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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 6, NUMBER 11, NOVEMBER 1993

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
EARTH SYSTEM OBSERVATIONS, PROGRAMS

Item #d93nov16

"Progress in Global Land Data Sets and Land Characterization: USGS Research Program," D.A. Kirtland (Global Change Res. Prog., USGS, Reston VA 22092), World Resour. Rev., 5(3), 286-302, Sep. 1993.

Describes the U.S. Geological Survey's research in Global Change Land Data Systems. Four projects are developing data on land cover characteristics, topography, soils, and creating Landsat time series. Four other projects use these and other data sets to monitor, analyze and predict patterns of landscape change.

Item #d93nov17

"A Global View of Large-Scale Precipitation Variability," E.M. Rasmusson (Dept. Meteor., Univ. Maryland, College Pk. MD 20742), P.A. Arkin, J. Clim., 6, 1495-1522, Aug. 1993.

Synthesizes space-based and other observations of recent decades, stressing the need for a global view of the topic, and relationships between the tropics and higher latitudes. Discusses the influence of changing landscape characteristics and the difficulty of monitoring for trends in the presence of decade-scale fluctuations.

Item #d93nov18

"Analysis of Global Cloudiness. 1. Comparison of Meteor, Nimbus 7 and International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Satellite Data," I.I. Mokhov (Dept. Atmos. Sci., Univ. Illinois, Urbana IL 61801), J. Geophys. Res., 98(D7), 12,849-12,868, July 20, 1993.

The first paper of a three-part series comparing the three data sets over a 12-month period. Proposes a special observational program in the polar regions to resolve discrepancies there between satellite and ground-based cloudiness observations.

Item #d93nov19

Special sections: "Earth Observing System (EOS)," Global Plan. Change (Elsevier), E.J. Barron, Ed. A selection of "viewpoint papers" on the NASA program. Part 1 (Disciplinary Reports," 6(1), 1-35, Nov. 1992) consists of two general papers, and three reports from the atmospheres, oceans, and solid earth panels. Part 2 ("Interdisciplinary Reports," 7(4), June 1993) consists of the following papers:

"EOS Science Priorities for Physical Climate and Hydrology: Key Measurements," E. Barron (Earth Sys. Sci. Ctr., 248 Deike Bldg., Pennsylvania State Univ., Univ. Pk. PA 16802), 253-278.

"Remote Sensing of the Land Biosphere and Biogeochemistry in the EOS Era: Science Priorities, Methods and Implementation--EOS Land Biosphere and Biogeochemical Cycles Panels," P. Sellers (NASA-Goddard, 923, Greenbelt MD 20771), D. Schimel, 279-297.

Item #d93nov20

"Biogeochemical Ocean-Atmosphere Transfers," R. Prinn (Mass. Inst. Technol., 54-1312, Cambridge MA 02139), P. Liss, P. Buat-Menard, Biogeochem. Cycles, 7(2), 245-246, June 1993. A report on discussions at the NATO workshop on Biogeochemical Ocean-Atmosphere Transfers (BOAT) on cooperative experiments involving oceanic and atmospheric scientists.

Item #d93nov21

"Atmosphere-Surface Exchange Measurements," W.F. Dabberdt (NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307), D.H. Lenschow et al., Science, 260(5113), 1472-1481, June 4, 1993.

Reviews various measurement techniques for surface fluxes and how several measurement considerations affect the ability to obtain representative surface-based and airborne flux data.

Item #d93nov22

"Design and Implementation of a Prototype Data System for Earth Radiation Budget, Cloud, Aerosol, and Chemistry Data," B.A. Baum (Atmos. Sci. Div., NASA-Langley, Hampton VA 23665), B.R. Barkstrom, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 74(4), 591-598, Apr. 1993.

Describes work at NASA Langley Research Center on a data archiving system intended as a prototype for NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).

Item #d93nov23

"The GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS)," GEWEX Cloud System Science Team (K.A. Browning, Chair, Joint Ctr. Mesoscale Meteor., Univ. Reading, Earley Gate 3, Reading RG6 2AL, UK), ibid., 74(3), 387-399, Mar. 1993.

Describes a component of the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX), which aims to understand cloud processes so they can be parameterized in climate and weather models. The focus of planned field programs is on mesoscale cloud systems.

Item #d93nov24

"Overview of the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II [SAGE II] Water Vapor Observations: Method, Validation and Data Characteristics," D. Rind (NASA Goddard Inst. Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York NY 10025), E.-W. Chiou et al., J. Geophys. Res., 98(D3), 4835-4856, Mar. 20, 1993.

Presents observations on water vapor in the upper troposphere and stratosphere for the first five years of the SAGE II solar occultation instrument (1985-1989). The data are useful for addressing such climate-related questions as water vapor response in the atmosphere as climate warms. (This paper is followed by five, more specific ones on SAGE II water vapor.)

Item #d93nov25

"A New South African Research Program in the Southern Ocean," M.I. Lucas (Dept. Zool., Univ. Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, S. Africa), J.R.E. Lutjeharms et al., S. African J. Sci., 89(2), 61-67, Feb. 1993.

Describes the oceanic component of a five-year program designed to address global climate change and its interaction with the Antarctic marine ecosystem.

Item #d93nov26

"Scientific Investigations Planned for the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE)," M.P. McCormick (Atmos. Sci. Div., NASA-Langley, Hampton VA 23665), D.M. Winker et al., Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 74(2), 205-214, Feb. 1993.

The LITE program will observe clouds, tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols, the planetary boundary layer, and stratospheric density and temperature perturbations with much greater resolution than is available from current orbiting sensors.

Item #d93nov27

"The Status of the World's Public-Domain Digital Topography of the Land and Ice," M. Wolf (Mullard Space Sci. Lab., Univ. College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking, Surrey RH5 6NT, UK), D. Wingham, Geophys. Res. Lett., 19(23), 2325-2328, Dec. 2, 1992.

Surveys the coverage and cost of these data, necessary for a wide variety of global studies. They exist at 100 m resolution for most of the developed world, but for much of the rest of the world their existence could not be confirmed, and may not exist at all.

Item #d93nov28

"Opportunities to Improve Hydrologic Data," J. Dozier (Ctr. Remote Sensing, Univ. California, Santa Barbara CA 93106), Rev. Geophys., 30(4), 315-331, Nov. 1992.

Hydrologic science is about to enter the quantitative phase of its development, wherein measurement and modeling interact. Success in this phase will require improvements in the way hydrologic data at all scales are taken, managed and disseminated.