The DARC is a Centre of Excellence funded under the NERC Earth Observation Centre of Excellence Initiative. The DARC has the following partners

• University of Reading (Department of Mathematics and Department of Meteorology; the DARC is located in the Department of Meteorology),
• University of Oxford,
• University of Cambridge,
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory,
• University of Leeds, and
• Edinburgh University.

The aim of the DARC is the assessment, combination and synthesis of Earth Observation data with numerical models in order to reproduce the evolution of the earth system and to forecast its behaviour.

The ozone hole of 11 September 1996. Left, the southern hemisphere GOME total ozone data collected over 24 hours, and used in data assimilation. Right, the assimilated field at 1200 GMT. Blue denotes low ozone values, green the intermediate values, while high ozone values are shaded red. Uncertain model values are not shaded. Note how the non-polar data void regions have been filled using techniques of data assimilation.