[Note: This web site is for archival of past activities. Some descriptions and links are obsolete.]
The Earth-atmosphere system equilibrium temperature is determined by the balance between the incoming solar radiation, the amount of that incoming radiation reflected back to space by the Earth’s surface and clouds, and the longwave Earth-emitted radiation that is largely regulated by clouds and greenhouse gases. Accurate observations of the Earth’s radiation are essential to determine the causes of climate variability and change.
A new era in monitoring the Earth radiation budget began in 2000 with the launch of CERES instruments on the TERRA spacecraft which also included the MODIS instrument. As noted by the NRC’s decadal study, ‘the CERES project has demonstrated the capability of obtaining highly accurate radiative fluxes when the broadband radiances obtained with the radiometer are interpreted through scene identification achieved through the collocation of multispectral imagery data’. To ensure continuity of these critical climate records, a CERES FM-5 instrument will fly on the NPP spacecraft and a CERES FM-6 instrument will fly on the first NOAA-NASA Joint Polar Satellite System JPSS spacecraft (now J1; formerly NPOESS C1).
Following the recommendation of the NRC Decadal Study, NOAA is planning for the Continuity of Earth Radiation Budget (CERB) observations and seeks community input to update requirements in order to begin planning the next generation of instruments. NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) will be hosting a 1 1/2 day meeting July 13 and ending noon July 14 in Asheville, NC, to kick off this process.
The Workshop will seek to 1) identify the purposes and current uses of Earth radiation budget observations, 2) document the current status of research and applications of Earth radiation budget, and 3) identify observing system requirements for the continuity of the Earth radiation budget climate data record. We seek input from instrument scientists, observationalists, and the modeling community to ensure wide community input.
Logistical information and further details will be posted as a link on the NCDC web site www.ncdc.noaa.gov in the near future. For more information regarding the scientific content of the Workshop, you can contact John Bates (john.j.bates at noaa.gov) or Xuepeng (Tom) Zhao (xuepeng.zhao at noaa.gov). For logistical information, please contact Anne Markel (anne.markel at noaa.gov).