DSCOVR EPIC Level 2 Cloud Version 03

Description

DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_CLOUD_03 is the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) Level 2 Cloud version 03 data product. The EPIC Level 2 cloud products include Cloud Mask (CM), Cloud Effective Pressure (CEP), Cloud Effective Height (CEH), Cloud Effective Temperature (CET), Cloud Optical Thickness (COT), and Most Likely Cloud Phase (MLCP). All the products are provided at the EPIC original temporal and special resolutions. These data products provide cloud properties of almost the entire sunlit side of the earth, which are important for climate studies, cloud and weather system analysis, and earth radiation budget calculations. Data collection for this product is ongoing. Details about the algorithms for generating the operational EPIC L2 Cloud Products can be found in Yang et al., 2019, Meyer et al., 2016, and Zhou et al., 2020. A brief description is provided below: (1) The EPIC CM is based on the threshold method; surface is classified into three categories: land, deep water and snow/ice; CM with confidence level is determined independently for each surface type. (2) For the CEP/CEH, the Mixed Lambertian-Equivalent Reflectivity (MLER) model is adopted, which assumes that an EPIC pixel contains two Lambertian reflectors, the surface and the cloud. This assumption simplifies the radiative transfer equation and cloud pressure can be retrieved using the oxygen A- and B-band pairs. Since the MLER model does not take into account the effect of photon penetration into clouds, the retrieved cloud pressure is an effective pressure. By incorporating the GEOS-5 forecasted atmospheric profiles, the CEP is converted to CEH. (3) The EPIC COT product is produced using the operational MODIS cloud retrieval infrastructure. Since EPIC does not have particle size sensitive channels, a single channel retrieval algorithm was developed assuming fixed values for cloud effective radius (CER). In addition, cloud phase determination capability for EPIC is limited; hence the EPIC COT product provides two retrievals for each cloudy pixel, one assuming liquid phase and the other ice phase. A likely cloud phase is also provided based on the CEH.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
21 Search results for publications that cite this dataset by its DOI. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.5067%2FEPIC%2FDSCOVR%2FL2_CLOUD_03
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Keeping on the Sunny Side of Earth https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87167/keeping-on-the-sunny-side-of-earth
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: The Dark Side and the Bright Side: Image of the Day - A NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) has captured a unique view of the Moon as it passed between the spacecraft and Earth https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86353/the-dark-side-and-the-bright-side
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: 2016 Tournament Earth Champion: The Dark Side of the Moon - The images were acquired by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the DSCOVR satellite https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2016/04/05/2016-tournament-earth-champion-the-dark-side-of-the-moon/
21 How to cite ASDC data https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/citing-data
33 EPIC Data Format Control Book Specification July 1, 2016 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/EPIC_Data_Format_Control_Book_2016-07-01.pdf
21 New York Times Blog "From a Million Miles Away, a New NASA ‘Blue Marble’ View of Earth" By Andrew C. Revkin https://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/21/from-a-million-miles-away-a-new-nasa-blue-marble-view-of-earth
21 A New Blue Marble By Scott Kelly, NASA Astronaut https://medium.com/@ObamaWhiteHouse/a-new-blue-marble-39c2fe1b5b3c?
21 ASDC Data and Information for DSCOVR https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/DSCOVR
21 DSCOVR EPIC Cloud Product Overview https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/products/cloud
21 DSCOVR EPIC Visualization Tool https://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov/
33 DSCOVR Earth Science Instrument Overview https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/DSCOVR_overview_2016-06-29.pdf
33 EPIC Cloud Product Description https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/dscovr/EPICCloudProductDescription_Nov2017_1.pdf
21 NASA Captures "EPIC" Earth Image Article from July 20, 2015 https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-captures-epic-earth-image
21 Discover Article "The U.S. Deep Space Climate Observatory just sent back its first view of our home world, and it’s a beauty." By Robinson Meyer, July 20, 2015 https://www.discovermagazine.com/environment/a-spectacular-view-of-earth-unlike-any-seen-since-1972
21 NASA Goddard Twitter Page https://twitter.com/NASAGoddard/status/676462280469553154
21 NASA Leadership Blog, DSCOVR’s First Light on the Future by Buzz Aldrin https://blogs.nasa.gov/leadership/2015/07/20/dscovrs-first-light-on-the-future/
21 NASA Studies High Clouds, Saharan Dust from EPIC View https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-studies-high-clouds-saharan-dust-from-epic-view
21 The Atlantic Article "Al Gore Dreamed Up a Satellite—and It Just Took Its First Picture of Earth: The U.S. Deep Space Climate Observatory just sent back its first view of our home world, and it’s a beauty." By Robinson Meyer, July 20, 2015 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/07/our-new-and-daily-view-of-the-blue-marble/399011/
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: April : 2016 : Earth Matters : Blog - The images were acquired by the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the DSCOVR satellite https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2016/04/
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: An EPIC New View of Earth: Image of the Day - From one million miles away, the DSCOVR satellite returned its first view of the entire sunlit side of Earth https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/86257/an-epic-new-view-of-earth
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Up, Up, and Away for DSCOVR - The journey has been a long one for the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/85288/up-up-and-away-for-dscovr
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: An EPIC Eclipse: Natural Hazards - The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) was built to provide a distinct perspective on our planet. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/87675/an-epic-eclipse
21 NOAA's Weather and Climate Toolkit https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/wct/
21 NOAA - National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) https://www.noaa.gov/
21 DOI data set landing page for DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_CLOUD_03 https://doi.org/10.5067/EPIC/DSCOVR/L2_CLOUD_03
21 Earthdata Search for DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_CLOUD_03 (NASA Application to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data) https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C1982417666-LARC_ASDC
21 ASDC Direct Data Download for DSCOVR_EPIC_L2_CLOUD_03 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/data/DSCOVR/EPIC/L2_CLOUD_03/
21 Earth Observation Portal Page for DSCOVR Mission Information https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/d/dscovr
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Plumes From Africa's Volcanic Duo: Image of the Day - Located near the equator in central Africa, the Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo volcanoes are often obscured from satellite view by clouds https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/85273/plumes-from-africas-volcanic-duo
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season - The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera aboard the DSCOVR satellite acquired this view of smoke drifting over the region. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/IndonesianFires/page4.php

Tags

  • atmosphere
  • clouds
  • earth-science

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