Frequency and causes of failed MODIS cloud property retrievals for liquid phase clouds over global oceans.

ABSTRACT: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) retrieves cloud droplet effective radius (r_e ) and optical thickness (τ) by projecting observed cloud reflectances onto a precomputed look-up table (LUT). When observations fall outside of the LUT, the retrieval is considered "failed" because no combination of τ and r_e within the LUT can explain the observed cloud reflectances. In this study, the frequency and potential causes of failed MODIS retrievals for marine liquid phase (MLP) clouds are analyzed based on 1 year of Aqua MODIS Collection 6 products and collocated CALIOP and CloudSat observations. The retrieval based on the 0.86 µm and 2.1 µm MODIS channel combination has an overall failure rate of about 16% (10% for th

SUBMITTER: Cho HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5012132 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature