TY - JOUR
T1 - Derivation of a threshold function for the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer 3.75 μum channel and its application in automatic cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces
AU - Xiong, Xiaozhen
AU - Storvold, Rune
AU - Stamnes, Knut
AU - Lubin, Dan
PY - 2004/8/10
Y1 - 2004/8/10
N2 - The distinct contrast between the reflectance of solar radiation in Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) channel 3 (3.75 μm) by clouds and by bright surfaces provides an effective means of cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces. A threshold function for the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo in channel 3 (r3) is derived and used to develop an improved method for cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces that makes explicit use of TOA r3. Corrections for radiance anisotropy and temperature effects are required to derive accurate values of r3 from satellite measurements and to utilize the threshold function. It has been used to retrieve cloud cover fractions from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-14 AVHRR data over the Arctic Ocean and over the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Barrow, Alaska. The retrieved cloud fractions are in good agreement with SHEBA (Surface HEat Budget of the Arctic Ocean) surface visual observations and with NSA cloud radar and lidar observations, respectively. This method can be utilized to improve cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces for any satellite sensor with a channel near 3.7 μm.
AB - The distinct contrast between the reflectance of solar radiation in Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) channel 3 (3.75 μm) by clouds and by bright surfaces provides an effective means of cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces. A threshold function for the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo in channel 3 (r3) is derived and used to develop an improved method for cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces that makes explicit use of TOA r3. Corrections for radiance anisotropy and temperature effects are required to derive accurate values of r3 from satellite measurements and to utilize the threshold function. It has been used to retrieve cloud cover fractions from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)-14 AVHRR data over the Arctic Ocean and over the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Barrow, Alaska. The retrieved cloud fractions are in good agreement with SHEBA (Surface HEat Budget of the Arctic Ocean) surface visual observations and with NSA cloud radar and lidar observations, respectively. This method can be utilized to improve cloud discrimination over snow/ice surfaces for any satellite sensor with a channel near 3.7 μm.
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U2 - 10.1080/01431160310001619553
DO - 10.1080/01431160310001619553
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:3242784050
SN - 0143-1161
VL - 25
SP - 2995
EP - 3017
JO - International Journal of Remote Sensing
JF - International Journal of Remote Sensing
IS - 15
ER -