A ten-year cloud climatology with a horizontal resolution of four km has been compiled over the Scandinavian region based on results from near real-time cloud classifications of the SMHI SCANDIA model (Karlsson, 1996, 1997). The following specific features of the cloud climate (in addition to ten-year monthly means of total cloud cover) have been studied:

1. Frequency and geographic distribution of the three cloud groups Low-, Medium- and High-level clouds.
2. Frequency and distribution of water and ice clouds
3. Frequency distribution of deep convective clouds
4. Typical cloud patterns in various weather regimes (e.g., North Atlantic Oscillation phases)

The quality of the satellite-based cloud information was examined by comparing with corresponding surface-observations given by SYNOP-based cloud climatologies for the same period. Comparions have also been made with other available cloud climate datasets (e.g., the SYNOP-based CRU dataset and the cloud climatologies from the ISCCP C2 and D2 series ).

Results from a recently improved cloud classification scheme (Dybbroe et al., 2000) will also be shown for a larger European region covering a large part of northern Europe (i.e., the Baltic Sea drainage area). These results are used within the BALTEX project, a project in the GEWEX programme for studies of the water and energy cycle of the Baltic Sea.