistry measurements will also follow up on measurements that began with NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and continue the record of satellite ozone data collected from the TOMS missions. In this presentation I will describe how scientists are using EOS data to examine the health of the earth's atmosphere, including atmospheric chemistry, aerosol properties, and cloud properties, with a special but not exclusive look at the latest earth observing mission, Aura.

King, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2005

NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS): Observing the Atmosphere, Land, Oceans, and Ice from Space

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a space-based observing system comprised of a series of satellite sensors by whch scientists can monitor the Earth, a Data and Information System (EOSDIS) enabling researchers worldwide to access the satellite data, and an interdisciplinary science research program to interpret the satellite data. During this year, the last of the first series of EOS missions, Aura, was launched. Aura is designed exclusively to conduct research on the composition, chemistry, and dynamics of the Earth's upper and lower atmosphere, employing multiple instruments on a single spacecraft. Aura is the third in a series of major Earth observing satellites to study the environment and climate change and is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. The first and second missions, Terra and Aqua, are designed to study the land, oceans, atmospheric constituents (aerosols, clouds, temperature, and water vapor), and the Earth's radiation budget. The other seven EOS spacecraft include satellites to study (i) land cover & land use change, (ii) solar irradiance and solar spectral variation, (iii) ice volume, (iv) ocean processes (vector wind and sea surface topography), and (v) vertical variations of clouds, water vapor, and aerosols up to and including the stratosphere. Aura's chemistry measurements will also follow up on measurements that began with NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite and continue the record of satellite ozone data collected from the TOMS missions. In this presentation I will describe how scientists are using EOS data to examine the health of the earth's atmosphere, including atmospheric chemistry, aerosol properties, and cloud properties, with a special look at the latest earth observing mission, Aura.

King, Michael D.↗
NASA NTRS2018

PACE Technical Report Series, Volume 4: Cloud Retrievals in the PACE Mission: PACE Science Team Consensus Document

Earth is a complex dynamical system exhibiting continuous change in its atmosphere, ocean,and surface elements. Nearly all (99.97%) of the energy driving these systems is linked to the Sun. Measurements of reflected sunlight contain a unique signature of wavelength-specific scattering and absorption interactions occurring between incoming solar energy and atmospheric (molecules, aerosols,clouds) and surface features Clouds can affect significantly both shortwave and long wave radiation, depending on altitude/vertical structure, thermodynamic phase, and optical properties. Low, warm, and optically thick clouds predominantly have a cooling effect, while high, cold, optically thin clouds can cause warming by absorbing warmer radiation emitted from the surface and lower atmosphere.When the net difference between outgoing and incoming solar radiation is matched by the net infrared radiation emitted to space, the Earth's climate is in radiative balance. While radiative forcing components (GHGs, aerosols - direct and indirect) contribute to a net radiative imbalance, climate sensitivity is ultimately determined by the contribution of various system feed backs. The role of cloud feedback in a warming climate is currently the largest inter-model uncertainty in climate sensitivity and therefore in climate prediction [Bony and Dufresne 2005]. A comprehensive understanding of current cloud propertiesand dynamic/microphysical processes requires a global perspective from satellites.

Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE)↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-32053-DND

The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) offers Earth Science data sets created from satellite measurements, modeling, and field experiments enabling scientists, educators, and the public to study earth and its atmosphere. NASA ESDIS is working towards making Earth Science data and tools cloud-ready. In an effort to align itself with these efforts, the ASDC is transitioning its existing web based services, tools and applications to RESTful APIs, containerized as microservices to leverage scalability and efficiency of an on-premise cloud environment.

Makhan L Virdi↗
NASA NTRS2019

IceCube: Spaceflight Demonstration of 883-GHz Cloud Radiometer for Future Science

Cloud ice play important roles in Earth’s climate and weather systems through their interactions with atmospheric radiation, dynamics, energy and precipitation processes. Submillimeter (submm) wave remote sensing at 200-1000 GHz is able to provide the sensitivity not covered by visible (VIS)/infrared (IR) and low-frequency microwave (MW) sensors (10-183 GHz), and measure cloud ice in the middle-to-upper troposphere. The IceCube 883-GHz cloud radiometer is the latest of NASA’s efforts to advance the technology readiness level (TRL) of submm-wave receiver technology for future compact, low-cost implementation of Earth observing systems. Emerging CubeSat opportunities allow a fast-track development and spaceflight demonstration of IceCube on a 3-U CubeSat. Funded by NASA’s In-Space Validation of Earth Science Technologies (InVEST) program and Science Mission Directorate (SMD), IceCube is the first CubeSat developed and flown by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 2.5 years, using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and subsystems. It was successfully released from International Space Station (ISS) in May 2017, acquired 15-month science data and produced the first global map of the 883-GHz cloud ice. It achieved all mission objectives and provided a pathway for future cost-effective cloud observations from CubeSat constellation.

Submm-wave remote sensing↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Submm polarimetric radiometers for investigations of distribution and size of ice in clouds' top layers

The sources of uncertainty in climate models are many and varied. Over the years, experiment and theory have reduced their importance and extent, but the effect of clouds, and ice clouds in particular, remains poorly understood. The effects of ice clouds are often used as tuning parameters, to balance the budget of incoming and outgoing radiation at the top of the atmosphere and achieve energy equilibrium. NASA's Aerosol, Cloud and Ecosystems (ACE), an Earth Science Decadal Survey (DS) mission, recommends that a science payload with submillimeter wave (sub-mm) and longwave infrared(LWIR) radiometers be developed for such cloud ice measurement. This paper reports on the calibration and characterization of the sub-millimeter channels of one such instrument.

G De Amici↗
NASA NTRS2000

EOS Terra Validation Program

The EOS Terra mission will be launched in July 1999. This mission has great relevance to the atmospheric radiation community and global change issues. Terra instruments include Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT). In addition to the fundamental radiance data sets, numerous global science data products will be generated, including various Earth radiation budget, cloud and aerosol parameters, as well as land surface, terrestrial ecology, ocean color, and atmospheric chemistry parameters. Significant investments have been made in on-board calibration to ensure the quality of the radiance observations. A key component of the Terra mission is the validation of the science data products. This is essential for a mission focused on global change issues and the underlying processes. The Terra algorithms have been subject to extensive pre-launch testing with field data whenever possible. Intensive efforts will be made to validate the Terra data products after launch. These include validation of instrument calibration (vicarious calibration) experiments, instrument and cross-platform comparisons, routine collection of high quality correlative data from ground-based networks, such as AERONET, and intensive sites, such as the SGP ARM site, as well as a variety field experiments, cruises, etc. Airborne simulator instruments have been developed for the field experiment and underflight activities including the MODIS Airborne Simulator (MAS) AirMISR, MASTER (MODIS-ASTER), and MOPITT-A. All are integrated on the NASA ER-2 though low altitude platforms are more typically used for MASTER. MATR is an additional sensor used for MOPITT algorithm development and validation. The intensive validation activities planned for the first year of the Terra mission will be described with emphasis on derived geophysical parameters of most relevance to the atmospheric radiation community.

Starr, David↗
NASA NTRS2007

Bridging the Gap between Earth Science and Students: An Integrated Approach using NASA Earth Science Climate Data

Under the auspices of the Department of Education's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, beginning in 2007 students will be tested in the science area. There are many techniques that educators can employ to teach students science. The use of authentic materials or in this case authentic data can be an engaging alternative to more traditional methods. An Earth science classroom is a great place for the integration of authentic data and science concepts. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has a wealth of high quality Earth science data available to the general public. For instance, the Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA s Langley Research Center houses over 800 Earth science data sets related to Earth's radiation budget, clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. These data sets were produced to increase academic understanding of the natural and anthropogenic factors that influence global climate; however, a major hurdle in using authentic data is the size of the data and data documentation. To facilitate the use of these data sets for educational purposes, the Mentoring and inquirY using NASA Data on Atmospheric and Earth science for Teachers and Amateurs (MY NASA DATA) project has been established to systematically support educational activities at all levels of formal and informal education. The MY NASA DATA project accomplishes this by reducing these large data holdings to microsets that are easily accessible and explored by K-12 educators and students though the project's Web page. MY NASA DATA seeks to ease the difficulty in understanding the jargon-heavy language of Earth science. This manuscript will show how MY NASA DATA provides resources for NCLB implementation in the science area through an overview of the Web site, the different microsets available, the lesson plans and computer tools, and an overview of educational support mechanisms.

