FIRE arctic clouds experiment

An overview is given of the First ISCCP Regional Experiment Arctic Clouds E xperiment that was conducted during April-July 1998. The principal goal of the field experiment was to gather the data needed to examine the impact of arctic clouds on the radiation exchange between the surface, atmosphere, a nd space, and to study how the surface influences the evolution of boundary layer clouds. The observations will be used to evaluate and improve climat e model parameterizations of cloud and radiation processes, satellite remot e sensing of cloud and surface characteristics, and understanding of cloud- radiation feedbacks in the Arctic. The experiment utilized four research ai rcraft that flew over surface-based observational sites in the Arctic Ocean and at Barrow, Alaska. This paper describes the programmatic and scientifi c objectives of the project, the experimental design (including research pl atforms and instrumentation), the conditions that were encountered during t he field experiment, and some highlights of preliminary observations, model ing, and satellite remote sensing studies.