3-D Winds Three-Dimensional Tropospheric Winds from Space-based Lidar

ABBA automated biomass burning algorithm

ABI advanced baseline imager

ABYSS Altimetric Bathymetry from Surface Slopes

A-CD Aerosol-Cloud Discovery (mission)

ACE aerosol-cloud-ecosystem

ACRIM Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor

ADM Atmospheric Dynamics Mission

AERONET Aerosol Robotics Network

AGAGE Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment

AIRS Aerometric Information Retrieval System or Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

ALOS Advanced Land Observing Satellite

ALT radar altimeter

AMSR-E Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observation System

AMSU Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit

AOD Aerosol Optical Depth

APS advanced polarimetric sensor

AQI air quality index

ARIES Atmospheric Remote-Sensing and Imaging Emission Spectrometer

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

ASCAT advanced scatterometers

ASCENDS Active Sensing of CO₂ Emissions over Nights, Days and Seasons

ASTER Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

ATLS Across Trophic Level Systems

ATMS Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder

ATOMMS Active Temperature, Ozone, and Moisture Microwave Spectrometer

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

AVIRIS Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer

BC blackcarbon

BRDF bidirectional reflectance distribution function

BSRN broadband solar radiometer

CALIPSO Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

CAMEO Composition of the Atmosphere from Mid-Earth Orbit

C-CAN Continuous Coastal Awareness Network

CCSP Climate Change Science Program

CDOM colored dissolved organic matter

CDR climate data record

CERES Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System

CHAMP Coral Health and Monitoring Project or Challenging Minisatellite Payload

CHARMS Cloud Height and Altitude-Resolved Motion Stereo-imager

CHASM Cloud Hydrology and Albedo Synthesis Mission

CIMSS Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies

CLARREO Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory

CLIVAR Climate Variability and Predictability

CLPP Cold Land Processes Pathfinder

CM1 Climate Mission 1

CMDL Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory

CME coronal mass ejection

CMIS Conical-Scanning Microwave Imager/Sounder

CNES Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales

C/NOFS Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System

COCOA Coastal Ocean Carbon Observations and Applications

COSMIC Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate

COSPAR Committee on Space Research

CPR cloud profiling radar

CrIS cross-track infrared sounder

CRYSTAL FACE Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-Florida Area Cirrus Experiment

CTM chemical transport models

CZCS coastal zone color scanner

DESDynl Deformation, Ecosystem Structure, and Dynamics of Ice

DIAL Differential Absorption Lidar

DLR German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft-und Raumfahrt e.V.)

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program

DOC dissolved organic carbon

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOM dissolved organic matter

DSCOVR Deep Space Climate Observatory

DWL Doppler wind lidar

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

EDR environmental data record

EIT Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope

ENSO El Niño Southern Oscillation

Envisat environmental satellite

EOS Earth Observing System

E—P freshwater flux

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

ERA-40 European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-yr global reanalysis

ERB Earth radiation budget

ERBE Earth Radiation Budget Experiment

ERBS Earth radiation budget sensor

ERS European Remote-Sensing Satellites

ESA European Space Agency

ESAP Earth Science Applications Pathfinder

ESSP Earth System Science Pathfinder

ETM+ Enhanced Thematic Mapper +

EUV extreme ultraviolet

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

FOV field of view

FY fiscal year

GACM Global Atmospheric Composition Mission

GAW Global Atmosphere Watch

GCOS Global Climate Observing System

GEO geostationary Earth orbit

GEO-CAPE Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events

GeoSAR Geographic Synthetic Aperture Radar

GEOSS Global Earth Observing System of Systems

GEWEX Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment

GFE government furnished equipment

GFO Geosat Follow-On

GIFTS Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer

GISMO Glaciers and Ice Sheets Mapping Orbiter

GLAS Geoscience Laser Altimeter System

GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System

GNSS Global Navigating Satellite System

GOCE European Gravity Field and Steady State Ocean Circulation Explorer

GODAE Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GOES-R Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (the next generation of GOES satellites)

GOME Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment

GPM Global Precipitation Measurement (mission)

GPS Global Positioning System

GPSRO Operational GPS Radio Occultation

GRACE Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center

HAB harmful algal bloom

HAZUS Hazards US

HDWL Hybrid Doppler Wind Lidar

HES Hyperspectral Environmental Sensor

HIRDLS High-Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder

HIRS high resolution infrared radiation sounder

HPS hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

HSB Humidity Sounder for Brazil

HSRL high-spectral-resolution lidar

HyspIRI Hyperspectral Infrared Imager

IASI Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer.

