Open AccessTHE DETERMINATION OF CLOUD COVER PARAMETERS USING SATELLITE DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS
Author(s) -
Е. В. Волкова,
A. A. Kostornaya,
Ruslana A. Amikishieva
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geografičeskij vestnik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2079-7877
DOI - 10.17072/2079-7877-2020-3-124-134
Subject(s) - cirrus , cloud cover , remote sensing , cloud computing , cloud top , satellite , advanced very high resolution radiometer , cloud fraction , environmental science , pixel , meteorology , climatology , geography , geology , computer science , physics , astronomy , artificial intelligence , operating system
The paper discusses the results of comparing cloud cover properties determined by using polar orbiting satellite data (AVHRR/NOAA and MSU-MR/Meteor-M No. 2) for the European territory of Russia and Western Siberia. The cloud characteristics were computed by two threshold techniques: Complex Threshold Technique (CTT) (developed at the European Centre of the State Research Center ‗Planeta‘) and Cloud Cover Detection Technique (CCDT) (developed at the Siberian Centre of ‗Planeta‘). Pixel-by-pixel comparison was performed for very close in time satellite observations, and it showed that in spite of technical similarity of the two radiometers and little difference between both techniques used for the classifications, the results were not the same. The quality of the MSU-MR classification is significantly worse than that of the two AVHRR classifications. In fact, the MSU-MR derivation of cloud parameters fails in optically thin cirrus and altocumulus clouds, thus underestimating the cloud top height for multilayered clouds. As a result, the cloud top is found to be lower, warmer and less iced in comparison with both AVHRR estimates, regardless of the region and other conditions; on the contrary, the cloud top of low and middle clouds appears to be colder, higher and more iced according to MSU-MR data. The MSU-MR cloud mask is strongly underestimated at night during the cold period of the year. The CTT and CCDT‘s cloud top height, temperature and water phase retrieved by AVHRR data are quite close for both regions.