Arctic clouds are a pivotal part of global climate; yet, due to a series of challenges associated with obtaining accurate Arctic cloud data, they are often poorly simulated in most global climate models. SSAI scientist Dr. Zhujun Li took a new approach to climate modeling by using a multi-scale modeling framework (MMF).

An SSAI-led team successfully employed “loon” balloons to obtain stratospheric observations, especially over the Southern Hemisphere and tropical oceans. Subsequently, SSAI team members began assimilating the Loon balloon winds into the GEOS global data assimilation system (DAS) in support of the Global Modeling Assimilation Office (GMAO).