Identification

Title

Cloud Properties from ISCCP and PATMOS-x Corrected for Spurious Variability Related to Changes in Satellite Orbits, Instrument Calibrations, and Other Factors

Alternative title(s)

d741005

Abstract

<p>A post hoc empirical correction procedure has been applied to grid box anomalies in total cloud amount from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) dataset and the Pathfinder Atmospheres - Extended (PATMOS-x) dataset to remove spurious variability related to changes in satellite orbit, instrument calibration, and other factors. The corrected satellite cloud datasets are useful for investigation of regional cloud changes but can not be used for studies of globally averaged cloud change because the methods employed remove any real cloud variability occurring on global scales together with spurious variability. Also note that the correction procedure does not remove spatial biases in climatological mean cloud properties. The available corrected data include monthly anomalies in total cloud amount on a 2.5 degree by 2.5 degree grid for the time period 1983-2009 (the first six months of 1983 are not available for ISCCP). No data are available poleward of 60 degree latitude due to difficulty in accurately retrieving cloud properties over cold, bright surfaces.</p>

Resource type

dataset

Resource locator

https://gdex.ucar.edu/datasets/d741005/

protocol: https

name: Dataset Description

description: Related Link

function: information

https://gdex.ucar.edu/datasets/d741005/dataaccess/

protocol: https

name: Data Access

description: Related Link

function: download

Unique resource identifier

code

codeSpace

Dataset language

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

dataset

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2021-03-30

Keyword set

keyword value

SATELLITES > SATELLITES

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2025-10-17

Keyword set

keyword value

EARTH SCIENCE > ATMOSPHERE > CLOUDS > CLOUD PROPERTIES > CLOUD FREQUENCY

originating controlled vocabulary

title

reference date

date type

revision

effective date

2025-10-17

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

-180.0

East bounding longitude

180.0

North bounding latitude

90.0

South bounding latitude

-90.0

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

1983-01-15T1200+00

End position

2009-12-15T1200+00

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2015-02-02

Frequency of update

notPlanned

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

organisation name

email address

datahelp@ucar.edu

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

organisation name

NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange

email address

datahelp@ucar.edu

web address

https://gdex.ucar.edu

name: NSF NCAR Geoscience Data Exchange

description: The Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX), managed by the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) at NSF NCAR, contains a large collection of meteorological, atmospheric composition, and oceanographic observations, and operational and reanalysis model outputs, integrated with NSF NCAR High Performance Compute services to support atmospheric and geosciences research.

function: download

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-10-22T20:18:39Z

Metadata language