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2003 Annual Report Contents

• Cover Page
• Dear Reader Letter
• Table of Contents
• Section 1 Introduction
• Section 2 Staff, Organization, and Facilities
• Section 3 Our Research and its Place in NASA's Mission
• Section 4 Major Activities
• Section 5 Information on Branches
• Section 6 Education & Public Outreach
• Section 7 Acknowledgments
• Section 8 Acronyms
• Appendix A1
  Highlighted Press Releases in 2003
• Appendix A2
• Appendix B1.
  2003 Short-Term Visitors
• Appendix B2.
  2003 Visiting Committees for the Earth Sciences Directorate and the Laboratory for Atmospheres
• Appendix B3.
  2003 Visiting Scientists and Associates of Joint Centers
• Appendix B4.
  2003 Seminars
• Appendix B5.
  2003 Conferences & Society Meetings, Science Policy Meetings, Science Team Meetings, and Workshops
• Appendix B6.
  2003 NASA Technical Reports, and Other Publications
• Appendix B7.
  2003 Refereed Publications
• Appendix B8.
  2003 Awards/Honors/
  Memberships/Editorships

3. Our Research and its Place in NASA's Mission

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NASA's overall program, as outlined in the Agency's strategic plan of 2003, is composed of six enterprises: Aerospace Technology, Biological and Physical Research, Earth Science, Education, Space Flight, and Space Science. The Laboratory for Atmospheres makes a significant contribution to Earth Science and Space Science, and is active in Education activities. NASA is undergoing reorganization because of the President’s Exploration Initiative announced in January 2004. Our Laboratory is in tune with this reorganization and expects to make a significant contribution to this initiative.

3.1 Earth Science and Space Science in the Laboratory for Atmospheres

The Laboratory for Atmospheres has a long history (40+ years) of research in atmospheric science, both of the Earth and the planets. The wide array of our work reflects this history of atmospheric research, from the early days of weather satellites and emphasis on weather forecasting, to a present focus on global climate change. For example, one goal is to increase the accuracy and lead-time with which we can predict weather and climate change. Our history also reflects research from the early days of the Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO), the Explorer missions, and Pioneer Venus Orbiter to the recent Galileo mission, and current studies of the outer planets and comets with the Cassini mission.

The Laboratory for Atmospheres conducts basic and applied research in the cross-disciplinary research areas of the Earth Sciences Directorate. Specifically, Laboratory scientists focus their efforts on satellite mission planning, data development and analysis, data assimilation, and modeling in the areas shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Earth Sciences Directorate Themes and our Major Research Areas

Earth Sciences Directorate Science Themes	Major Research Areas in Code 910
Aerosol Atmospheric Chemistry Carbon Cycle Climate Change Global Water and Energy Cycle Weather and Short-term Climate Forecasting Geodynamics & Solid Earth Planetary Studies	Aerosol Atmospheric Chemistry & ozone Atmospheric Hydrologic Cycle Carbon Cycle Clouds and Radiation Climate Variability and Prediction Mesoscale Processes Precipitation Systems Planetary Studies Severe Weather Chemistry-Climate Modeling Global and Regional Climate Modeling Data Assimilation

Our work involves four primary activities or products: measurements, data sets, data analysis, and modeling. Table 2 depicts these activities and some of the topics they address.

Table 2: Laboratory for Atmospheres Earth Science Activities

Measurements	Data Sets	Data Analysis	Modeling
Aircraft Balloon Field campaigns Ground Space	DAO assimilated products Global precipitation MODIS cloud and aerosol TOMS aerosols TOMS surface UV TOMS total ozone TOVS1 Pathfinder TRMM2 Global Precipitation products TRMM validation Products	Aerosol cloud climate interaction Aerosols Atmospheric Hydrologic cycle Climate variability and climate change Clouds and precipitation Global temperature trends Ozone and trace gases Radiation UV-B3 measurements Validation studies	Atmospheric chemical Clouds and mesoscale Coupled climate/ocean Data assimilation Data retrievals General circulation Radiative transfer Transport models Weather and climate

The divisions among measurements, data sets, data analysis, and modeling are somewhat artificial, in that activities in one area often affect those in another. These activities are strongly interlinked and cut across science priorities and the organizational structure of the Laboratory. The grouping corresponds to the natural processes of carrying out scientific research: ask the scientific question, identify the variable needed to answer it, conceive the best instrument to measure the variable, analyze the data, and ask the next question.

¹Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder
²Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
³Ultraviolet-B radiation

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