Paper Info
Title
The Spatial and Temporal Variations of High Clouds based on the MODIS 1.375-Micron Channel Measurements
Abstract
The Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Terra and Aqua spacecrafts are both equipped with a channel near 1.38 mum for remote sensing of cirrus clouds from space. We have developed an operational algorithm for quantitative retrieval of cirrus reflectances in the visible from scatter plots of the MODIS 1.38-micron channel versus 0.66-micron channel. At present, the daily `pixel-based' cirrus reflectance product, which is a standard MODIS Level 2 data product, at the 1-km spatial resolution of the MODIS instrument, and the daily, 8-day, and monthly cirrus reflectance products, which are standard MODIS Level 3 products, at a 1deg by 1deg latitude-longitude grid globally are operationally produced at a NASA computing facility. Through analysis of time series of Terra and Aqua MODIS cirrus reflectance data products, we have observed interesting spatial and temporal variation patterns of cirrus clouds over different geographical regions. For examples, cirrus reflectances over Tibet, tropical Pacific, and tropical Africa Continent have large seasonal variations. Over the western tropic Pacific, cirrus patterns are very different between an El Nino year and a normal year. By comparing the Aqua MODIS data with the Terra MODIS data, we have found that the afternoon Aqua MODIS detects significantly more cirrus clouds over North America and South America in certain seasons than the Terra MODIS. The MODIS cirrus reflectance data products will certainly allow improved understanding of global cirrus climatology.
Year
DOI
Venue
2008
10.1109/IGARSS.2008.4780159
IGARSS
Keywords
Field
DocType
remote sensing,spatial variation,atmospheric techniques,atmospheric optics,north america,modis,el nino year,cirrus clouds pattern,cirrus climatology,temporal variation,modis cirrus reflectance data,cirrus clouds,moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer,tropical africa,nasa computing facility,terra-aqua spacecrafts,clouds,south america,seasonal variations,wavelength 1.375 micron,geographical regions,tibet,1.38-micron band,western tropic pacific ocean,seasonal variation,spatial resolution,reflectivity,scattering,time series,data mining,grid computing,seasonality,el nino
Atmospheric optics,Moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer,Cirrus,Computer science,Remote sensing,Communication channel,Data products,Spatial variability,Reflectivity,Image resolution
Conference
Volume
ISBN
Citations 
5
978-1-4244-2808-3
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
1
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Bo-Cai Gao1279187.18
Rong-Rong Li29939.09