The Earthshine Project, based at Big Bear Observatory and overseen by Professor Philip Goode of the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), is investigating new ways to measure the earth's albedo (reflected sunlight), which is a major component in global climate. The project concentrates on determining a global and absolutely calibrated albedo by measuring the amount of sunlight reflected from the Earth and, in turn, back to the Earth from the dark portion of the face of the Moon (the "earthshine" or "ashen light"). The Earthshine Project's Website contains a project overview, links to daily cloud cover data, nightly earthshine data (1998-present) from the earthshine "coronagraph" and its Apogee7 digital camera, as well as preliminary spectral results (.ps, .gif, or .html). Other features of the site are detailed illustrated sections on calibration, including atmospheric extinction, night variation, libration effect, etc., and an article comparing calculated albedo model results with observed data. The site also furnishes a draft manuscript of the project results (.ps) and the project proposal.
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