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Daytime Variability of Cloud Fraction From DSCOVR/EPIC Observations
Author(s) -
DelgadoBonal A.,
Marshak A.,
Yang Y.,
Oreopoulos L.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1029/2019jd031488
Subject(s) - cloud fraction , daytime , cloud computing , context (archaeology) , morning , zenith , meteorology , northern hemisphere , environmental science , twilight , atmospheric sciences , climatology , geography , cloud cover , geology , remote sensing , computer science , physics , astronomy , archaeology , operating system
The location of the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) offers a global view of the Earth and captures its atmosphere at different locations and time of the day. In this paper, we take advantage of that unique feature to study the daytime variability of cloud fraction in a seasonal and zonal context. We observe that the ensemble behavior over ocean has a distinctive convex shape, with higher cloud fractions at early morning and late afternoon, while no such pattern is seen over land. Unique perspectives are obtained by analyzing the cloud fraction of the globe as a whole and separately for each hemisphere, and by studying the effect of the viewing zenith angle on cloud fraction retrievals.