Detecting clouds in satellite imagery is becoming more important with increasing data availability which are generated by earth observing satellites. Hence, intellectual processing of the enormous amount of data received by hundreds of earth receiving stations, with specific satellite image oriented approaches, presents itself as a pressing need. One of the most important steps in previous stag...

The influence of clouds on Earth ́s radiation balance is a key component of the atmospheric system. Therefore, the determination of cloud cover is an important activity traditionally performed by human observations and broadcasted by meteorological services observers in Synop and Metar reports. However, human observations are subject to large errors of estimation, and their temporal resolution i...

Evidence of global climate change and rising sea surface temperatures (SSTs) is now well documented in the scientific literature. With corals already living close to their thermal maxima, increases in SSTs are of great concern for the survival of coral reefs. Cloud feedback processes may have the potential to constrain SSTs, serving to enforce an "ocean thermostat" and promoting the survival of...

[1] The cryogenic frost point hygrometer (CFH), currently built at the University of Colorado, is a new balloon borne hygrometer, which is capable of continuously measuring water vapor between the surface and the middle stratosphere. The design is loosely based on the old NOAA/CMDL frost point hygrometer, with improved accuracy and a number of significant new features that overcome some limitat...

[1] Svensmark and Friis-Christensen [1997] proposed a ‘‘cosmic ray-cloud cover’’ hypothesis that cosmic ray flux, modulated by solar activity, may modify global cloud cover and thus global surface temperature by increasing the number of ions in the atmosphere, leading to enhanced condensation of water vapor and cloud droplet formation. We evaluate this idea by extending their period of study an...

Vegetation change detection has become increasingly important in understanding vegetation dynamics and its role in terrestrial and atmospheric systems. In the case of Scotland, there is a need to routinely monitor habitats which include native pine woodland, montane habitats, upland heathland and blanket bog (EC Habitats Directive). In northern temperate regions restricted and distinct growing ...

Remote sensing has changed modern oceanography by proving synoptic periodic data which can be processed. Since the satellite data are usually too much and nonlinear, in most cases, it is difficult to distinguish the patterns from these images. In fact, SOM (Self-Organizing Maps) model is a type of ANN (Artificial Neural Network) that has the ability to distinguish the efficient patterns from th...

The humid tropical region is always under partial or complete cloud covers. As a result, optical remote sensing images of this region always encounter the problem of cloud covers and associated shadows. In this paper, an operational system for producing cloud-free and cloud shadow-free image mosaics from cloudy optical satellite imagery is presented. The inputs are several cloudy images of the ...

forest classification on the basis of satellite images is a promising technique both for primary map production and for map updating and forest monitoring. for accurate for-est classification into three classes, using mapping by canopy cover density “high spatial resolution satellite images have to be used in order to obtain the required spatial detail” [schneider, 1999]. at the same time, the ...