HR: 16:00h
AN: A54D-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Achieving Satellite Instrument Calibration for Monitoring Global Climate Change
AU: * Ohring, G
EM: george.ohring@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA (Consultant), 5200 Auth Rd., Camp Springs, MD 20746, United States
AB: For the most part, satellite observations of climate are not sufficiently accurate to establish a climate record that is indisputable and hence capable of determining at what rate the climate is changing. Furthermore, they are insufficient for establishing a baseline for testing long term trend predictions of climate models. The reasons for this state of affairs are many, but can be summed up in one all-encompassing statement: NOAA's operational satellite systems have been focused on short term weather observations, and NASA's research satellite systems have not had the long term continuity needed for monitoring climate change. As a result, highly accurate observations of decadal scale climate trends are generally lacking. The Workshop on Achieving Satellite Instrument Calibration for Climate Change (ASIC³) was organized to discuss the scientific issues involved and develop recommendations to improve the situation. The Workshop brought together experts in satellite instrument calibration, metrology scientists from the U.S. and U.K. national standards institutes, remote sensing specialists, and climate data analysts. The Workshop recommended a set of satellite benchmark missions to create irrefutable records traceable to International Standards (SI) and to calibrate other satellite sensors. This recommendation also includes a call to maintain continuous, overlapping missions for sea level, solar irradiance, and Earth radiation budget. The second overarching recommendation calls for establishing a U.S. National Center for Calibration (NCC). The NCC would bring together NOAA's expertise in operational missions and calibration/intercalibration of operational instruments, NIST's leadership in measurement science and standards, and NASA's capabilities in research missions and advanced calibration techniques.
DE: 1855 Remote sensing (1640)
DE: 3305 Climate change and variability (1616, 1635, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 3337 Global climate models (1626, 4928)
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting