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CAMELOT Observation Techniques and Mission Concepts for Atmospheric Chemistry Task 4: Assessment of Cloud Contamination Caroline Poulsen & Richard Siddans PM5, RAL, 28 th -29 th January 2009. Task 4. Generate a reference set of basic cloud statistics
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CAMELOT Observation Techniques and Mission Concepts for Atmospheric Chemistry Task 4: Assessment of Cloud Contamination Caroline Poulsen & Richard Siddans PM5, RAL, 28th-29th January 2009
Task 4 • Generate a reference set of basic cloud statistics • Generate statistics on cloud as a function of • geographical region • season and time of day, • pixel size and observation geometry, • A key objectives are to trade of the relative benefits of • GEO vs LEO • LEO at different local times or non sun-synch
Data • We have Selected SEVIRI data from Climate Monitoring SAF • The data was uploaded to RAL on a daily basis • To date, we are storing data from May 2007-April 2008 and have requested 1 year of data
Generation of simulated polar orbit information from SEVIRI • Statistics have been generated for a selection of polar orbit times resolutions and inclinations • SEVIRI • 98 degree inclinations • anxt=9.30,13.30,17.30 • anxt=9.30 • anxt=10.30 (MODIS) • anxt=9.30,13.30,15.30 • 57 degree inclination • anxt=0.30,06.30,12.30,18.30 • Resolutions • 10, 20, 50km
FOR REGION P1, likelihood of at least one “cloud-unaffected” observation within a “field-of-regard”, within a time-window.
FOR REGION When Pixels are larger than the FOR they are counted once
Results for varying location Bold lines show 24 hour Dashed lines show daylight
Different threshold scenarios applied • Optical depth • 0, 1, 5, 10 • Cloud fraction • 0, 5%, 10%, 20% • Cloud height • 3km threshold
Polar cloud mask 1145 1245 1345 1445 polar_20070703_1p5_10_98
Variation of pixel size with across track distance Complete coverage each day Complete coverage every 3 days
Seasonal variation for different orbits Bold lines show 24 hour probabilities Dashed lines show day light probabilities
Primary conclusions • Geostationary orbit generally provides more individual, cloud-unaffected hourly samples during the day • By combining 3 or 4 polar orbiters, the probability of obtaining at least 1 cloud-unaffected sample during the day approaches that available from geostationary orbit • though differences remain significant for small FOR • Pixel size strongly affects sampling. Geostationary sampling is only advantageous compared to polar orbit if the geostationary pixel size is comparable over the region of interest.
15/12/2007 10:45 Clear benefit of smaller pixel size!
Other Factors • Increasing the cloud optical depth threshold increases significantly the number of valid pixels • Increasing the allowed cloud fraction increases the number of valid pixels but not by much (for the range considered). • Accepting cloud below 3km increases the cloud free probability over London in particular. • Location and meteorology significantly affect cloud-free sampling • Differences in daylight sampling between GEO/polar more significant during winter, when daylight hours are short.