The propose intends to perform a longterm (in this case: 5 to 10 years) analysis of data on the radiation budget of the earth and on cloud field properties, both derived from satellits data measured over Europe, to determine the effect of cloud on the radiation budget.
Similar analyses will be made also with analyses of the surface radiation budget components.
Particular attention will be paid to cirrus clouds.
This research would fill one of the gaps which are still open in EUCREX-2. The expected results are besides of their scimtific value of interest to climate modelers They allow validations of their modelled results for the recent climate and would possibly lead to improvements of their parametrization schema.

Most of this research will be carried out at the University of Tartu, Estonia and in the instituts of Astronomy and Astrophysics of Toravere, which is located near by.