CLARA: project relevance for policy makers

It is planned that the results and products are used in several projects outside this NRP-II project:

• The results will be used to illustrate the usefulness of a comparable global system as the KNMI-CDS for cloud observations in GCOS (Global Climate Observing System).
• This project will contribute to the improvement of parameterizations of clouds and radiation in global climate models (cooperation KNMI, MPI-Hamburg and ECN, MPI- Hamburg).

Results of this project will also be valuable for other NRP sub-themes. There is a direct interaction with the NRP-II proposal: "Aerosol: cycle and influence on the radiation balance" by Dr. A.M. ten Brink (further refered to as the aerosol project). The folowing products have been defined:

• cloud cover
• short wave global radiation

An advisory group is started for which a limited number of potential users of the products from this project are invited to participate. This group serves two goals:

• The potential user's are kept up to date on the progress of project. They can influence details of the experimental program. For the participants of this project such an advisory group gives short term feedback on our plans.
• The advisory group also serves as an objective quality assurance. It is planned that the advisory group provides input for the progress reports on the quality and progress of the project.

In time, it is planned to make the data set accessible to the scientific community. This data set can be used by other climate modellers to validate their cloud and radiation modules. Furthermore, the cloud parameter retrievals of other satellite remote sensing instruments may be validated with this data set.