The NOAA/GMCC program was chartered to monitor the trends in those atmospheric constituents that can cause climate change. A four-observatory network was established, and a 15-year database has resulted for selected variables. At the inception, a central data-recording system was established at each observatory using minicomputers to compress and record the signals from monitoring instrumentation onto a computer-compatible magnetic tape. A distributed recording system using Z80 microprocessors has recently been developed to replace the minicomputer system. The STD BUS was selected as a means of internal computer communication, thus allowing a modular design that was tailored to the specific instrumentation. The resulting Control And Monitoring System (CAMS) operates an interactive multitasking version of FORTH as the operating system software. Separate versions of CAMS were built to control and monitor the carbon dioxide analyzer, aerosol and solar radiation instrumentation, and meteorological an... Abstract The NOAA/GMCC program was chartered to monitor the trends in those atmospheric constituents that can cause climate change. A four-observatory network was established, and a 15-year database has resulted for selected variables. At the inception, a central data-recording system was established at each observatory using minicomputers to compress and record the signals from monitoring instrumentation onto a computer-compatible magnetic tape. A distributed recording system using Z80 microprocessors has recently been developed to replace the minicomputer system. The STD BUS was selected as a means of internal computer communication, thus allowing a modular design that was tailored to the specific instrumentation. The resulting Control And Monitoring System (CAMS) operates an interactive multitasking version of FORTH as the operating system software. Separate versions of CAMS were built to control and monitor the carbon dioxide analyzer, aerosol and solar radiation instrumentation, and meteorological an...