One method of estimating the longwave radiative heating of the atmosphere is to combine satellite observations of emitted radiances with those computed from synoptic temperature and humidity profiles. Modeled and observed radiances are brought into agreement by altering cloud properties or even by adjusting the temperature and water vapor profiles....
Cloud reflectivity is a function of cloud liquid water content and droplet number concentration. Since cloud droplets form around pre-existing aerosol particles, cloud droplet number concentration depends on the availability of particles that can serve as cloud condensation nuclei. Given constant liquid water amount, increased availability of cloud condensation nuclei...
Adiabatic parcel models suggest specific relationships between cloud thickness and cloud properties. Such relationships govern cloud radiative forcing and thus cloud feedbacks in the climate system. Current remote sensing techniques work well at measuring these properties in low-level cloud systems that are overcast. Significant biases exist, however, when measuring cloud...
The accurate determination of cloud cover amount is important for characterizing the role of cloud feedbacks in the climate system. Clouds have a large influence on the climate system through their effect on the earth's radiation budget. As indicated by the NASA Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), the change in...
1-km MODIS observations of ship tracks off the west coast of the U.S. are used to characterize changes in cloud visible optical depths, cloud droplet radii, cloud cover fraction, and column cloud liquid water amount as low-level marine clouds respond to particle pollution from underlying ships. This study re-examines the...
:
_____________________________________________________________________
JamesA. Coakley, Jr.
1-km MODIS observations of ship tracks off the west coast of the U.S
A radiation model was developed for retrieving cloud visible optical depth,
droplet effective radius, and cloud top emission temperature using AVHRR satellite
observations at 0.63, 3.7, and 11 μm. The model was used to determine the sensitivity
of the retrieved properties to various approximations often employed in such retrievals.
Droplet...
One kilometer Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations for Terra (morning) and Aqua (afternoon) satellites were used to follow the morning to afternoon evolution of marine stratocumulus clouds that were affected by ship stack exhaust. The observations covered the summer months of 2002-2003 and August 2007 for marine layers off...
:
_____________________________________________________________________
JamesA. Coakley, Jr.
One kilometer Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS
The operational processing of MODIS imagery to produce the MOD06 cloud product is based on the assumption that cloudy 1-km pixels are overcast. This assumption is examined using a partly cloudy pixel retrieval scheme, which allows for fractional cloud cover within the 1-km pixels. Cloud flags attached to 250-m MODIS...
:
_____________________________________________________________________
JamesA. Coakley, Jr.
The operational processing of MODIS imagery to produce the MOD06
A multispectral retrieval method is developed on the 100 km regional scale to extract
the temperature, particle size, fractional cover and 11-μm emissivity of clouds which
may be semitransparent in the infrared based on emitted radiances. The scheme utilizes
the nonlinear relationship between emitted radiances when clouds are semitransparent and...
The 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment established that the effect of clouds on climate contributes the largest uncertainty in predicting the future climate. Satellite observations provide an opportunity for learning about the behavior of clouds. This thesis seeks to assess the accuracy of cloud properties retrieved from multispectral...