Abstract
Abstract. We present version 3 of the Cloud_cci Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer post meridiem (AVHRR-PM) dataset, which contains a comprehensive set of cloud and radiative flux properties on a global scale covering the period of 1982 to 2016. The properties were retrieved from AVHRR measurements recorded by the afternoon (post meridiem – PM) satellites of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) missions. The cloud properties in version 3 are of improved quality compared with the precursor dataset version 2, providing better global quality scores for cloud detection, cloud phase and ice water path based on validation results against A-Train sensors. Furthermore, the parameter set was extended by a suite of broadband radiative flux properties. They were calculated by combining the retrieved cloud properties with thermodynamic profiles from reanalysis and surface properties. The flux properties comprise upwelling and downwelling and shortwave and longwave broadband fluxes at the surface (bottom of atmosphere – BOA) and top of atmosphere (TOA). All fluxes were determined at the AVHRR pixel level for all-sky and clear-sky conditions, which will particularly facilitate the assessment of the cloud radiative effect at the BOA and TOA in future studies. Validation of the BOA downwelling fluxes against the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) shows a very good agreement. This is supported by comparisons of multi-annual mean maps with NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) products for all fluxes at the BOA and TOA. The Cloud_cci AVHRR-PM version 3 (Cloud_cci AVHRR-PMv3) dataset allows for a large variety of climate applications that build on cloud properties, radiative flux properties and/or the link between them. For the presented Cloud_cci AVHRR-PMv3 dataset a digital object identifier has been issued: https://doi.org/10.5676/DWD/ESA_Cloud_cci/AVHRR-PM/V003 (Stengel et al., 2019).
Highlights
Clouds play a critical role in the Earth’s weather and climate through their contribution to the Earth’s water cycle and their impact on the Earth’s energy budget
All of these climatologies make use of measurements of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), which is a passive imaging sensor with five to six spectral bands in the visible, near-infrared and thermal infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is flown on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) missions and on the EUMETSAT meteorological operational satellite (Metop) series
Cloud_cci AVHRR-PMv3 Cloud mask (CMA), Cloud-top phase (CPH) and cloud-top height (CTH) Level-3U products were collocated with equivalent Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) products which are assumed to be of superior quality
Summary
Clouds play a critical role in the Earth’s weather and climate through their contribution to the Earth’s water cycle and their impact on the Earth’s energy budget. To estimate the radiative fluxes, additional radiative transfer calculations were conducted that included additional reanalysis information of tropospheric profiles of temperature and gaseous components as well as surface properties (all interpolated to AVHRR temporal and spatial resolution) This approach is similar to the GEWEX SRB data; the retrieved cloud properties are ingested into the reanalysis profiles to represent real clouds with realistic properties at the correct time and place.
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