Measurement

• NASA's Calibration Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory Pathfinder (CLARREO Pathfinder) successfully recorded its first measurements in space this summer. • The instrument is designed to provide high-accuracy calibration for Earth-observing satellites by measuring absolute radiance and refractivity. • This milestone is critical for improving the precision of climate data, allowing scientists to better detect long-term trends in Earth's radiation budget.

• The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently announced methodological changes to how price changes are calculated across three subcategories of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation measure. • While the BEA asserts these adjustments are technically defensible, the timing is politically sensitive as inflation remains a primary concern for policymakers and the public. • These tweaks are significant because the PCE is a preferred inflation gauge for the Federal Reserve, and changes to its calculation can result in "sunnier" or lower reported inflation data.

• The European Union has concluded a consultation focused on establishing standardized methods for measuring AI energy consumption across training, inference, hardware, and performance indicators. • The initiative stems from Annex XI of the AI Act, which mandates that providers of general-purpose AI models document their known or estimated energy usage within technical documentation. • This effort targets a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including AI developers, deployers, and component or service suppliers, to ensure transparency in environmental impact.