| ADCP | | acoustic Doppler current profiler |
| AGL | | above ground level |
| AOC | | Aircraft Operations Center (NOAA/U.S.) |
| ARGOS | | French/U.S. Satellite and Data Location System |
| ARL | | Aeronomy Research Laboratory (NOAA) |
| ARM | | Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (Program) |
| ATLAS | | autonomous temperature line acquisition system (PMEL/NOAA/U.S.) |
| AVHRR | | advanced very high resolution radiometer |
| BBHIR | | broadband hemispherical field-of-view infrared radiometer |
| BOM | | Bureau of Meteorology |
| C4 | | Center for Clouds, Chemistry, and Climate |
| CBL | | convective boundary layer |
| CCA | | CEPEX Central Archive |
| CCM2 | | Community Climate Model—version 2 (NCAR) |
| CEPEX | | Central Equatorial Pacific Experiment |
| CERES | | Clouds and Earth Radiation Energy System |
| CM4 | | Climate Model—version 4 |
| COARE | | Couple Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment |
| CSU | | Colorado State University |
| DMSP | | Defense Meteorological Satellite Program |
| DOE | | Department of Energy |
| ECMWF | | European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting |
| ENSO | | El Niño southern oscillation |
| EOS | | Earth Observing System |
| ERBE | | Earth Radiation Budget Experiment |
| FIRE | | First ISCCP Regional Experiment |
| FSSP | | cloud droplet spectrum sensor built by Particle Measuring Systems |
| FTIR | | Fourier transform infrared (spectroradiometer) |
| GATE | | GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) Atlantic Tropical Experiment |
| GCM | | general circulation model |
| GFDL | | Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (Princeton) |
| GMS | | Geostationary Meteorological Satellite |
| GOES | | Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite |
| GPS | | Global Positioning System |
| GTS | | Global Telecommunications System |
| HIRAM | | high-resolution limited-area model |
| HIRS | | high-resolution infrared sounder |
| HRC | | highly reflective clouds |
| HRPT | | high-resolution picture transmission |
| IMET | | improved meteorological instruments for ships and buoys |
| INE | | inertial navigation equipment |
| INMARSAT | | International Maritime Satellite |
| IR | | infrared |
| ISS | | integrated sounding system |
| ISSCP | | International Satellite Cloud and Climatology Project |
| ITCZ | | intertropical convergence zone |
| IPCC | | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change |
| LAFI | | Lyman-alpha fluorescence instrument |
| LAN | | limited-area non-hydrostatic (model) |
| LANL | | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
| LF | | lower fuselage |
| Loran | | Long-Range Aid to Navigation |
| MAS | | MODIS Atmospheric Simulator |
| McIDAS | | Man-Computer Interactive Data Access System |
| MODIS | | moderate resolution imaging spectrometer |
| MIT | | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| MPI | | Max-Planck Institute |
| NASA | | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NCAR | | National Center for Atmospheric Research |
| NFOVR | | narrow-field-of-view radiometer |
| NIST | | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NMC | | National Meteorological Center |
| NOAA | | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
| NSF | | National Science Foundation |
| NWS | | National Weather Service |
| OAGCM | | ocean-atmosphere general circulation model |
| OFPS | | Office of Field Project Support (UCAR) |
| OLR | | outgoing long-wave radiation |
| OLS | | optical line scanner |
| OSU | | Oregon State University |
| PI | | principal investigator |
| PIBAL | | pilot balloon |
| PMEL | | Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory |
| PMS | | particle measurement systems |
| POSEIDON | | Satellite Program (France) |
| PROTEUS | | profile telemetry of upper ocean currents (PMEL/NOAA/U.S.) |
| PS | | project scientist |
| PSP | | precision spectral pyranometers |
| RAD | | radiation |
| RAMS | | radiation measurement system |
| RASS | | radar acoustic sounding system |
| RHI | | range-heigh indicator |
| RH | | relative humidity |
| R/V | | research vessel |
| SBR | | short-wave broadband radiometer |
| SIO | | Scripps Institution of Oceanography |
| SPCZ | | south Pacific convergence zone |
| SSM/I | | special sensor microwave/Imager |
| SST | | Sea Surface Temperature |
| STEP | | Stratospheric-Tropospheric Exchange Project |
| SUNY | | State University of New York |
| TA | | tail |
| TAO | | tropical atmosphere ocean array |
| TDDR | | total direct-diffuse radiometer |
| TOGA | | Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere |
| TOGA-COARE | | Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere/Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment |
| TOPEX | | Topographic Ocean Experiment (CNES/France and NASA/U.S.) |
| TOVS | | Tiros operational vertical sounder |
| TRMM | | Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission |
| UCAR | | University Corporation for Atmospheric Research |
| UCLA | | University of California, Los Angeles |
| UCSD | | University of California, San Diego |
| UHF | | ultra high frequency |
| USC | | University of Southern California |
| UTC | | Universal Time Coordinate (Zulu or Greenwich Mean Time) |
| UV | | ultraviolet |
| VHF | | very high frequency |
| VISSR | | visible and infrared spin scan radiometer |
| WCRP | | World Climate Research Programme |
| WMO | | World Meteorological Organization |
| XBT | | expendable bathy-thermograph |