Patrick Minnis — NASA - Langley Research Center
Mandana Khaiyer — Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI)
Patrick W. Heck — University of Wisconsin
Sarah Bedka — Science Systems and Applications. Inc./NASA - LRC
Category
Cloud Properties
Description
Nighttime cloud optical depth from GOES-8 and GOES-10, compared with Raman lidar data from the SGP Central Facility. Included are nearly 800 data points from May 1998 through January 2004. This comparison suggests reasonable agreement between the Raman lidar and satellite retrievals for ice clouds; however, it highlights that there are some difficulties with water clouds.
Daytime and nighttime cloud optical properties (optical depth, effective radius, and liquid/ice water path) have been retrieved from geostationary satellite data starting with GOES-8. The retrievals are based on a legacy algorithm that was developed at NASA Langley Research Center for the CERES (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System) project and have been applied to data from GOES, AVHRR, MODIS, MTSAT, and MSG. In addition to being available in real time from NASA, these products are available from the ARM Data Archive at pixel-level resolution over a 10 degree by 14 degree lat/lon area centered over the SGP Central Facility at Lamont, OK. This poster summarizes the efforts currently underway at NASA Langley to assess the accuracy and reliability of both the daytime and nighttime cloud optical property retrievals from GOES. Comparisons are made with ground-based reference data from SGP (Raman Lidar and Microwave Radiometer), as well as retrieval products from other satellite platforms (CLOUDSAT, CALIPSO). Results are separated by day/night, satellite platform, and cloud phase.
