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EarthCARE Mission is a joint venture between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
- Objective: Provide a holistic view of complex interplay between clouds, aerosols and radiation, yielding new insight into Earth’s radiation balance against the backdrop of the climate crisis.
- Orbit Type: Sun-synchronous
- On-board Instruments: Atmospheric Lidar, cloud profiling radar, multispectral imager (MSI), and broad-band radiometer.
Relationship between Clouds, Aerosol and Earth’s Radiation Balance
- Clouds: Along with aerosols, clouds play key role in Earth’s Heat Budget.
- They can either cool or warm the Earth's surface by reflecting incoming sunlight or trapping outgoing infrared radiation.
- The extent of clouds' warming or cooling effect on Earth depends on their shape, location, altitude, water content, and particle size.
- Aerosols: These are tiny particles such as dust and pollutants suspended in atmosphere.
- Directly they reflect and absorb solar radiation and trap outgoing radiation.
- And, indirectly they act as nuclei for cloud formation, which has a more substantial impact on the climate.
- Human activities like industrialization, agriculture, etc. significantly alter atmospheric aerosol concentrations, impacting regional climate patterns.
