Search Results
You are looking at 1 - 4 of 4 items for :
- Author or Editor: Michael J. Foster x
- Journal of Climate x
- Refine by Access: All Content x
Abstract
Satellite drift is a historical issue affecting the consistency of those few satellite records capable of being used for studies on climate time scales. Here, the authors address this issue for the Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x)/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) cloudiness record, which spans three decades and 11 disparate sensors. A two-harmonic sinusoidal function is fit to a mean diurnal cycle of cloudiness derived over the course of the entire AVHRR record. The authors validate this function against measurements from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) sensors, finding good agreement, and then test the stability of the diurnal cycle over the course of the AVHRR record. It is found that the diurnal cycle is subject to some interannual variability over land but that the differences are somewhat offset when averaged over an entire day. The fit function is used to generate daily averaged time series of ice, water, and total cloudiness over the tropics, where it is found that the diurnal correction affects the magnitude and even the sign of long-term cloudiness trends. A statistical method is applied to determine the minimum length of time required to detect significant trends, and the authors find that only recently have they begun generating satellite records of sufficient length to detect trends in cloudiness.
Abstract
Satellite drift is a historical issue affecting the consistency of those few satellite records capable of being used for studies on climate time scales. Here, the authors address this issue for the Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x)/Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) cloudiness record, which spans three decades and 11 disparate sensors. A two-harmonic sinusoidal function is fit to a mean diurnal cycle of cloudiness derived over the course of the entire AVHRR record. The authors validate this function against measurements from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) sensors, finding good agreement, and then test the stability of the diurnal cycle over the course of the AVHRR record. It is found that the diurnal cycle is subject to some interannual variability over land but that the differences are somewhat offset when averaged over an entire day. The fit function is used to generate daily averaged time series of ice, water, and total cloudiness over the tropics, where it is found that the diurnal correction affects the magnitude and even the sign of long-term cloudiness trends. A statistical method is applied to determine the minimum length of time required to detect significant trends, and the authors find that only recently have they begun generating satellite records of sufficient length to detect trends in cloudiness.
Abstract
The emergence of satellite-based cloud records of climate length and quality hold tremendous potential for climate model development, climate monitoring, and studies on global water cycling and its subsequent energetics. This article examines the more than 30-yr Pathfinder Atmospheres–Extended (PATMOS-x) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) cloudiness record over North America and assesses its suitability as a climate-quality data record. A loss of ~4.2% total cloudiness is observed between 1982 and 2012 over a North American domain centered over the contiguous United States. While ENSO can explain some of the observed change, a weather state clustering analysis identifies shifts in weather patterns that result in loss of water cloud over the Great Lakes and cirrus over southern portions of the United States. The radiative properties of the shifting weather states are characterized, and the results suggest that extended cloud satellite records may prove useful tools for increasing knowledge of cloud feedbacks, a long-standing issue in the climate change community.
Abstract
The emergence of satellite-based cloud records of climate length and quality hold tremendous potential for climate model development, climate monitoring, and studies on global water cycling and its subsequent energetics. This article examines the more than 30-yr Pathfinder Atmospheres–Extended (PATMOS-x) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) cloudiness record over North America and assesses its suitability as a climate-quality data record. A loss of ~4.2% total cloudiness is observed between 1982 and 2012 over a North American domain centered over the contiguous United States. While ENSO can explain some of the observed change, a weather state clustering analysis identifies shifts in weather patterns that result in loss of water cloud over the Great Lakes and cirrus over southern portions of the United States. The radiative properties of the shifting weather states are characterized, and the results suggest that extended cloud satellite records may prove useful tools for increasing knowledge of cloud feedbacks, a long-standing issue in the climate change community.
