A new method to estimate cloud effective radius using Meteosat Second Generation SEVIRI over Middle East

Abstract

The cloud particle size distribution varies with height and the phase may change from water to mixed phase to ice through the vertical profile of the cloud, giving rise to different radiative characteristics. Researchers suggested an empirical equation for an approximation of the relation between cloud-particle effective radius and reflectance of channel IR3.7 for Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Multi-Functional Transport Satellite (MTSAT)-1R satellites. However, when we examined this empirical equation for MSG satellites, there was no correlation between the cloud particle effective radius and those from the Terra and Aqua/MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometers) products. Given the fact that this relationship is empirical and not applicable for Meteosat satellites with 3.9 µm wavelength cloud properties, we need to introduce a new nonlinear equation that is independent from other cloud properties, to retrieve the cloud effective radius from MSG satellite over Middle East. Thus, in this study, a development of the mentioned method, based on a nonlinear regression model, was introduced to estimate the water/ice-cloud particle effective radius from the 3.9 µm wavelength reflectivity of the Meteosat Second Generation Indian Ocean Data Coverage (MSG-1(IODC)) satellite over the Middle East region. For this purpose, the LibRadTran radiative transfer model was used. This approach is almost independent from other cloud properties, which makes this relationship more efficient for retrieving a cloud’s effective radius. To evaluate this approach, the results have been compared to the effective-radius product of the MODIS on board the Terra and Aqua satellites, and cloud effective radius parameter from the MSG-1 satellite’s optimal cloud analysis (OCA) data. The average of correlation coefficient, standard deviation, and RMSE (root mean square error) of this retrieved algorithm method for 29 randomly selected case studies, in comparison to the corresponding MODIS product, are 0.93, 3.093, and 3.639, and compared with OCA product, 0.88, 4.015, and 4.51, respectively. Therefore, the results of analysis in the Middle East region show that the retrieved effective particle radius from Meteosat satellites corresponds strongly with MODIS data from the Terra and Aqua satellites, and also with the OCA products of the MSG-1. Furthermore, using the algorithm that is presented in this paper, a nonlinear regression relationship can be made for retrieving cloud effective radius in the intended place.