Clouds are the most strikingly complex 3D objects in the Earth's atmosphere. One consequence is the radiative properties of each cloudy pixel are effected by its neighbors. Current operational retrievals of cloud and aerosol properties treat each pixel independently of its neighbors, assuming no radiative interactions between them. We quantify the influence of 3D radiative effects on MODIS-derived cloud optical thickness, particle size, and aerosol optical thickness. 

Applying 3D radiative transfer calculations, we will combine multi-spectral MODIS information on spatial variability with MISR multi-angle information and ASTER sub-pixel information.