Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) is a program initiated by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) to observe, understand and model the hydrological cycle and energy fluxes in the atmosphere, at land surface and in the upper oceans. The goal of the GEWEX is to reproduce and predict, by means of suitable models, the variations of the global hydrological regime, its impact on atmospheric and surface dynamics, and variations in regional hydrological processes and water resources and their response to changes in the environment, such as the increase in greenhouse gases.

GEWEX has been a phased project, initially conceived to take advantage of the development of the new series of environmental satellites (i.e., TERRA, AQUA, TRMM, ENVISAT, ADEOS I and II). The first phase was designed as a buildup phase maximizing the climate use of the current operational and research satellite data prior to the new satellites. The second phase is designed to begin the scientific exploitation of the data from the new satellite sensors.

The three main research areas contributing to the overall objective of GEWEX are:

• Radiation
• Hydrometeorology
• Modeling and Predition

For a more detailed description of GEWEX, project results, publications, and archived data, visit the GEWEX home page.