CLAMS is the Chesapeake Lighthouse and Aircraft Measurements for Satellites field campaign sponsored by CERES, MISR, MODIS-Atmospheres and the NASA/GEWEX Global Aerosol Climatology Project (GACP). The centerpiece of CLAMS is the Chesapeake Lighthouse sea platform 20 km east of Virginia Beach, at which NASA and NOAA make continuous, long-term measurements of radiation, meteorology, and ocean waves. Members of the CERES, MISR and MODIS instrument teams are collaborating to accomplish a common set of objectives tied to the validation of EOS data products. The CLAMS campaign took place in July-August 2001 to validate Terra data products from a shortwave closure experiment targeting clear (cloud-free) sky conditions and focused on obtaining:

1. more accurate spectral and broadband radiative fluxes at the surface and within the atmosphere,
2. characterization of ocean optics in the vicinity of the lighthouse, and
3. description of the atmospheric aerosol amounts, micro-physical and optical properties, and their variability.

This data set consists of observations made with the CAR instrument and includes values for bidirectional reflectance factor at varying spectral bands.