Eleventh Annual ARM Science Team Meeting

Summary

The Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program held its 11th Annual Science Team meeting March 19-23 in Atlanta, Georgia. It was clear from this four-day meeting that the DOE ARM program is leading to improved climate model performance by improving how these large scale models address the current largest sources of error, cloud and radiation processes. More than 290 scientists and support staff from 20 countries met to discuss their research results from FY 2000 and plan collaborative efforts in fundamental climate change research for the coming year. Presentations by NASA instrument team leaders during plenary and working sessions underscored ARM’s value to the validation of new space borne remote sensors such as those on the new NASA Terra satellite and the planned Aqua satellite. ARM observational capabilities are key measures in validating the new generation of space based atmospheric remote sensors on NASA research satellites and NOAA operational satellites. Other speakers addressed ARM’s evolving role in developing and evaluating improved models and parameterizations for climate prediction models.