Climate Monitoring
and Diagnostics Laboratory
The Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) in Boulder, Colorado, conducts research related to atmospheric constituents that are capable of forcing change in the climate of the Earth or that may deplete the ozone layer. CMDL monitors greenhouse gases, aerosols, ozone, ozone-depleting gases and solar and terrestrial radiation at global sites including four Baseline Observatories.
CMDL is comprised of five groups each tackling different, yet related, aspects of the climate change issue:
The Aerosol and Radiation Group studies the behavior of atmospheric aerosols and radiation. One lesson learned is that human activities primarily influence aerosols on regional/continental scales rather than global scales. The goals of this regional-scale monitoring program are to characterize means, variability, and trends of climate-forcing properties of different types of aerosols, and to understand the factors that control these properties. CMDL's measurements also provide ground-truth for satellite measurements and global models, as well as key aerosol parameters for global-scale models.
CMDL's Solar and Thermal Atmospheric Radiation (STAR) group's activities involve empirical and theoretical research of the Earth's surface radiation budget. The group specializes in the investigation of climatically significant variations in long-term radiation and meteorological measurements made primarily at a globally diverse network of surface sites. A relatively new program in the group is the absolute measurement of spectral solar UV for the investigation of the interaction of ozone and solar radiation.
The Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group makes flask sample measurements from land and sea surface sites and aircraft, and continuous measurements from baseline observatories and tall towers. These measurements document the spatial and temporal distributions of greenhouse gases and provide essential constraints to our understanding of the global carbon cycle. CMDL also uses inverse models to determine global sources and sinks of CO2. The Carbon Group maintains compressed air standard reference gases for CO2, CH4, and CO.
The Ozone and Water Vapor Group conducts research on the nature and causes of the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer and the role of stratospheric and tropospheric ozone and water vapor in forcing climate change and in modifying the chemical cleansing capacity of the atmosphere. This mission is accomplished through long-term observations and intensive field programs that measure total column ozone, ozone vertical profiles (ozonesondes and umkehrs), ground level ozone, and water vapor vertical profiles in the upper troposphere and stratosphere and through transport modeling of isentropic trajectories.
The mission of the Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species Group (HATS) is to quantify the distributions and magnitudes of the sources and sinks for atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) and halocarbons, which include the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chlorinated solvents (CCl4, CH3CCl3), methyl halides (CH3Br, CH3Cl), halons and other important ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases. HATS utilizes ground-based stations, towers, ocean vessels, aircraft, and balloons to accomplish its mission. Achieving these goals requires the production and maintenance of reliable gas calibration standards that are supplied to laboratories throughout the world. The HATS group also conducts measurements at sea, determining the concentrations of halogen gases, both in the air and sea, at the surface of the global oceans.
The Observatory Operations Group maintains the CMDL baseline observatories. CMDL's 4 internationally recognized baseline observatories are located in Mauna Loa, Hawaii; Barrow, Alaska; Pago Pago, American Samoa, and South Pole, Antarctica.
For more information, contact:
Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory
325 Broadway R/CMDL
Boulder, CO 80303
303-497-6074
http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov
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