Updated observations of clouds by MODIS for global model assessment

Pincus, Robert; Hubanks, Paul A.; Platnick, Steven; Meyer, Kerry; Holz, Robert E.; Botambekov, Denis; Wall, Casey J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2483-2023

Articles | Volume 15, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2483-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2483-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 6

Data description paper

|

14 Jun 2023

Data description paper |

| 14 Jun 2023

Updated observations of clouds by MODIS for global model assessment

Robert Pincus, Paul A. Hubanks, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Robert E. Holz, Denis Botambekov, and Casey J. Wall

Data sets

MCD06COSP_M3_MODIS - MODIS (Aqua/Terra) Cloud Properties Level 3 monthly, 1x1 degree grid Robert Pincus, Paul A. Hubanks, Steven E. Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Robert E Holz, Denis Botambekov, and Casey E Wall https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD06COSP_M3_MODIS.062

Model code and software

MCD06COSP_D3_MODIS - MODIS (Aqua/Terra) Cloud Properties Level 3 daily, 1x1 degree grid Robert Pincus, Paul A. Hubanks, Steven E. Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Robert E Holz, Denis Botambekov, and Casey E Wall https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD06COSP_D3_MODIS.062

Interactive computing environment

Python code for data download, post-processing, figure generation Robert Pincus https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7883987

Short summary

This paper describes a new global dataset of cloud properties observed by a specific satellite program created to facilitate comparison with a matching observational proxy used in climate models. Statistics are accumulated over daily and monthly timescales on an equal-angle grid. Statistics include cloud detection, cloud-top pressure, and cloud optical properties. Joint histograms of several variable pairs are also available.