The Global Atmospheric Research Program

Abstract

While this report was in preparation an international force of about 40 ships, 13 aircraft, and 4000 scientists and technicians was engaged in measuring the atmosphere and ocean of the tropical Atlantic in unprecedented detail. This followed by a few months the efforts of a smaller armada in the China Sea which studied energy exchanges between the warm Kuroshio current and cold Asian air masses. These large field programs, Garp Atlantic Tropical Experiment (Gate) and Air Mass Transformation Experiment (Amtex), respectively, were visible manifestations of the Global Atmospheric Research Program (Garp), an international undertaking which has formed the unifying focus for a large fraction of the world's meteorological research during the past decade and a half.The primary objective of this report is to highlight the activities and accomplishments of Garp—and among these, primarily the United States' contributions—during the last 4 years. These and their supporting rationale are familiar to most meteorologists. For the broader audience of this report, however, it is appropriate to begin by outlining the genesis and conceptual framework of Garp.