Till now low-level winds were retrieved using Kalpana-1 infrared (IR) images only. In this paper, an attempt has been made to retrieve low-level cloud motion vectors using Kalpana-1 visible (VIS) images at every half an hour. The VIS channel provides better detection of low level clouds, which remain obscure in thermal IR images due to poor thermal contrast. The tracers are taken to be 15 × 15 pixel templates and hence each wind corresponds to about 120 km × 120 km at sub-satellite point. Multiplet based wind retrieval technique is followed for VIS wind derivation. However, for height assignment of VIS winds, collocated IR image is used. Due to better contrast between cloud and ocean surface, the low level atmospheric flow is captured better as compared to IR winds. The validation of the derived VIS winds is done with Global Forecast System (GFS) model winds and Oceansat-II scatterometer (OSCAT) winds.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their critical and insightful comments/valuable suggestions, which were helpful in substantially improving the content and quality of presentation of this manuscript. The OSCAT Operational Standard Data Products are produced and distributed by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC: www.nrsc.gov.in). The authors would like to thank National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) for GFS Model analysis data and EUMETSAT (http://archive.eumetsat.int/, http://eportal.eumetsat.int) for providing METEOSAT-7 data. The Kalpana-1 data was sourced from MOSDAC (www.mosdac.gov.in). The authors are also thankful to the Director, Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation and Deputy Director EPSA for their encouragement.
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KAUR, I., DEB, S.K., KISHTAWAL, C.M. et al. Low level cloud motion vectors from Kalpana-1 visible images. J Earth Syst Sci 122, 935–946 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0334-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0334-7