Background

NASA enhanced the processing and storage capabilities within the Satellite ClOud and Radiation Property retrieval System (SatCORPS), developed algorithms to ingest observations from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and created global composites of cloud properties from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), VIIRS, and 5 geostationary platforms (GEO; Meteosat-9 to -12, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-16 to -19, and Himawari-9). Data will be produced over the globe at 3-km spatial and hourly temporal resolution.

Status

Full spatial resolution global GEO satellite datasets between 60N and 60S are routinely produced within the SatCORPS. The GCC (global cloud composites) system that merges low Earth orbit (LEO) MODIS and VIIRS with GEO data onto a 3-km global grid from 90N to 90S is completed. State-of-the-art parameterizations for droplet number concentration and cloud water path are implemented. A complete one-year GCC dataset (Version 1) from July 2023 to June 2024 is available for download. A version 2 system is in final testing that applies artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) methods to reduce artifacts and improve the accuracy and consistency of the GCC products at all times of day, in the solar terminator and sunglint. It is anticipated that the Version-2 July 2023-June 2024 dataset will be available by the end of 2025. Full disk GEO datasets created in a near real-time forward processing system will also switch to version 2 during summer 2025. Additional version 2 global LEO + GEO datasets can be created upon request depending on available processing resources.​

Solution Characteristics

Societal Impact

The Global Cloud Composites from SatCORPS solution provides global high spatiotemporal resolution satellite observations that are needed to improve the representation of clouds and their effects in Earth System Models for infrastructure planning.​

Solution Resources

Need help using this solution? For more information, visit the following resources: 

• NASA Langley Research Center SatCORPS
• One-year GCC Test Dataset