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Dr. Patrick Minnis and David F. Young lead a team that has major research responsibilities for the development and application of advanced data analysis techniques to interpret satellite measurements of clouds and radiative characteristics of the Earth. This includes developing a globally robust technique for retrieving cloud parameters and microphysical properties. The team is involved in several field experiment programs focused on basic cloud and radiation research and on providing validation data for cloud and Earth radiation budget experiments. They perform satellite and radiative transfer studies of cirrus and marine stratocumulus clouds, and are examining radiation and its relationship to tropical convection and cirrus clouds. Recent work includes developing methods for detecting contrails from space and determining their impact on climate. Dr. Minnis and his team are also investigating methods for calibrating satellites, determining radiative flux profiles from remote sensing data, and deriving more accurate cloud properties from satellites.