Identifying clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared satellite data

Journal Article · Sat Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 2013 · Astroparticle Physics (Print)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2013.09.004· OSTI ID:1128324

Abreu, Pedro; et al.,

We describe a new method of identifying night-time clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared data from the Imager instruments on the GOES-12 and GOES-13 satellites. We compare cloud identifications resulting from our method to those obtained by the Central Laser Facility of the Auger Observatory. Using our new method we can now develop cloud probability maps for the 3000 km^2 of the Pierre Auger Observatory twice per hour with a spatial resolution of ~2.4 km by ~5.5 km. Our method could also be applied to monitor cloud cover for other ground-based observatories and for space-based observatories.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP) (SC-25)
• Contributing Organization: Pierre Auger
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1128324
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-13-457-AD-AE-CD-TD
• Journal Information: Astroparticle Physics (Print), Journal Name: Astroparticle Physics (Print) Vol. 50-52; ISSN 0927-6505
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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