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it's known for its beauty and grace but

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from a scientific point of view what

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makes Bermuda unique amongst the world

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islands is that it's relatively flat

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only the ant holes in the Pacific have

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similar elevations this means no local

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clouds form over the island cloud cover

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in Bermuda is the same as in the ocean

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surrounding which is why Charles

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Whitlock in his college from NASA's

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Langley Research Center in Virginia are

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here working at the NASA tracking

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station on the northeast part of the

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island they are conducting the first

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global surface radiation budget

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experiment to determine if climate

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models based on satellite information

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are accurate one significant variable in

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climate modeling is the height the ocean

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clouds these satellite soundings give us

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information on the cloud top altitudes

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because it sees the top but it can tell

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us nothing about how thick the clouds

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are and how close they are to the

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surface of the earth scientists must

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estimate these factors and to test the

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precision of their calculations the

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Langley team has converted an old

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observation dome into a laser laboratory

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a narrow green beam is pulsed from the

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control room into the sky

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amount of light bouncing off the clouds

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back into the instrument very accurately

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determines cloud heights measurements

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are taken at four very specific times a

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day we wanted to take the meteorological

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data at the exact instant that the

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satellite was passing over to improve

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accuracy a visual record of cloud

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conditions is also produced a small

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camera in this protective metal housing

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is aimed at a reflective dome the

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resulting images recorded along with

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dates and times provide more ground

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truth information instrument packages

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weighing about 40 pounds are also being

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used in the study these measure the

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amounts of solar and thermal radiation

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reaching the ocean surface important

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factors in climate model up to four

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weather balloons are prepared each day

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devices attached to the balloons

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obtained temperature and humidity

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readings through the atmosphere again

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launch times coincide with satellite

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the surface radiation budget experiment

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is part of a world climate research

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program similar ground truth

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measurements are being made at sites

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around the globe with this information

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will be able to better predict ocean

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warming ice melt prop growth as well as

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long term climatic past the global

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surface radiation budget experiment