Abstract
Variability and trends in total cloud cover for 1982–2009 across the contiguous United States from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres–Extended (PATMOS-x), and EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring Clouds, Albedo and Radiation from AVHRR Data Edition 1 (CLARA-A1) satellite datasets are assessed using homogeneity-adjusted weather station data. The station data, considered as “ground truth” in the evaluation, are generally well correlated with the ISCCP and PATMOS-x data and with the physically related variables diurnal temperature range, precipitation, and surface solar radiation. Among the satellite products, overall, the PATMOS-x data have the highest interannual correlations with the weather station cloud data and those other physically related variables. The CLARA-A1 daytime dataset generally shows the lowest correlations, even after trends are removed. For the U.S. mean, the station dataset shows a negative but not statistically significant trend of −0.40% decade−1, and satellite products show larger downward trends ranging from −0.55% to −5.00% decade−1 for 1984–2007. PATMOS-x 1330 local time trends for U.S. mean cloud cover are closest to those in the station data, followed by the PATMOS-x diurnally corrected dataset and ISCCP, with CLARA-A1 having a large negative trend contrasting strongly with the station data. These results tend to validate the usefulness of weather station cloud data for monitoring changes in cloud cover, and they show that the long-term stability of satellite cloud datasets can be assessed by comparison to homogeneity-adjusted station data and other physically related variables.
Abstract
Variability and trends in total cloud cover for 1982–2009 across the contiguous United States from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP), AVHRR Pathfinder Atmospheres–Extended (PATMOS-x), and EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring Clouds, Albedo and Radiation from AVHRR Data Edition 1 (CLARA-A1) satellite datasets are assessed using homogeneity-adjusted weather station data. The station data, considered as “ground truth” in the evaluation, are generally well correlated with the ISCCP and PATMOS-x data and with the physically related variables diurnal temperature range, precipitation, and surface solar radiation. Among the satellite products, overall, the PATMOS-x data have the highest interannual correlations with the weather station cloud data and those other physically related variables. The CLARA-A1 daytime dataset generally shows the lowest correlations, even after trends are removed. For the U.S. mean, the station dataset shows a negative but not statistically significant trend of −0.40% decade−1, and satellite products show larger downward trends ranging from −0.55% to −5.00% decade−1 for 1984–2007. PATMOS-x 1330 local time trends for U.S. mean cloud cover are closest to those in the station data, followed by the PATMOS-x diurnally corrected dataset and ISCCP, with CLARA-A1 having a large negative trend contrasting strongly with the station data. These results tend to validate the usefulness of weather station cloud data for monitoring changes in cloud cover, and they show that the long-term stability of satellite cloud datasets can be assessed by comparison to homogeneity-adjusted station data and other physically related variables.
Abstract
A new version of the PATMOS-x multidecadal cloud record, version 6.0, has been produced and is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. A description of the processes and methods used for generating the dataset are presented, with a focus on the differences between version 6.0 and the previous version of PATMOS-x, version 5.3. The new version appears both to be more stable, with less intersatellite variability, and to have more consistent polar cloud detection, phase distribution, and cloud-top height distribution when compared against the MODIS EOS record. Improvements in consistency and performance are attributed to the addition of multidimensional variables for cloud detection, constraining cloud retrievals to radiometric bands available throughout the record, and the addition of data from the HIRS instrument.
Significance Statement
The PATMOS-x project produces multidecadal cloudiness records from polar-orbiting satellites. Version 6.0 combines imager and sounder data from 15 satellites and shows significant improvements in accuracy and stability.
Abstract
A new version of the PATMOS-x multidecadal cloud record, version 6.0, has been produced and is available from the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. A description of the processes and methods used for generating the dataset are presented, with a focus on the differences between version 6.0 and the previous version of PATMOS-x, version 5.3. The new version appears both to be more stable, with less intersatellite variability, and to have more consistent polar cloud detection, phase distribution, and cloud-top height distribution when compared against the MODIS EOS record. Improvements in consistency and performance are attributed to the addition of multidimensional variables for cloud detection, constraining cloud retrievals to radiometric bands available throughout the record, and the addition of data from the HIRS instrument.
Significance Statement
The PATMOS-x project produces multidecadal cloudiness records from polar-orbiting satellites. Version 6.0 combines imager and sounder data from 15 satellites and shows significant improvements in accuracy and stability.
