Determination of the horizontal and vertical distribution of clouds from infrared satellite sounding data

A numerical algorithm, based on a physical inversion of the radiative transfer equation, is developed to retrieve the global distribution of the horizontal cloud cover, the cloud-top pressure levels and their temperature. The algorithm makes use of infrared and microwave temperature sounding data to derive the clear-column vertical temperature profiles and then uses the same infrared sounding data to obtain the corresponding cloud parameters. Experimental verification of this method is carried out using data from the High resolution Infrared Sounder (HIRS) and the Microwave Sounding Unit (MSU) operating on the NOAA weather satellite system.