Continuity and Innovation: Advancing Earth Radiation Budget Science with the Libera Mission

September 03, 2026

Jake Gristey

Hosted by Christine Chiu

Abstract

Over the last twenty years, Earth radiation budget (ERB) satellite measurements have uncovered significant Earth system change, including a doubling of Earth's energy imbalance and a persistent hemispheric albedo symmetry. In the future, ERB satellite measurements are likely to play an even more pivotal role in emerging application areas such as solar radiation management. This seminar will introduce NASA’s Libera mission, which will continue the ERB data record upon its launch in 2027 while introducing new spectral and angular capabilities. I will discuss how Libera’s "split-shortwave" (SSW) channel—which enables separation of visible and near-infrared energy—offers refined insights into how shortwave energy is absorbed within the Earth system. I will also demonstrate how the dense angular sampling provided by Libera's wide-field-of-view (WFOV) camera facilitates the rapid development of angular models needed to produce SSW irradiance. The Libera mission not only secures ERB continuity but also provides a path forward for infusing enhanced capabilities to advance our understanding of ERB.

Jake Gristey received his PhD degree in Atmosphere, Oceans, and Climate from the University of Reading in 2018. Since then, he has been working as a Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is physically based at the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (CSL) and is also affiliated with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). His research focuses on measuring and understanding Earth's radiation budget, which includes leading the development of irradiance retrieval algorithms for the Libera satellite mission. He has also worked extensively on process-scale atmospheric modeling and 3D radiative transfer to advance the understanding of cloud-aerosol-radiation processes and proposed climate intervention strategies.