He was a part of studies which have found problems with the ability of model the transmission of
shortwave radiation through a cloud-free atmosphere, and designed an experiment to test the accuracy of the models. They reported that they found agreement between the models and the observations of clear-sky shortwave radiation at the surface for the period studied, 1985 to 1988.[4] Cess was a lead author of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and worked with the
National Science Foundation on understanding greenhouse warming and its associated policy implications.[5] He died on March 22, 2022, at his home in Connecticut.[6]
Awards
Cess won numerous awards, including NASA's highest scientific honor, the
NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, in 1989.[2] In 2006, he received the Jule G. Charney Award, which is awarded to scientists in recognition of significant research in the atmospheric or
hydrologic sciences, from the
American Meteorological Society "for his outstanding contributions to our understanding of the science of atmospheric radiation and climate change and the role of
clouds in climate models".[7]
Cess, R. D.; Zhang, M. H.; Potter, G. L.; Alekseev, V.; Barker, H. W.; Bony, S.; Colman, R. A.; Dazlich, D. A.; et al. (1997). "Comparison of the seasonal change in cloud-radiative forcing from atmospheric general circulation models and satellite observations". J. Geophys. Res. 102 (D14): 16593–16603.
Bibcode:
1997JGR...10216593C.
doi:
10.1029/97JD00927.
hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-0014-9F60-1.
Zhang, M. H.; J. J. Hack; J. T. Kiehl; R. D. Cess (1994). "Diagnostic Study of Climate Feedback Processes in Atmospheric General Circulation Models". J. Geophys. Res. 99 (D3): 5525–5537.
Bibcode:
1994JGR....99.5525Z.
doi:
10.1029/93JD03523.