This award supports the participation of Dr. James Spinhirne of NASA-Goddard in CEPEX. CEPEX is a field program that will take place in the tropical Pacific in March 1993. CEPEX is designed to test the so-called "Thermostat Hypothesis" and involves an investigation of the regulation of sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific through cloud radiative feedback processes and ocean-atmosphere interaction. Dr. Spinhirne brings to the project his state-of-the-art lidar which will be used to ascertain the heights and structures of high level clouds and to estimate cloud base. This instrument is one of several that will be flown on NASA's high altitude ER-2 aircraft during the experiment.
