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Explore the significance of the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment led by John Harries. Learn about the experiment's objective to measure the Earth's total energy balance from geostationary orbit, providing crucial data for climate research and prediction validation. Discover the role of European science in advancing climate studies and addressing climate change challenges. Witness the innovative design and calibration processes of GERB, and delve into hot topics such as diurnal ERB cycles and cloud-climate interactions in Africa. Be inspired by pictures from the GERB launch and get insights into the complexities of climate variability and trends. Join in acknowledging the collaborative efforts of the GERB team across various institutions worldwide.
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The Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment John Harries, Professor of Earth Observation, Blackett Laboratory The GERB experiment
Contents • What’s it all about? • What is GERB? • European science contributng at the forefront of climate research The GERB experiment
What’s it all about? • Climate change is a major scientific problem and threat to global stability; • We make predictions about how climate might change in future using coupled, ocean-atmosphere General Circulation Models (GCMs); • Ultimately the models must be tested and validated against observations of the real world. The GERB experiment
GERB will make the first ever measurements of the Earth’s total energy balance from geostationary orbit. • High accuracy measurements of the solar radiation absorbed, and the infrared energy emitted by the Earth will be produced each 15 minutes. About 40 cm GERB The GERB experiment
Should we believe “climate change”? Yes! IPCC Hadley Centre Harries et al., Nature, March 15 2001 The GERB experiment
Should we believe that we understand “climate change” well enough to accurately predict our future? No! Feedback processes, especially clouds, water vapour, oceans, cause large uncertainty The GERB experiment
2. What is GERB? (Talk on GERB design in future) • GERB is a de-spun (MSG spins at 100 rpm: 18g!!) absolute radiometer seeking to achieve absolute accuracies (target 0.5-1%). High time resolution (15 mins) for first time. • Calibration in new facility at IC; GERB-1, -2 and –3 have been designed, built,tested and calibrated; • Imperial team: John PI, Steve Manager, Jacqui Project Scientist, Jenny and James Instrument Scientists, Jo George Student. RAL leads technical project. • GIST (GERB International Science Team) led by PI includes many world experts in ERB and EO studies. The GERB experiment
Array moves one pixel to west on every rotation of MSG, to build up image of 256x256 pixels 256 pixels The GERB experiment
3. European science at the forefront of climate research (Talks on GERB science in future) • Three examples of “Hot topics”: • Diurnal cycle of ERB and cloud-climate interaction; • Saharan dust; • Climate variability and trends. The GERB experiment
Diurnal cycle of ERB and cloud-climate interaction over Africa Afternoon thunderclouds over the Serengeti The GERB experiment
Pictures! The GERB experiment
5. Pictures from the launch! The GERB experiment
5. Pictures from the launch! The GERB experiment
5. Pictures from the launch! The GERB experiment
5. Pictures from the launch! The GERB experiment
Concluding remarks • MSG is a major European initiative to be proud of, in monitoring the Earth’s weather and climate: it contributes to the world effort in this area; • Congratulations to all the GERB team at Imperial, RAL, Leicester, NPL, in Italy, Belgium, Germany and USA The GERB experiment
