Evaluation of Cirrus Cloud Properties Derived From MODIS Data Using Cloud Properties Derived From Ground-Based Observations Collected at the ARM SGP Site
نویسندگان
چکیده
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the NASA Terra satellite has been collecting global data since March 2000 and the one on the Aqua satellite since June 2002. In this paper, cirrus cloud properties derived from ground-based remote sensing data are compared with similar cloud properties derived from MODIS data on Terra. To improve the space–time correlation between the satellite and ground-based observations, data from a wind profiler are used to define the cloud advective streamline along which the comparisons are made. In this paper, approximately two dozen cases of cirrus are examined and a statistical approach to the comparison that relaxes the requirement that clouds occur over the ground-based instruments during the overpass instant is explored. The statistical comparison includes 168 cloudy MODIS overpasses of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) region and approximately 300 h of ground-based cirrus observations. The physical and radiative properties of cloud layers are derived from MODIS data separately by the MODIS Atmospheres Team and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Science Team using multiwavelength reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation measurements. Using two ground-based cloud property retrieval algorithms and the two MODIS algorithms, a positive correlation in the effective particle size, the optical thickness, the ice water path, and the cloud-top pressure between the various methods is shown, although sometimes there are significant biases. Classifying the clouds by optical thickness, it is demonstrated that the regionally averaged cloud properties derived from MODIS are similar to those diagnosed from the ground. Because of a conservative approach toward identifying thin cirrus pixels over this region, the area-averaged cloud properties derived from the MODIS Atmospheres MOD06 product tend to be biased slightly toward the optically thicker pixels. This bias tendency has implications for model validation and parameterization development applied to thin cirrus retrieved over SGP-like land surfaces. A persistent bias is also found in the derived cloud tops of thin cirrus with both satellite algorithms reporting cloud top several hundred meters less than that reported by the cloud radar. Overall, however, it is concluded that the MODIS retrieval algorithms characterize with reasonable accuracy the properties of thin cirrus over this region.
منابع مشابه
Nighttime Multilayered Cloud Detection Using MODIS and ARM Data
This study reports on recent progress toward the discrimination between pixels containing multilayered clouds, specifically optically thin cirrus overlying lower-level water clouds, and those containing single-layered clouds in nighttime Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Cloud heights are determined from analysis of the 15-mm CO2 band data (i.e., the CO2-slicing method...
متن کاملP1R.15 A Suite of Retrieval Algorithms for Cirrus Cloud Microphysical Properties Applied To Lidar, Radar, and Radiometer Data Prepared for the A-Train
CloudSat and CALIPSO (Stephens et al., 2002) will fly in formation with Aqua and the footprints of the three spacecraft will overlap each other within several minutes. Observational data from the A-Train satellite constellation will provide a unique opportunity to derive a global description of the occurrence and properties of cirrus clouds. CloudSat will fly the first spaceborne millimeter wav...
متن کاملComparison of CERES-MODIS stratus cloud properties with ground- based measurements at the DOE ARM Southern Great Plains site
[1] Overcast stratus cloud properties derived for the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) project using Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are compared with observations taken at the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains site from March 2000 through December 2004. Retrievals from ARM surfa...
متن کاملRemote sensing of cirrus cloud vertical size profile using MODIS data
[1] This paper describes an algorithm for inferring cirrus cloud top and cloud base effective particle sizes and cloud optical thickness from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 0.645, 1.64 and 2.13, and 3.75 mm band reflectances/ radiances. This approach uses a successive minimization method based on a look-up library of precomputed reflectances/radiances from an adding-d...
متن کاملThe Radiative, Cloud, and Thermodynamic Properties of the Major Tropical Western Pacific Cloud Regimes
This study investigates the radiative, cloud, and thermodynamic characteristics of the atmosphere separated into objectively defined cloud regimes in the tropical western Pacific (TWP). A cluster analysis is applied to 2 yr of daytime-only data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) to identify four major cloud regimes in the TWP region. A variety of data collected a...
متن کامل