This alcove demonstrates the importance of the radiation energy budget to climate. Dr. Suomi made the first measurements of the energy budget of Earth. NASA has measured this energy budget from satellites for many years. NASA Langley provides links to Earth Radiation Budget Experiment data and images and also describes the experiment. NASA has a new program to monitor Earth's Radiative Energy Budget called CERES.

Clouds play an important role in defining climate. Clouds modify the energy budget and can cool or warm the surface depending on many factors, including the cloud altitude, thickness, the size of the cloud particles, and type of surface the cloud is above. Thus it is important to determine the global distribution of clouds. The Suomi Museum has an alcove that explains how clouds can be detected using weather satellites.

The Suomi Museum has an alcove that brief explains how volcanos impact climate.