G
Acronyms
1DVAR
one-dimensional variational
3DVAR
three-dimensional variational
4DVAR
four-dimensional variational
ABI
Advanced Baseline Imager
ACRIMSAT
Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor Satellite, an EOS satellite mission to measure total solar irradiance
ADEOS
Advanced Earth Observational Satellite
AFWA
U.S. Air Force Weather Agency
AIREP
aircraft report
AIRS
Atmospheric Infrared Radiation Sounder
AMSU
Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit
ASEB
Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board
ATMS
Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder
ATN
Advanced TIROS-N satellite
ATOVS
Advanced TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder
ATS
Advanced Technology Satellite
AVHRR
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
AWIPS
Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System
BASC
Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate
BRDF
bidirectional reflectance distribution function
BUV
backscatter ultraviolet
CAIV
cost as independent variable
CAL/VAL
calibration/validation
CAPE
convective available potential energy
CBA
cost/benefit analysis
CDR
climate data record
CERES
Cloud and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System, an instrument on the Earth Observing System’s Terra spacecraft that measures the energy exchanged between the Sun; the Earth’s atmosphere, surface and clouds; and outer space
CICE
Los Alamos Sea Ice Model
CIMSS
Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies
CLASS
Comprehensive Large Array-data Stewardship System
CONNTRO
Committee on NASA-NOAA Transition from Research to Operations (NRC)
CONUS
continental United States
COSMIC
Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate
CrIS
Cross-track Infrared Sounder
CW
coastal waters
DAAC
Distributed Active Archive Center
DISCOVR
Deep Space Climatic Observatory
DMSP
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (Systems Program Office)
DOD
Department of Defense
ECMWF
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
ECS
EOSDIS Core System
EDR
environmental data record
EMC
Environmental Modeling Center of the National Weather Service’s NCEP
ENVISAT
Environmental Satellite
EO-1
Earth Orbiter-1, a NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center satellite that demonstrated technology for the next-generation Landsat mission
EOR
environmental observation requirement
EOS
Earth Observing System
EOSDIS
Earth Observing System Data and Information System
EP
Earth Probe
EPA
Environmental Protection Agency
ERB
Earth radiation budget
ERBS
Earth Radiation Budget Satellite
ERBE
Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (NASA)
ERTS
Earth Resources Technology Satellite
ESA
European Space Agency
ESDIS
Earth Science Data and Information System
ESE
Earth Science Enterprise
ESSA
Environmental Satellite Services Administration
ETM+
Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus, an instrument on the Landsat 7 spacecraft
EU
European Union
EUMETSAT
European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites
FCDR
fundamental climate data record
FEMA
Federal Emergency Management Agency
FNMOC
Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (U.S. Navy)
FTP
File Transfer Protocol
GEO
geosynchronous Earth orbit
GIFTS
Geosynchronous Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer
GLM
Geostationary Lightning Mapper
GMES
Global Monitoring for Environmental Security
GMI
Geostationary Microwave Imager
GOES
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GOES-R
next-generation GOES
GPS
Global Positioning System
GSFC
Goddard Space Flight Center
GUI
graphical user interface
HES
Hyperspectral Environmental Satellite; Hyperspectral Environmental Suite
HIRDLS
High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder
HIRS
High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder
HRPT
high-resolution picture transmission
IASI
Interferometer Atmospheric Sounding Instrument
ICESS
Institute for Computational Earth System Science
IEOS
Integrated Earth Observing System
IMAPP
International MODIS and AIRS Processing Package
IORD
Integrated Operational Requirements Document
IP
Internet Protocol
IPO
Integrated Program Office
IR
infrared
IT
information technology
ITOS
Improved Television Infrared Observations Satellite
JCSDA
Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation
LEO
low Earth orbit
LORE
Limb Ozone Retrieval Experiment
LWIR
long-wave infrared
MLS
Microwave Limb Sounder
MODIS
Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
MRD
mission requirements document
MSU
Microwave Sounding Unit
MWIR
mid-wave infrared
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NCAR
National Center for Atmospheric Research
NCDC
National Climatic Data Center
NCEP
National Centers for Environmental Prediction
NDVI
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
NEdT
noise-equivalent-difference-temperature
NESDIS
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service
NetCDF
Network Common Data Format
NEXRAD
Next Generation Radar, a network of Doppler radars operated by the National Weather Service
NIR
near-infrared
NIST
National Institute of Standards and Technology
NOAA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NPOESS
National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System
NPP
NPOESS Preparatory Project
NRC
National Research Council
NSDI
National Spatial Data Infrastructure
NSF
National Science Foundation
NWP
numerical weather prediction
NWS
National Weather Service
ODB
Observation Data Base
OLI
Operational Land Imager instrument (NASA)
OLS
Operational Linescan System
OMI
Ozone Monitoring Instrument
OMPS
Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite
OSE
observing system experiment
PAOB
synthetic surface pressure data
PM
particulate matter
POES
Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite
PORD
Performance and operation requirements document
QuikSCAT
Quick Scatterometer (also called Seawinds General)
R&D
research and development
RDR
raw data record
SAGE
Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment
SAPC
Space Applications and Commercialization
SBUV
solar backscatter ultraviolet
SCIAMACHY
Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography
SDR
sensor data record
SeaWiFS
Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
SOAP
Simple Object Access Protocol
SSB
Space Studies Board
SMS
Synchronous Meteorological Satellite
SST
sea-surface temperature
SSU
Stratospheric Sounding Unit
SWIR
short-wave infrared
TCDR
thematic climate data record
TES
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer
TIROS
Television Infrared Observation Satellite
TMI
TRMM Microwave Imager
TOA
top-of-the-atmosphere measurements
TOMS
Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
TOMS/EP
Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer, onboard an Earth Probe satellite (NASA)
TOPEX/Poseidon
Ocean Topography Experiment
TOS
TIROS Operational Satellite
TOVS
TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder
TRMM
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
TRMM-PR
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission-Precipitation Radar
UARS
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
UCSB
University of California, Santa Barbara
UDDI
Universal Description, Discovery and Integration, protocol for Web services
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
USAF
U.S. Air Force
USDA
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USGS
U.S. Geological Survey
UV
Ultraviolet
VIIRS
Visible/Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite
VIS
Visible
WMO
World Meteorological Organization
WSDL
Wireless Digital Subscriber Link, a high-speed Internet connection
WWW
World Weather Watch
XML
Extensible Markup Language