Introduction to MODIS Cloud Products

  • Bryan A. Baum
  • Steven Platnick
Chapter

Abstract

The Earth’s radiative energy balance and hydrological cycle are fundamentally coupled with the distribution and properties of clouds. Therefore, the ability to remotely infer cloud properties and their variation in space and time is crucial for establishing climatologies as a reference for validation of present-day climate models and in assessing future climate change. Remote cloud observations also provide data sets useful for testing and improving cloud model physics, and for assimilation into numerical weather prediction models.

Keywords

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer Cloud Fraction Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Brightness Temperature Difference 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Tsinghua University Press, Beijing and Springer-Verlag GmbH Berlin Heidelberg 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Bryan A. Baum
    • 1
  • Steven Platnick
    • 2
  1. 1.Atmospheric Sciences DirectorateNASA Langley Research CenterHamptonUSA
  2. 2.Laboratory for AtmospheresNASA Goddard Space Flight CenterGreenbeltUSA

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