The University of Alabama in Huntsville received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for climatologists to develop a new method of determining how the Earth's climate is responding to greenhouse gases that could be more accurate than the current methods.

The project is expected to be completed in three years with a cost of $1.5 million. Climatologists will also work to create a method to study the climate impacts of greenhouse gases on snowfall, which is an important water supply for the region. The initial funding is $489,399.

Dr. John Christy, Alabama State Climatologist and director for the UAH Earth Systems Science Center, will be the principle investigator for research. He will be joined by two UAH co-investigators, Dr. Roy Spencer and Dr. Richard McNider.

According to Christy, the scientists will use satellite data that measures the atmospheric temperature and the energy emitted and absorbed by the Earth. Metric researchers will calculate temperature change when energy is imbalanced.

“This has tremendous importance for tax and energy policy,” Christy said.