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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program plan

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7004554· OSTI ID:7004554
In order to understand energy's role in anthropogenic global climate change, significant reliance is being placed on General Circulation Models (GCMs). A major goal is to foster the development of GCMs capable of predicting the timing and magnitude of greenhouse gas-induced global warming and the regional effects of such warming. The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program will contribute to the Department of Energy goal by improving the treatment of cloud radiative forcing and feedbacks in GCMs. Two issues will be addressed: the radiation budget and its spectral dependence and the radiative and other properties of clouds. The experimental objective of the ARM Program is to characterize empirically the radiative processes in the Earth's atmosphere with improved resolution and accuracy. A key to this characterization is the effective treatment of cloud formation and cloud properties in GCMs. Through this characterization of radiative properties, it will be possible to understand both the forcing and feedback effects. 19 refs., 4 figs., 2 tabs.
Research Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (USA). Atmospheric and Climate Research Div.
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/ER
OSTI ID:
7004554
Report Number(s):
DOE/ER-0442; ON: DE90006349
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English