Analysis of global cloudiness. 2: Comparison of ground-based and satellite-based cloud climatologies

Journal Article · Mon Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Journal of Geophysical Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/94JD00943· OSTI ID:57378

Mokhov, I I; Schlesinger, M E ^[1]

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1. Russian Academy of Science, Moscow (Russian Federation)

Cloud climatologies are developed and intercompared for International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCO) (1983-1988), Meteor I (1971-1980), Meteor II (1979-1988), and Nimbus 7 (1979-1985) satellite observations, and for Berlyand and Strokina (1975, 1980) and Warren et al. (1986, 1988) ground-based observations. The satellite annual-mean, global- mean cloudiness, 0.57 +/- 0.05, is less than the ground-based value, 0.61 +/- 0.01, predominantly because of the low value for Nimbus 7. There is agreement between the satellite means of ISCCP, 0.62, and Meteor II, 0.61, and the ground-based means of Warren et al., 0.62, and Berlyand and Strokina, 0.60. Each satellite- and ground-based climatology shows that the hemispheric- mean cloudiness is larger in summer than that in winter in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Excluding Nimbus 7 observations, the zonal- mean cloudiness distributions for January, July, and July minus January display reasonably good agreement between 60 deg S and 60 deg N. In polar latitudes there is significant disagreement among the different climatologies, even in the sign of cloudiness changes from winter to summer. This evinces the need for special cloudiness experiments in polar regions, particularly in winter and summer.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 57378
• Journal Information: Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research Journal Issue: D8 Vol. 99; ISSN 0148-0227; ISSN JGREA2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION
CLOUD COVER
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS
GOES SATELLITES
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION