APPENDIX D: Acronyms

• ACE            Advanced Composition Explorer
• ACR            Active Cavity Radiometer
• ADM           Angular Dependence Model
• AERONET Aerosol Robotic Network
• AI                Aerosol Index
• ARESE       ARM Enhanced Shortwave Experiment
• ARM           Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program
• ATSR-2      Along Track Scanning Radiometer
• AVHRR      Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
• AVIRIS       Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer
• BRDF          Bi-directional Reflectance Distribution Function
• CART          Clouds and Radiation Testbed
• CCD            Charge Coupled Device
• CCM3          Community Climate Model
• CERES        Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System
• CME            Coronal Mass Ejection
• DAAC         Distributed Active Archive Center
• DOE            U.S. Department of Energy
• EarthKAM  Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students
• EC                EPIC Controller
• ECMWF      European Center for Medium-range Weather Forecasting
• ENSO          El Nino / Southern Oscillation
• ENVISAT   European Space Agency Environmental Satellite
• EOS             Earth Observing System EP Earth Probe
• EPA             U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• EPV             Ertel Potential Vorticity
• EPIC            Scripps-Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera
• ERB             Earth Radiation Budget
• ERBE          Earth Radiation Budget Experiment
• FAA            Federal Aviation Administration
• FIRE            First ISCCP Regional Experiment
• FIRE.ACE   First ISCCP Regional Experiment III Arctic Cloud Experiment
• FWHM        Full Width at Half Maximum
• GCM           General Circulation Model
• GDS            Ground Data System
• GEO            Geostationary Earth Orbit
• GMS            Japan Geostationary Meteorological Satellite
• GOES          U.S. Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
• GOME         Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment
• HDF             Hierarchical Data Format I/F normalized EPIC radiance values
• IMP-8          Interplanetary Monitoring Platform
• INDOEX      Indian Ocean Experiment
• IR                 Infra-Red
• ISCCP          International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project
• ISEE             International Sun-Earth Explorer
• L-1               Lagrange 1 point between the Earth and the Sun
• L-2               Lagrange 2 point, beyond the Earth on the Earth-Sun line
• LEO              Low Earth Orbit
• LER              Lambert Equivalent Reflectivity
• LOWTRAN Radiative Transfer Program LSM Land System Model
• LW               Longwave
• MHD            Magnetohydrodynamics
• MOC            Mission Operations Center
• MODIS        MOderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
• MSG            Meteosat European Space Agency Geostationary satellite
• NCAR          National Center for Atmospheric Research
• NCEP           National Center for Environmental Prediction
• NIST             National Institute of Standards & Technology
• NISTAR       Scripps-NIST Advanced Radiometers
• NMC            U.S. National Meteorological Center
• NOAA          National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
• NSF              National Science Foundation
• OLR             Outgoing Longwave Radiation
• PID               Process Identity
• POEM          Polar-Orbit Earth Observation Mission
• POLDER      Polarization and Directionality of Earth's Reflectances
• PSC               Polar Stratospheric Cloud
• PTC               Positive Temperature Coefficient
• QE                 Quantum Efficiency
• RGS               Remote Ground Stations
• SeaWifs         Sea-Viewing Wide Field Sensor
• SHEBA          Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic
• SMEX-Lite   Small Explorer
• SNR               Signal to Noise Ratio
• SOHO            Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
• STEREO        Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory
• SW                 ShortWave
• SWE               Solar Wind Experiment
• SZA                Solar Zenith Angle
• TIROS            Television and Infrared Observational Satellite
• TISA               Time and Space Averaging
• TOA               Top of Atmosphere
• TOMS            Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
• TOVS             TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder
• TRMM           Tropical Rainfall Mapping Mission
• TSOC             Triana Science and Operations Center
• UARS             Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite
• VIRS               Visible Infrared Scanner
• VZA                Viewing Zenith Angle
• WIND             Solar Wind Observatory 3