BASIC SATELLITE COURSE: CLOUD TYPE AND CLOUD TOP TEMPERATURE

Competency Framework
Satellite skills and knowledge for operational meteorologist
WMO Satellite Skills
Identify and interpret fields and derived products
Application
Atmospheric Composition
Weather
Description

 

Learn more about:

 

  • cloud classification scheme 

  • recognizing cloud types in satellite imagery

  • a satellite product that provides cloud type information

  • how cloud top temperature is derived from radiation measurements by satellite sensors

  • when and where cloud top temperature provides valuable information to the forecaster.

Content

This module covers two different topics. In the first part, the module introduces Luke Howard’s cloud classification system and tries to answer the question of whether cloud type classification is possible from space. The second part introduces the concepts of long- and short-wave radiation and how they are used in remote sensing and explains how temperature information is derived from radiation measurements. The module closes with examples of how cloud top temperature information is used in meteorology.

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