Liang, LS; Di Girolamo, L (2013). A global analysis on the view-angle dependence of plane-parallel oceanic liquid water cloud optical thickness using data synergy from MISR and MODIS. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 118(5), 2389-2403.
Abstract
We examine the viewing zenith angle dependent bias (VZA bias) in warm cloud optical thickness (tau) retrieved from a plane-parallel approach applied to fused Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) data for the months of January and July between 2001 and 2008. The near-simultaneous multiple view-angle observations from MISR offers many advantages over previous tau-VZA bias studies: 1) The analysis no longer requires seasonal and latitudinal cloud invariant assumptions, 2) consistent cloudy scene identification with VZA, 3) stratification of VZA-bias with scene characteristics, and 4) a greater range of sun-view geometries. Contrasting results between previous studies are resolved through careful consideration of the relative azimuth angle (RAZ) between sun and view. Relative to nadir-retrieved tau, tau increases in both forward-and backscatter directions with higher value in backscatter directions for solar zenith angle (SZA)
DOI:
ISSN:
2169-897X