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Remote Sensing of Cloud, Aerosol, and Water Vapor Properties from MODISMODIS is an earth-viewing cross-track scanning spectroradiometer launched on the Terra satellite in December 1999. MODIS scans a swath width sufficient to provide nearly complete global coverage every two days from a polar orbiting, sun-synchronous, platform at an altitude of 705 kilometers, and provides images in 36 spectral bands between 0.415 and 14.235 micrometers with spatial resolutions of 250 meters (2 bands), 500 meters (5 bands) and 1000 meters (29 bands). These bands have been carefully selected to enable advanced studies of land, ocean, and atmospheric processes. In this presentation we review the comprehensive set of remote sensing algorithms that have been developed for the remote sensing of atmospheric properties using MODIS data, placing primary emphasis on the principal atmospheric applications of (i) developing a cloud mask for distinguishing clear sky from clouds, (ii) retrieving global cloud radiative and microphysical properties, including cloud top pressure and temperature, effective emissivity, cloud optical thickness, thermodynamic phase, and effective radius, (iii) monitoring tropospheric aerosol optical thickness over the land and ocean and aerosol size distribution over the ocean, (iv) determining atmospheric profiles of moisture and temperature, and (v) estimating column water amount. The physical principles behind the determination of each of these atmospheric products will be described, together with an example of their application using MODIS observations. All products are archived into two categories: pixel-level retrievals (referred to as Level-2 products) and global gridded products at a latitude and longitude resolution of 1 degree (Level-3 products). An overview of the MODIS atmosphere algorithms and products, status, validation activities, and early level-2 and -3 results will be presented.
Document ID
20020004193
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
King, Michael D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Platnick, Steven
(Maryland Univ. Baltimore County Catonsville, MD United States)
Menzel, W. Paul
(National Environmental Satellite Service Madison, WI United States)
Kaufman, Yoram J.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Ackerman, Steven A.
(Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI United States)
Tanre, Didier
(Universite des Sciences et Techniques de Lille Flandres Artois Villeneuve D'Ascq, France)
Gao, Bo-Cai
(Naval Research Lab. Washington, DC United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2001
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: IGARSS 2001
Location: Sydney
Country: Australia
Start Date: July 9, 2001
End Date: July 13, 2001
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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