CLOUDMAP2 is funded by the European Commission under the 5th Framework programme for Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development. CLOUDMAP2 project number is EVK2-2000-00547

CLOUDMAP2 aims to produce and exploit value-added satellite remote sensing data products on macroscopic (e.g. cloud-top height) and microscopic (e.g. cloud droplet radius) properties and water vapour distributions to characterise sub-grid scale processes within Numerical Weather Prediction Models (NWP) through validation and data assimilation. The results will have a large potential application to Global Climate Models. Current and near-future Earth Observation (EO) data, provided by ESA, EUMETSAT and NASA will be employed to derive geophysical value-added data products for over a decade from the ATSR(2) sensor over Europe and the North Atlantic region as well as through the use of near real-time EO data for this region. Ground-based active and passive thermal Infrared remote-sensing instruments will be used to help validate EO derived products as well as be merged to create new fused value-added products. Numerical simulation experiments based on state-of-the-art radiative transfer methods will be used to quantify the effect of broken clouds on the Earth ' s radiation budget and lead to a better representation of clouds within GCMs.