ISCCP samples and processes the data from the several weather satellites that provide weather forecasters with daily pictures of regional cloud coverage; the project generates global statistics on the distribution and properties of clouds. Cloud-radiation feedback (along with global ocean circulation) has been one of the two physical processes for which climate modelers lacked measurements that were commensurate with the sophistication of their models. ISCCP, which used only data from satellites that governments had already put in place and committed to maintain, was the first project sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Managed by the Joint Science Committee of WCRP, the project challenged participants to develop an algorithm that could capture cloud characteristics against a global set of backgrounds. The work on the algorithm was conducted in the United States at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
From the description of International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) (Geophysics and Oceanography): Oral history interviews, 1992-1994. (American Institute of Physics). WorldCat record id: 82628720
