Clouds can influence climate through many complex interactions within the hydrological cycle. Due to the important effects of cloud cover on climate, it is essential to study its variability over certain geographical ...Clouds can influence climate through many complex interactions within the hydrological cycle. Due to the important effects of cloud cover on climate, it is essential to study its variability over certain geographical areas. This study provides a spatial and temporal distribution of sky conditions, cloudy, partly cloudy, and clear days, in Iran. Cloud fraction parameters were calculated based on the cloud product （collection 6_L2） obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiorneter （MODIS） sensors on board the Terra （MOD06） and Aqua （MYD06） satellites. The cloud products were collected daily from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2014 （12 years） with a spatial resolution of 5 km × 5 km. First, the cloud fraction data were converted into a regular geographic coordinate network over Iran. Then, the estimations from both sensors were analyzed. Results revealed that the maximum annual frequency of cloudy days occurs along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, while the minimum annual frequency occurs in southeast Iran. On average, the annual number of cloudy and clear-sky days was 88 and 256 d from MODIS Terra, as compared to 96 and 244 d from MODIS Aqua. Generally, cloudy and partly cloudy days decrease from north to south, and MODIS Aqua overestimates the cloudy and partly cloudy days compared to MODIS Terra.展开更多
This study compares the aerosol optical depth (AOD) Level 2 Collection 5 products from the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) with ground-based measurements from a Microtops II sun p...This study compares the aerosol optical depth (AOD) Level 2 Collection 5 products from the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) with ground-based measurements from a Microtops II sun photometer over Sanya (18.23°N,109.52°E),a tropical coastal site in China,from July 2005 to June 2006.The results indicate that the Terra and Aqua MODIS AOD retrievals at 550 nm have good correlations with the measurements from the Microtops II sun photometer.The correlation coefficients for the linear regression fits (R2) are 0.83 for Terra and 0.78 for Aqua,and the regressed intercepts are near zero (0.005 for Terra,0.009 for Aqua).However,the Terra and Aqua MODIS are found to consistently underestimate AOD with respect to the Microtops II sun photometer,with slope values of 0.805 (Terra) and 0.767 (Aqua).The comparison of the monthly mean AOD indicates that for each month,the Terra and Aqua MODIS retrievals are matched with corresponding Microtops measurements but are systematically less than those of the Microtops.This validation study indicates that the Terra and Aqua MODIS AOD retrievals can adequately characterize the AOD distributions over the tropical coastal region of China,but further efforts to eliminate systematic errors are needed.展开更多
基金Under the auspices of Faculty of Geographical Science and Planning,University of Isfahan,Doctoral Climatology Project(No.168607/94)
文摘Clouds can influence climate through many complex interactions within the hydrological cycle. Due to the important effects of cloud cover on climate, it is essential to study its variability over certain geographical areas. This study provides a spatial and temporal distribution of sky conditions, cloudy, partly cloudy, and clear days, in Iran. Cloud fraction parameters were calculated based on the cloud product （collection 6_L2） obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiorneter （MODIS） sensors on board the Terra （MOD06） and Aqua （MYD06） satellites. The cloud products were collected daily from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2014 （12 years） with a spatial resolution of 5 km × 5 km. First, the cloud fraction data were converted into a regular geographic coordinate network over Iran. Then, the estimations from both sensors were analyzed. Results revealed that the maximum annual frequency of cloudy days occurs along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, while the minimum annual frequency occurs in southeast Iran. On average, the annual number of cloudy and clear-sky days was 88 and 256 d from MODIS Terra, as compared to 96 and 244 d from MODIS Aqua. Generally, cloudy and partly cloudy days decrease from north to south, and MODIS Aqua overestimates the cloudy and partly cloudy days compared to MODIS Terra.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB 403702)
文摘This study compares the aerosol optical depth (AOD) Level 2 Collection 5 products from the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometers (MODIS) with ground-based measurements from a Microtops II sun photometer over Sanya (18.23°N,109.52°E),a tropical coastal site in China,from July 2005 to June 2006.The results indicate that the Terra and Aqua MODIS AOD retrievals at 550 nm have good correlations with the measurements from the Microtops II sun photometer.The correlation coefficients for the linear regression fits (R2) are 0.83 for Terra and 0.78 for Aqua,and the regressed intercepts are near zero (0.005 for Terra,0.009 for Aqua).However,the Terra and Aqua MODIS are found to consistently underestimate AOD with respect to the Microtops II sun photometer,with slope values of 0.805 (Terra) and 0.767 (Aqua).The comparison of the monthly mean AOD indicates that for each month,the Terra and Aqua MODIS retrievals are matched with corresponding Microtops measurements but are systematically less than those of the Microtops.This validation study indicates that the Terra and Aqua MODIS AOD retrievals can adequately characterize the AOD distributions over the tropical coastal region of China,but further efforts to eliminate systematic errors are needed.
