Evaluation of Cirrus Cloud Properties Derived from MODIS Data Using Cloud Properties Derived from Ground-Based Observations Collected at the ARM SGP Site

Abstract The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the NASA Terra satellite has been collecting global data since March 2000 and the one on the Aqua satellite since June 2002. In this paper, cirrus cloud properties derived from ground-based remote sensing data are compared with similar cloud properties derived from MODIS data on Terra. To improve the space–time correlation between the satellite and ground-based observations, data from a wind profiler are used to define the cloud advective streamline along which the comparisons are made. In this paper, approximately two dozen cases of cirrus are examined and a statistical approach to the comparison that relaxes the requirement that clouds occur over the ground-based instruments during the overpass instant is explored. The statistical comparison includes 168 cloudy MODIS overpasses of the Southern Great Plains (SGP) region and approximately 300 h of ground-based cirrus observations. The physical and radiative properties of cloud lay...

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