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Classifying clouds around the globe with the CloudSat radar: 1‐year of results
Author(s) -
Sassen Kenneth,
Wang Zhien
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl032591
Subject(s) - cloud computing , radar , environmental science , cloud top , precipitation , meteorology , remote sensing , atmosphere (unit) , computer science , geology , geography , telecommunications , operating system
CloudSat supports a 94 GHz cloud profiling radar as part of the innovative A‐train formation of satellites studying the Earths clouds and atmosphere. Using the vertical profiles of clouds and precipitation, an algorithm has been developed to determine the type of clouds present. Because cloud type corresponds to specific cloud physical properties, this step is needed to apply other algorithms to derive quantitative cloud content and radiative data. This cloud type algorithm is applied to the initial 1‐year of radar data to obtain the global distribution of various cloud types over the land and ocean. These initial results appear consistent with previous global cloud type distributions, but with some differences that provide insights into the limitations of CloudSat measurements.