A new climate resource from geostationary satellite observations

Data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) is archived at the National Climatic Data Center. The various ISCCP data levels include subsampled satellite data (e.g., B), cloud products (e.g., D1), and pixel-level cloud products (e.g., DX). Observations occur every three hours from July 1983 to present from global geostationary and polar orbiting satellites. In particular, the B1 level data is a 10km resolution dataset which has yet to be used for research. ISCCP B1 data consists of geostationary observations from the Japan Meteorological Agency's GMS series, EUMETSAT's Meteosat series and the NOAA GOES series of geostationary satellites. In fact, the B1 data is the only source for GMS data for 1983-1987. The full-disk imagery visible and infrared observations are subsampled to approximately 10km, with some satellites also providing water vapor data (e.g., from Meteosat), the full suite of channels from GOES-8 through 12, and most recently all 12 channels of Meteosat-8 (formerly, Meteosat Second Generation, MSG). Until recently, access to B1 data was limited by a lack of documentation and software support. However, recent efforts by NCDC now provide B1 data in a consistent format making it easier to read, navigate and calibrate the entire data set. This allows climatological research from the B1 data at higher spatial and temporal resolutions.