it's known for its beauty and grace but
from a scientific point of view what
makes Bermuda unique amongst the world
islands is that it's relatively flat
only the ant holes in the Pacific have
similar elevations this means no local
clouds form over the island cloud cover
in Bermuda is the same as in the ocean
surrounding which is why Charles
Whitlock in his college from NASA's
Langley Research Center in Virginia are
here working at the NASA tracking
station on the northeast part of the
island they are conducting the first
global surface radiation budget
experiment to determine if climate
models based on satellite information
are accurate one significant variable in
climate modeling is the height the ocean
clouds these satellite soundings give us
information on the cloud top altitudes
because it sees the top but it can tell
us nothing about how thick the clouds
are and how close they are to the
surface of the earth scientists must
estimate these factors and to test the
precision of their calculations the
Langley team has converted an old
observation dome into a laser laboratory
a narrow green beam is pulsed from the
control room into the sky
amount of light bouncing off the clouds
back into the instrument very accurately
determines cloud heights measurements
are taken at four very specific times a
day we wanted to take the meteorological
data at the exact instant that the
satellite was passing over to improve
accuracy a visual record of cloud
conditions is also produced a small
camera in this protective metal housing
is aimed at a reflective dome the
resulting images recorded along with
dates and times provide more ground
truth information instrument packages
weighing about 40 pounds are also being
used in the study these measure the
amounts of solar and thermal radiation
reaching the ocean surface important
factors in climate model up to four
weather balloons are prepared each day
devices attached to the balloons
obtained temperature and humidity
readings through the atmosphere again
launch times coincide with satellite
overpasses
the surface radiation budget experiment
is part of a world climate research
program similar ground truth
measurements are being made at sites
around the globe with this information
will be able to better predict ocean
warming ice melt prop growth as well as
long term climatic past the global
surface radiation budget experiment
ensuring that our picture of the world's
climate is properly focused