Remote Sensing of Cloud Parameters

Moustafa T. Chahine Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91109

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Abstract

Day and night mapping of the global distributions of the horizontal cloud covers and the corresponding cloud-top pressure levels are derived from the same set of infrared radiance data used to retrieve clear-column temperature profiles. General formulation of the problem is presented with illustrations for the simple case of a single layer of non-reflecting clouds. Experimental verification is obtained using 15 μm data measured by the NOAA-VTPR infrared sounder. After correcting for water vapor emission, the results show that the effective cloud cover derived from 15 μm data is less than that obtained from visible data.

Abstract

Day and night mapping of the global distributions of the horizontal cloud covers and the corresponding cloud-top pressure levels are derived from the same set of infrared radiance data used to retrieve clear-column temperature profiles. General formulation of the problem is presented with illustrations for the simple case of a single layer of non-reflecting clouds. Experimental verification is obtained using 15 μm data measured by the NOAA-VTPR infrared sounder. After correcting for water vapor emission, the results show that the effective cloud cover derived from 15 μm data is less than that obtained from visible data.

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