Alston, Erica J.↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission: Status, Science, Advances

The PACE mission represents NASA’s next investment in ocean color, cloud, and aerosol data records to enable continued and advanced insight into oceanographic and atmospheric responses to Earth’s changing climate. The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission represents NASA’s next investment in satellite ocean color and the study of Earth’s ocean-atmosphere system, enabling new insights into oceanographic and atmospheric responses to Earth's changing climate. PACE objectives include extending systematic cloud, aerosol, and ocean biological and biogeochemical data records, making essential ocean color measurements to further understand marine carbon cycles, food web processes, and ecosystem responses to a changing climate, and improving knowledge of how aerosols influence ocean ecosystems and, conversely, how ocean ecosystems and photochemical processes affect the atmosphere. PACE objectives also encompass management of fisheries, large freshwater bodies, and air and water quality and reducing uncertainties in climate and radiative forcing models of the Earth system. PACE observations will provide information on radiative properties of land surfaces and characterization of the vegetation and soils that dominate their reflectance. The primary PACE instrument is a spectrometer that spans the ultraviolet to shortwave infrared, with a ground sample distance of 1-km at nadir. This payload is complemented by two multi-angle polarimeters with spectral ranges that span the visible to near-infrared region. Scheduled for launch in late 2022-to-early 2023, the PACE observatory will enable significant advances in the study of Earth’s biogeochemistry, carbon cycle, clouds, hydrosols, and aerosols in the ocean-atmosphere-land system. Here, we present an overview of the PACE mission, including its developmental history, science objectives, instrument payload, observatory characteristics, and data products.

P Jeremy Werdell↗
NASA NTRS2002

The Afternoon Constellation: A Formation of Earth Observing Systems for the Atmosphere and Hydrosphere

Two of the large EOS observatories, Aqua (formerly EOS-PM) and Aura (formerly EOS-CHEM) will fly is nearly the same inclination with 1:30 PM -15 min ascending node equatorial crossing times. Between Aura and Aqua a series of smaller satellites will be stationed: Cloudsat, CALYPSO (formerly PICASSO-CENA), and PARASOL. This constellation of low earth orbit satellites will provide an unprecedented opportunity to make near simultaneous atmospheric cloud and aerosol observations. This paper will provide details of the science opportunity and describe the sensor types for the afternoon constellation. This constellation by accretion provides a prototype for the Earth Science Vision sensor web and represent the building books for a future web structure.

Schoeberl, Mark R.↗
NASA NTRS2022

NASA's Earth System Observatory— Atmosphere Observing System

NASA has begun pre-formulation studies for the Earth System Observatory, a constellation of observatories designed to implement the recommendations of the 2017 NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey. For the atmosphere, the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) will focus on aerosols, clouds, convection, and precipitation, their mutual interactions, and interactions with atmospheric radiation. AOS consists of two projects, one in an inclined orbit to measure sub-daily variability across all times of day, particularly for deep convection and its attendant high clouds, and one in a polar orbit to provide globally distributed observations with more advanced capabilities, coupling to radiation, and an eye toward continuity of key cloud and aerosol data records. This paper describes the AOS science objectives, the architectures of the two projects, planned sub-orbital activities, and relevant applications.

Scott A Braun↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Open-Source Science-led Development of the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) Mission Science Data System (SDS)

The Earth System Observatory (ESO) Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) mission will provide space-based and suborbital observations of collocated cloud, dynamic, precipitation and aerosol processing leading to improved weather, air quality, and climate predictions. The AOS Science Data System (SDS) will be a system of systems developed within the Cloud to manage the research and operational processing of AOS mission orbital and suborbital sensors and curate these data for reprocessing (e.g., in near real-time or by collection) and transfer them to a NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) for long-term storage. Further, AOS SDS will follow guidelines provided by NASA Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) program including standard conventions for data file formats, naming, and metadata to improve data interoperability, interpretability, usability, discovery, provenance, and spatiotemporal representativeness. The AOS mission follows NASA’s lead in making a commitment to Open-Source Science (OSS) including the sharing of data, software, and knowledge in an open and timely manner. Each of the AOS SDS system components will be developed with open-source concepts including components of SDS itself as well as AOS mission algorithms. Further, the AOS SDS assumes the role to lead and facilitate OSS activities for the AOS mission. This presentation describes the framework of the AOS SDS and its integral part in facilitating OSS within the AOS mission.

David Giles↗