Atmospheric Research Laboratory ( F.P.J. Valero)

Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, or C4 (V. Ramanathan)

Joint Center for Observational System Science (F.P.J. Valero); a joint SIO-NASA-Goddard center

Kaashidhoo Climate Observatory (V. Ramanathan); a joint C4 - Government of Maldives observatory on the Maldivian island of Kaashidhoo. This observatory has been collecting environmental data since 1998 as part of the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX). Plans are being developed to continue this observatory under CAS.

The research units generally focus on large scale science. CAS researchers conducting individual research are not required to be affiliated with the units. CAS also collaborates actively (writing joint proposals and journal papers) with the following institutions:

Climate Research Division at SIO (R. Somerville)
Geochemistry Division at SIO (M. Wahlen)
Marine Research Division at SIO (P. Flatau)
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSD (M. Thiemens)
National Center for Atmospheric Research (J. Kiehl)
Max Planck Institut für Chemie, Mainz (P. J. Crutzen)

HIGHLIGHTS:

Research Highlights: One of the major breakthroughs of CAS is to forge international collaborations with outstanding scientists and thus create unprecedented new opportunities for young scientists and students. CAS researchers maintain a healthy balance between observations, theory and modeling.

OBSERVATIONS: CAS researchers have pioneered the following important thrusts:

Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX): CAS is the lead institution for this international field experiment, conducted during 1998 and 1999 (description below) in the tropical Indian Ocean to understand the nature and magnitude of aerosol-climate forcing and the chemistry of ozone in the tropical Indian Ocean. Chief scientists: V. Ramanathan and P. J. Crutzen

Triana: CAS is the lead institution for this satellite mission, that will initiate a new approach for making remote sensing observations (description below). Chief scientist: F. P. J. Valero

Atmospheric Radiation Measurements Enhanced Short-wave Experiment (ARESE); the experimental phase of ARESE was conducted in 1995 utilizing 3 aircraft, 1 satellite and 3 surface observatories located in north central Oklahoma. The objective of this program is to investigate the absorption of solar radiation by the cloudy and clear atmospheres to help resolve major discrepancies (about 8%) between theory and observations of the Earth’s global radiative balance. Chief scientist: F. P. J. Valero

Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment (CEPEX): CEPEX was conducted in 1993 with 5 aircraft, a ship and 3 satellites, and collected data on surface energy budget, clouds and water vapor. The fundamental objective was to understand the role of deep convection in atmospheric water vapor, cirrus clouds, evaporation and surface energy budget. Resulted in over 50 journal papers. Chief Scientist: V. Ramanathan

In addition, CAS participates actively in the following experiments: The Department of Energy’s ARM; NASA’s EOS Program (CERES); The First International Cloud Climatology Arctic Cloud Experiment (FIRE.ACE), The Department of Energy’s Unmanned Airborne Vehicle Atmospheric Radiation Program (ARM-UAV); and The TOGA-COARE (Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere - Combined Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment) field program conducted in the tropical western Pacific in 1992-93. Through collaboration with other SIO and UCSD divisions, CAS has started new initiatives in isotopic sampling of aerosols (M. Thiemens and M. Wahlen).

THEORY AND MODELING:

Advanced treatment of deep convection in the NCAR Community Climate Model (G. Zhang)
Feedback between equatorial convection and intraseasonal oscillations (P. Flatau and M. Flatau)
Development of the Model for Atmospheric Transport and Chemistry (MATCH) in collaboration with MPI-Mainz and NCAR (P. J. Crutzen)
Parameterizations of cloud-radiation interactions and related physical processes for climate models (R. Somerville)
Development of super fast Monte Carlo radiation model for three-dimensional clouds (A. Vogelmann and I. Podgorny)