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The Climate and Radiation Branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center supports a key NASA mission, namely, to understand and protect our home planet. We seek 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 atmospheric measurement, 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 Branch research program seeks to better understand how our planet reached its present state, and how it may respond to future drivers, both natural and anthropogenic.
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CALIPSO Observations of Aerosol Changes Near Clouds
November 15, 2009 — The Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite provides measurements of the vertical structure and properties of thin clouds and aerosols over the globe. This image is based on a month long dataset of global lidar observations by CALIPSO. It illustrates that clouds are surrounded by a transition zone of systematically changing aerosol properties. The figure confirms earlier studies (e.g., Koren et al. (2007), which detected transition zones in the immediate vicinity of clouds (extending up to 3-4 km) in several geographical regions. However, the top panel of this image also reveals that the transition zone is much wider than previously thought, and over oceans it typically extends to about 15 km away from clouds. This confirms that the enhanced clear sky brightness in the vicinity of clouds observed by MODIS is due not only to three-dimensional radiative interactions between cloudy and clear areas (e.g., Image of the Week from March 2008) but also to optically thicker aerosol near clouds. The bottom panel shows that the transition zone is a global phenomenon that appears in most oceanic regions. More on this Image
Image of the Week Archives |
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GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign 2011-2013
November 6, 2009 — Charles Ichoku (NASA) and Charles Gatebe (UMBC/GEST) are attending a GLOBE meeting in Boulder Colorado to plan the implementation of the GLOBE Student Climate Research Campaign 2011-2013. As the world’s largest international science education program, GLOBE is dedicated to advancing research in environmental education through use of our scientific protocols, educational activities, and collaboration within our worldwide network representing more than 100 countries and over 50 cooperating agencies worldwide. GLOBE’s goals are to: (a) involve more than 1,000,000 students in climate research; (b) empower students, teachers and community members to take action on climate-related environmental issues; and (c) create a compelling model for innovative student research and environmental science education for the 21st century. An article featuring Charles Gatebe recently appeared on a GLOBE Program News Brief.
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Robert F. Cahalan Elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society
October 5, 2009 — Robert F. Cahalan, Head of the Climate and Radiation Branch of NASA/Goddard’s Laboratory for Atmospheres in the Earth Sciences Division, was recently elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He is being recognized for his pioneering theoretical and experimental advances in understanding the role of cloud structure in climate; his lead role as Project Scientist of the Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE); and his leadership in three-dimensional atmospheric radiative transfer.
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Wei Wang
December 1, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Kerry Meyer
“TBD”
December 2, 2009 at 3:30 PM — December 2, 2009 to 4:30 PM
View the Calendar
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