Wednesday, 5 June 2002
Arctic Cloud Properties Derived from Multispectral MODIS and AVHRR Data
Understand the impact of clouds on Earth's climate requires improved measurements of their
microphysical properties. In the Arctic there is minimal contrast between the clouds and the
background snow surface. It is often difficult to determine cloud amount and retrieve
microphysical properties using satellite data. This paper examines a variety of methods to derive
cloud properties from various combinations of multispectral satellite data. Variants of the Clouds
and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) cloud mask are used to discriminate clouds
from the clear-sky background. A visible infrared near-infrared technique (VINT), a visible-infrared
solar-infrared split-window technique (VISST), a near-infrared infrared solar-infrared
technique (NIST), and a solar-infrared infrared split-window technique (SIST) are used to
retrieve cloud microphysical properties during daytime over the Arctic from various satellite
imagers. The 1-km 0.65 (visible), 1.6 (near-infrared), 3.7 (solar-infrared), 11.0 (infrared), and
12.0 (split-window) µm bands on the Terra Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer
(MODIS) are used to derive cloud phase, particle size, optical depth, height, temperature, and ice
or liquid water path using all three methods. For the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)-12,14,16 Advanced Very High Resolotion Radiometer (AVHRR) 1km
data, the VINT, VISST, and SIST algorithms are applied. Also, a modification to the VISST
algorithm that uses the 0.91 micron band is used to derive the cloud properties. The retrievals
are performed over the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) and ARM North
Slope of Alaska (NSA) sites. The satellite-derived cloud microphysical properties are then
validated by comparing them with cloud properties derived from the NOAA Environmental
Technologies Laboratory (ETL) cloud radar.
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