TECO - 2012 | Brussels (Belgium) | 16-18 October 2012

1. Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky imagesYézer González1César López1Emilio Cuevas21. Sieltec Canarias S.L.3. Izaña Atmospheric Research Center (AEMET) Spain TECO - 2012 | Brussels (Belgium) | 16-18 October 2012 TECO - 2012 | Brussels (Belgium) | 16-18 October 2012

2. The influence of clouds on Earth´s radiation balance is a key component of the atmospheric system. • Cloud monitoring is important for aeronautical purposes and weather forecast. Cloud cover estimation • Cloud coverestimationisanactivitytraditionallyperformedbyhumanobservations.Theseobservations are subjecttosubjectiveerrors. • Poor espacial and temporal resolution. Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

3. SONA Automatic System of Cloud Observation - CCD sensor. 640x480 pixels, 8 bit, color response from 400 to 700nm and monochrome response from 400 to 1000nm. - Very durable aluminium housing. - Borosilitate dome. - Rotating shadow band. - Cooling/heating system (-10º to +50ºC). - Fast frame rates (up to 70 fps). - Adjustable JPEG compressed still-images or live MJPEG streaming video. - Transfer of images via FTP, RTP or HTTP. - Camera control via HTTP, XML-RPC, Telnet SONA features Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

4. SONA Automatic System of Cloud Observation SONAs in Spain Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

5. The site SONA has been developed and tested at the Izaña Atmospheric Observatory (IZO; 28.5ºN 16ºW; 2,400 m a.s.l.) IZO is a Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) observatory (www.aemet.izana.org) of global importance with a complete atmospheric components measurement program. Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

6. Cloud Detection Procedure Accurate cloud detection and monitoring is a challenge Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

7. Cloud Detection Procedure Accurate cloud detection and monitoring is a complex problem (A) Biological neuron. (B) Computer neuron model or perceptron. (C) Multilayer neural network with and input layer, two hidden neuron layers and a neuron output layer. Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

8. Cloud Detection Procedure Calibration and training Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

9. Cloud Detection Procedure Detection Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

10. Cloud Detection Procedure Image cloud detection in progress… Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

11. Multiphoto analysis Saharan dust Aerosols and Haze Single photo analysis More uncorrelated inputs Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

12. Original photo Single analysis Multiphoto analysis Aerosols and Haze Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

13. Results SONA vs. human observations Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

14. Ongoing and Future Activities SONA + photovoltaic system Cloud Nowcasting Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

15. Cloud flowdetermination Implementlastdevelopments of High Resolution Winds Products (Atmospheric motion vectors -AMVs- from MSG/HRVIS) achievedbyNWC SAF. Goal: perform cloud nowcasting using allsky camera images. Ongoing and Future Activities J. García-Pereda AEMET Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

16. Ongoing and Future Activities Cloud Type Cloud Mask Cloud Nowcasting.NWC SAF products Cloud Top Height Cloud Top Pressure Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

17. Ongoing and Future Activities Cloud base heightestimation Goal: Estimatetype of clouds and corresponding solar radiationattenuationcoefficients Two SONA cameras Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

18. Acknowledgements SONA project has received a grant from Consejería de Hacienda, Canary Islands Government, FEDER funds. CIAI´s Basic System Unit (Ramón Ramos, Rubén del Campo, Cándida Hernández, Virgilio Carreño, Fernando de Ory, Enrique Reyes, Antonio Cruz, Rocío López y Néstor Castro) NWC SAF information for cloud Nowcasting Engineers and technicians from SIELTEC Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012

19. Thank You Automatic observation of cloudiness: Analysis of all-sky images Yézer González, César López and Emilio Cuevas TECO-2012 | Brussels | 16-18 October 2012