Talk:Earth System Research Laboratories

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The Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) is a laboratory in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs).

ESRL combines six separate NOAA labs under one organization in order to provide a more effective and coordinated management structure for its four Divisions - Global Monitoring, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, and Global Systems. The former labs falling into ESRL are the Aeronomy Laboratory, the Climate Diagnostics Center, the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, the Environmental Technology Laboratory, the Forecast Systems Laboratory, and the Surface Radiation Research Branch of the Air Resources Laboratory.

Mission
ESRL's mission is to observe and understand the Earth system and to develop informational products that will advance NOAA's environmental information and services on global-to-local scales. The lab expects to achieve this goal by understanding the roles of gases and particles in climate change, assisting water management decisions with climate information, improving weather prediction, studying the recovery of the ozone layer, and developing air quality forecast models.

History
In 1972, the Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Change (GMCC) program was established as part of NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory (ARL). “In January 1990, as part of an ERL reorganization, GMCC activities were transferred, along with those of the NOAA Climate Research Group, to a newly formed NOAA Laboratory, the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL).” In October 2005, the Global Monitoring Division was created when the CMDL merged with five other NOAA labs to form the Earth System Research Laboratory.

Research Areas
GMD's mission involves answering key scientific questions in three areas of research – Climate Forcing, Ozone Depletion, and Air Quality. GMD scientists work under several different groups to achieve this goal:


 * The Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network (GGGRN) "measures the atmospheric distribution and trends of the three main long-term drivers of climate change, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), as well as carbon monoxide (CO) which is an important indicator of air pollution" by taking continuous measurements from six baseline observatories and 8 towers around the world, and collecting air samples from over 50 volunteer sites and various small aircraft.


 * The Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species (HATS) group's mission is "to quantify the distributions as well as the magnitudes of the sources and sinks for atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O) and halocarbons, which include the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), chlorinated solvents (CCl4, CH3CCl3 , etc.), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs),  hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), methyl halides (CH3Br, CH3Cl, CH3I), halons, and numerous other important ozone-depleting and greenhouse gases."


 * The goals of the Aerosols (AERO) group 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. GMD's measurements also provide ground-truth for satellite measurements and global models, as well as key aerosol parameters for global-scale models."


 * The GMD-Radiation (G-Rad) "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, relative observations of spectral solar radiation for the purpose of remote sensing of certain atmospheric constituents and the absolute measurement of spectral solar UV for the investigation of the interaction of ozone and solar radiation."


 * The Ozone and Water Vapor (OZWV) "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."


 * Observatory Operations: NOAA/ESRL operates staffed atmospheric baseline observatories from which numerous in situ and remote atmospheric and solar measurements are conducted. The overall scientific programs and administrative functions of the observatories are handled from Boulder with on-site station chiefs caring for day-to-day station activities. There are six observatories around the globe:
 * Mauna Loa Observatory
 * Atmospheric Research Observatory (ARO) at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
 * Barrow Environmental Observatory
 * Trinidad Head Observatory (THD)
 * American Samoa Observatory (SMO)
 * Summit Camp

Physical Sciences Division (PSD)
The PSD conducts research to understand the physical environment: the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and land in order to improve local to global weather and climate predictions.

Chemical Sciences Division (CSD)
The CSD studies chemical processes in the Earth's atmosphere that affect climate, air quality, and the ozone layer.

Global Systems Division (GSD)
The GSD conducts research and development to provide global environmental information and forecast products ranging from short-term weather predictions to longer-term climate forecasts.

Research partners

 * Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES, University of Colorado)
 * Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA, Colorado State University)
 * National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
 * National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
 * United States Department of Energy