Atmospheric Composition REmote Sensing & Prediction (ACRESP)
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Purpose
ACRESP will promote the integration of satellite remote sensing data into state-of-the-art earth system models using data assimilation techniques and evaluate the ability of future satellite instrument concepts to answer important science questions.
Motivations
- Remote sensing instrument design, algorithm development, and scientific analysis have been a part of NCAR’s scientific and engineering agenda almost since its beginning.
- NCAR and UCAR have played lead or important roles in satellite missions through such programs as the High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (Aura/HIRDLS), Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (Terra/MOPITT), GPS/MET, TIMED, Solar-B, and the COSMIC program. NCAR/UCAR provided leadership for the initial vision and execution of the NASA/Earth Observing Sysytem (EOS) program.
- The new ACRESP program grew out of discussions and whitepaper exercises aimed at defining the future of NCAR satellite remote sensing science in an era when our current missions are maturing and new opportunities for new mission development are very limited.
The Importance of Satellite Remote Sensing
- Observations are the basis for discoveries: they are utilized to form theories that can be tested with models that subsequently spawn further measurements.
- Observational capability for a large number of geophysical parameters on different spatial and temporal scales is an important component of the integrated approach for meeting NCAR’s science goals and for serving community needs.
- Process studies often require ground-based and in-situ measurement techniques, while regional atmospheric chemistry and dynamics are readily observable from aircraft.
- Satellite observations provide the large-scale spatial and temporal context for localized observations, and extend these measurements to global scales.