ESRL's Global Monitoring Laboratory (GML) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducts research that addresses three major challenges; greenhouse gas and carbon cycle feedbacks, changes in clouds, aerosols, and surface radiation, and recovery of stratospheric ozone.

GML’s four research groups – Carbon Cycle and Greenhouse Gases (CCGG), Halocarbons and other Atmospheric Trace Species (HATS), Ozone and Water Vapor (OZWV), and Global Radiation and Aerosols (G-RAD) – make and analyze observations, applying their expertise to address these themes. The unique observing systems operated by each research group come together at GML’s four baseline observatories, which serve as the backbone of the GML observing system. However, most of the measurements from each group are made at other locations, including collaborator sites, sites in other networks, and on ships and aircraft. GML’s research groups work together in developing and maintaining their observing networks and, especially, in understanding, interpreting, and publishing results.