1095 



The Global Atmospheric 

 Research Program 



John S. Perry 



INTRODUCTION 



In 1979 and 1980, our earth's atmosphere received its first truly com- 

 plete physical examination. Aircraft cruised over the broad expanses of 

 the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans, releasing parachute-borne in- 

 struments to sense the atmosphere's structure. A fleet of more than 50 

 ships stationed themselves around the equatorial oceans to release addi- 

 tional instruments and obtain oceanographic observations. Hundreds 

 of drifting buoys were deployed in the vast reaches of the southern 

 oceans. A flock of balloons floated through the lower stratosphere 

 transmitting observations of temperature and wind to orbiting satellites 

 aloft. Commercial aircraft similarly transmitted observations through 

 satellites to a network of ground processing centers. From space, two 

 polar-orbiting and five geostationary satellites kept the globe under 

 surveillance. The routine operational weather services of the world 

 went into high gear, and special care was taken to transmit every possi- 

 ble observation to data-processing centers and archives. Today, some 5 

 years later, the body of data collected in this Global Weather Experi- 

 ment—the centerpiece of the Global Atmospheric Research Program 

 (GARP)— has been processed and analyzed through an internationally 

 organized network of centers and is being intensively exploited by the 

 world's research community to unlock the secrets of weather and 

 climate. 



The execution of this massive data-gathering program was a 

 remarkable achievement. Moreover, its conception and planning repre- 



149 



