Climate research has a long history in ARL. Since 1962,
when ARL assumed responsibility for the monitoring programs
at Mauna Loa Observatory, ARL has been collecting and analyzing
climate data. Ozone monitoring began in the early 1960s.
The program at Mauna Loa became the nucleus of ARL's Geophysical
Monitoring for Climate Change program formed in the early
1970s. (GMCC became the principal component of the Climate
Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory when it was formed
in 1990.) ARL also established a solar radiation monitoring
network in 1975. Analyses of U.S. sunshine and cloudiness
records (from 1950 onward) and global temperatures (since
1958) were begun in the mid-1970s and analysis of global
tropospheric water vapor changes was added in the mid-1980s.
Current climate research has been stimulated by the potential
of human activities to bring substantial changes in the
environment. However, an understanding of natural variability,
the "noise" from which any anthropogenic signal must be
extracted, is necessary before any change can be unequivocally
ascribed to human activities. Contributing to the noise
are volcanos and quasi-periodic events such as the quasi-biennial
oscillation (QBO) and the El Nino-Southern Oscillation
(ENSO). Noise is also introduced by changes in measuring
and data processing techniques, which can masquerade as
climate changes. Furthermore, increased understanding of
interseasonal and interannual variability will contribute
to the improvement of the rudimentary attempts to predict
climate elements as long as a year in advance.
The ARL Climate Variability and Trends work concentrates
on regional and global climatic variability on monthly
to multi-decadal time scales, while the research program
at the Surface Radiation Research Branch of ARL is centered
on the interpretation of surface radiation measurements,
instrument characterization, and calibration.
Measurement programs
Trends in key atmospheric variables
CO2 sequestration and causes
Other Research
Instrumentation
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