FIRE IN THE CLASSROOM

This paper describes a classroom project that exposes students to rese arch data collected during the Cirrus II First ISCCP (International Sa tellite Cloud Climatology Program) Regional Experiment Information Sys tems Office from Parsons, Kansas, during November and December 1991. T he data employed in this project were primarily those obtained from a Michelson interferometer. The students were assigned a number of tasks that were aimed at (i) providing them with a basic understanding of a Michelson interferometer and, most importantly, an appreciation of th e importance of calibration, (ii) understanding the spectral distribut ion of clear-sky emission and identifying major gaseous absorption fea tures, (iii) understanding the effects of cirrus clouds on the emissio n spectrum, and finally (iv) learning how these spectra may be used to derive certain properties of the clouds and in so doing appreciate so me of the limitations and ambiguities of this particular type of remot e sensing.