ICESat Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite

ICOS Integrated Carbon Observing System

ICSU International Council for Science

IEOS International Earth Observing System

IGACO Integrated Global Atmospheric Chemistry Observations

IGOS Integrated Global Observing Strategy

IIP Instrument Incubator Program

InSAR Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar

IORD-II Integrated Operational Requirements Document II

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPO Integrated Program Office

IR infrared

ISCCP International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

LASCO Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph

LDCM Landsat Data Continuity Mission

LEO low Earth orbit

Lidar Light Detection and Ranging

LIST Lidar Surface Topography

LST land radiometric surface temperature

LTER long term ecological research

LVIS Laser Vegetation Imaging Sensor

M³ Moon Mineralogy Mapper

MAPSAR Multi Application Purpose SAR

MATH Monitoring Atmosphere Turbulence and Humidity

Mbps megabits per second

MDI Michelson Doppler Imager

MEO medium Earth orbit

MetOp Meteorological Operational Satellite Program

MIS microwave imager/sounder

MISR multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer

MLS microwave limb sounder

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

MOPITT Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere

MOSAIC Measurement of Ozone by Airbus In-service Aircraft

MOSS Microwave Observatory of Subcanopy and Subsurface

MSS multispectral scanner

MSU microwave sounding units

MTSAT Multi-Function Transport Satellite

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASDA National Space Development Agency (of Japan)

NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NEON National Ecological Observatory Network

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service

NH Northern Hemisphere

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

NSA National Snow Analysis

NSCAT NASA scatterometer

NSF National Science Foundation

NWP numerical weather prediction

OCEaNS Ocean Carbon, Ecosystem and Near-Shore

OCO Orbiting Carbon Observatory

OLOM Ocean and Land Operational Mission

OMI ozone monitoring instrument

OMPS ozone monitoring and profiling suite

OOLM Operational Ocean and Land Mission

ORION Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

OVWM Ocean Vector Winds Mission

PARAGON Progressive Aerosol Retrieval and Assimilation Global Observing Network

PARASOL Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar

PATH Precipitation and All-Weather Temperature and Humidity

PBL planetary boundary layer

PM particulate matter

POLDER Polarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectances

R&A research and analysis

R&D research and development

RADARSAT radar satellite

RAOB rawinsonde observation

RASS radio acoustic sounding system

RCTRO Radiance Calibration and Time Reference Observatory

RFI request for information

RMSE root mean square error

RO radio occultation

SAC-C Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C

SAGE Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment

SAR synthetic aperture radar

SATCOM satellite communication

SAVII Spaceborne Advanced Visible Infrared Imager

ScanSAR Scanning Synthetic Aperture Radar

SCIAMACHY Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography

SCLP Snow and Cold Land Processes

SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field of View Sensor

SESWG Solid Earth Sciences Working Group

SH Southern Hemisphere

SH₂OUT Sensing of H₂O in the Upper Troposphere

SI Systeme Internationale

SIM Spectral Irradiance Monitor

SIRCUS Spectral Irradiance and Radiance Responsivity Calibrations with Uniform Sources

SIRICE Submillimeter Infrared Radiometer Ice Cloud Experiment

SLR Satellite Laser Ranging

SMAP Soil Moisture Active-Passive

SMD Science Mission Directorate

SMMR Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer

SNOTEL Snowpack Telemetry

SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

SORCE Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment

SPOT Satellite Probatoire de I’Observation de la Terre

SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission

SSI satellite-to-satellite interferometer

SSM/I special sensor microwave/imager

SSO Sun-synchronous orbit

SST sea-surface temperature

STEREO Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory

SURFRAD Surface Radiation Budget Network

SWE snow water equivalent

SWIR short-wave infrared

SWOT Surface Water and Ocean Topography

TanDEM-X TerraSAR-X add-on for Digital Elevation Measurement

TAO Tropical Atmosphere Ocean

TCHP tropical cyclone heat-potential field

TES Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer

TIM total irradiance monitor

TIROS-N Television Infrared Observation Satellite-N

TM thematic mapper

TOA top of atmosphere

TOGA Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere Program

TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer

TOPEX Ocean Topography Experiment

TOPSAR Topographic Synthetic Aperture Radar

T/P TOPEX/Poseidon (mission)

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

TSI total solar irradiance

TSIS total solar irradiance sensor

UAV unmanned aerial vehicle

UHF ultra high frequency

ULDB ultra-long duration balloon

USCRN U.S. Climate Reference Network

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

USGCRP U.S. Global Change Research Program

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

UV ultraviolet

VBZ vector-borne and zoonotic

VCL vegetation canopy lidar

VHF very high frequency

VIIRS Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer suite

VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry

VOC volatile organic chemical

WatER Water Elevation Recovery Satellite Mission

WCRP World Climate Research Programme

WF-ABBA Wildfire Automated Biomass Burning Algorithm

WMO World Meteorological Organization

WOWS Water and Ocean Wind Sensor

WRF-CHEM Weather Research and Forecasting Regional Chemical Transport Model

WRSI Water Requirement Satisfaction Index

WSOA Wide Swatch Ocean Altimeter

WTC World Trade Center

XBT expendable bathythermograph

XOVWM Extended Ocean Vector Winds Mission