Our Research

Understanding Atmospheric Chemical Processes:
Answering the "How?" and "Why?" Questions

The guiding principle of CSD's research is: to meet the nation's most-pressing needs for scientific information about the atmosphere and its relation to the activities of humankind.

On the broadest level, CSD's focus within the atmospheric sciences is to advance the scientific understanding of atmospheric chemical processes, with the aim of enhancing the capability to observe, understand and predict the behavior of the atmosphere.

The chemical and radiative processes of the atmosphere are the gears, belts and pulleys of atmospheric change. As such, their identification and characterization are necessary for understanding and predicting the behavior of regional and global phenomena, which is at the heart of NOAA's mission.

Scientific leadership and discovery in studies related to the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer has been provided during the last several decades. That research has contributed strongly to the scientific information that has formed the foundation for decisions to protect the ozone layer under the United Nations Montreal Protocol. Research has increasingly focused on the chemical processes that control the characteristics of greenhouse gases and aerosols (airborne fine particles) in the lower atmosphere and surface-level ozone pollution. Climate and air quality are two topics that are a high priority for decision makers at all levels (private sector, state, national, and international). As in the case of the ozone layer, CSD plays leading roles in providing decision-support scientific information on these topics.