Baseline Surface Radiation Network
Encyclopedia
Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) is a project of the World Climate Research Programme
(WCRP) and the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) and as such is aimed detecting important changes in the Earth's radiation field at the Earth's surface which may be related to climate changes. The central archive of the BSRN is the World Radiation Monitoring Center
(WRMC) which was initiated by Atsumu Ohmura
in 1992 and operated at ETH
until 2007. Since 2008 the WRMC is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
(AWI), Germany.
World Climate Research Programme
The World Climate Research Programme was established in 1980, under the joint sponsorship of International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization, and has also been sponsored by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO since 1993. It is a component of the...
(WCRP) and the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) and as such is aimed detecting important changes in the Earth's radiation field at the Earth's surface which may be related to climate changes. The central archive of the BSRN is the World Radiation Monitoring Center
World Radiation Monitoring Center
The World Radiation Monitoring Center is the central archive of all Baseline Surface Radiation Network measurements. In 1992 the WRMC was founded at ETH Zurich. Since 2008-07-01 the WRMC is hosted by the . Data were transferred to AWI from the original ftp-site at ETH Zurich until about 2008-03-01...
(WRMC) which was initiated by Atsumu Ohmura
Atsumu Ohmura
is a Japanese climatologist, known for his contributions to the theory of global dimming.Ohmura was born in the Bunkyō ward of Tokyo in 1942. In 1965 he graduated with a B.Sc from the University of Tokyo and in 1969 received an M.Sc from McGill University...
in 1992 and operated at ETH
Eth
Eth is a letter used in Old English, Icelandic, Faroese , and Elfdalian. It was also used in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, but was subsequently replaced with dh and later d. The capital eth resembles a D with a line through the vertical stroke...
until 2007. Since 2008 the WRMC is operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
The Alfred Wegener Institute of Polar and Marine Research is a scientific organization located in Bremerhaven, Germany. The institute was founded in 1980 and is named after revolutionary meteorologist climatologist, and geologist Alfred Wegener...
(AWI), Germany.
Objectives
- To monitor the background (least influenced by immediate human activities which are regionally concentrated) shortwave and longwave radiative components and their changes with the best methods currently available.
- To provide data for the calibration of satellite-based estimates of the surface radiative fluxes.
- To produce high quality observational data to be used for validating the theoretical computations of radiative fluxes by models.