The CLAUS project was co-ordinated by ESSC and involved all of the major climate modelling groups in Europe. The project was supported by the European Union under the IVth Framework Programme (Environment and Climate) and ran from April 1997 to December 1999.

The aim of the CLAUS project was to produce a long time-series of three-hourly global window channel thermal infra-red (10.5-12.5 micro metres) images of the Earth and to test the feasibility of using this in evaluating atmospheric General Circulation Models.