The role of space in sparc research Original Research Article

The research project on Stratospheric Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC), was set up in 1992 by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) to help the stratospheric research community focus on the issues of importance for climate. In this paper, we present the atmospheric data requirements of the SPARC research community, in particular the needs for monitoring of climate and for understanding stratospheric processes. We present briefly the work carried out by the SPARC project and illustrate the role of space in this work using recent results from research carried out by SPARC working groups and the stratospheric research community. Advantages of space-based data are presented, as are their weaknesses, the lessons learned when using such data for monitoring purposes and the challenges posed to future generations of space-based instruments.