However, analysis of 25 years worth of data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project now indicates that this shift is probably already taking place.

Dr. Rossow has been analyzing data from weather satellites as part of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project.

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP)

The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (or ISCCP) operates a network of geostationary and polar orbiting satellites that have been collecting data on clouds since 1983.

The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) was established as the first project of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP).

Using satellite data on cloud coverage, which became available with the establishment of the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project in 1983, Svensmark found a correlation between lower troposphere cloud cover and the 11-year solar cycle.

Using data gathered in the last 10 years by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project using new satellite-based instruments that can measure cloud cover from space, they set out to verify the claims outlined in this book.

"We know that mankind is busy perturbing the system," said William Rossow of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which is coordinating data from the long-term International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project.

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) focuses on the distribution and variation of cloud radiative properties to improve the understanding of the effects of clouds on climate, the radiation budget, and the long-term global hydrologic cycle.

The ISCCP DX data were obtained from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project data archives at NOAA/NESDIS/NCDC Satellite Services Group, ncdc.satorder@noaa.gov, on January, 2005.

Called Project Fire, the effort by the Government and universities is part of an international cloud research program called the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, or I.S.C.C.P. (Fire stands for First I.S.C.C.P. Regional Experiment.)

The ISCCP D2 data/images were obtained from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project web site http://isccp.giss.nasa.gov maintained by the ISCCP research group at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY.