Bennouna, YS; Curier, L; de Leeuw, G; Piazzola, J; Roebeling, R; de Valk, P (2010). An automated day-time cloud detection technique applied to MSG-SEVIRI data over Western Europe. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REMOTE SENSING, 31(23), 6073-6093.

Abstract
Since February 2003, the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) aboard the first Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellite has provided radiance data in 12 spectral bands for a full Earth hemisphere every 15 minutes. This high frame rate renders it an excellent tool for studies of atmospheric transport of pollutants, aerosol and clouds. TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) is currently developing an algorithm for the retrieval of aerosol properties from MSG-SEVIRI observations over cloud-free scenes. This requires rigorous cloud screening for which a fast and stand-alone algorithm is developed. The detection technique described in this paper, which is based on the ATSR-2 (Along Track Scanning Radiometer 2) cloud screening algorithm, can be easily implemented, and satisfactorily identifies clouds. The study presented here focuses on Western Europe for the year 2006. Cloud detection results are compared to the KNMI/MF (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute/Meteo-France) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud detection algorithms. According to the statistics, the results obtained with our algorithm show good agreement (80%) with these data sets.

DOI:
10.1080/01431160903376399

ISSN:
0143-1161