Earth Day 2017’s Campaign is Environmental & Climate Literacy. Let’s look at one of NASA’s efforts in support of the environment and climate.

In 2016 NASA was funded for the Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observation (CLARREO) Pathfinder mission that would demonstrate critical measurement technologies to monitor the ‘pulse’ of the Earth in order to better understand our climate changes.

The Multi-Instrument Inter-calibration (MIIC) framework multi-tier configuration for CLARREO Pathfinder: client, application, and OPeNDAP data tiers.

In ultra-harsh environment that is called space, sensitive electronic equipment such as radiometers on a spacecraft are subject to orbital drift and sensor decay. This means that the instrumentation has to be very well calibrated on Earth and then recalibrated in space when the system is orbiting the Earth.

The HyperSpectral Imager for Climate Science (HySICS), was developed by Greg Kopp and the team at the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). This is a testbed that demonstrates improved techniques for future space-based radiance studies.

Here are details about Earth’s Energy Budget

Reference

1 CLARREO Pathfinder Mission Team Report: Pathfinder Mission for Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO), Mission Scientist: Bruce A. Wielicki, Project Scientist: Rosemary R. Baize, Project Manager: Gary A. Fleming, June 2016