International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Stage B3 Reduced Radiances in Native Format

Description

The ISCCP_B3_NAT data is the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Stage B3 Reduced Radiances in Native Format data product. This is the original radiance data, sampled to 30 Km and 3-hour spacing. Data collection for this product is complete and was collected using several instruments on multiple platforms, please see the instrument and platform list of this record for a comprehensive list. The normalization of all radiances to a standard calibration made these data a globally uniform set of measurements that can be used for detailed cloud process studies. ISCCP was the first project of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) and was established in 1982 (WMO-35 1982, Schiffer and Rossow 1983) to: produce a global, reduced resolution, calibrated and normalized radiance data set containing basic information on the properties of the atmosphere from which cloud parameters can be derived; stimulate and coordinate basic research on techniques for inferring the physical properties of clouds from the condensed radiance data set and to apply the resulting algorithms to derive and validate a global cloud climatology for improving the parameterization of clouds in climate models; and promote research using ISCCP data that contributes to improved understanding of the Earth's radiation budget and hydrological cycle. Since 1983 an international group of institutions has collected and analyzed satellite radiance measurements from up to five geostationary and two polar orbiting satellites to infer the global distribution of cloud properties and their diurnal, seasonal and inter-annual variations. The primary focus of the first phase of the project (1983-1995) was the elucidation of the role of clouds in the radiation budget (top of the atmosphere and surface). In the second phase of the project (1995 onwards) the analysis also concerns improving understanding of clouds in the global hydrological cycle. ISCCP analysis combined satellite-measured radiances (Stage B3 data, Schiffer and Rossow 1985), Rossow et al. 1987) with the TOVS atmospheric temperature-humidity and ice/snow correlative data sets to obtain information about clouds and the surface. The analysis method first determined the presence of absence of clouds in each individual image pixel and retrieves the radiometric properties of the cloud for each cloudy pixel and of the surface for each clear pixel. The pixel analysis is performed separately for each satellite radiance data set and the results reported in the Stage DX data product, which has a nominal resolution of 30 km and 3 hours. The Stage D1 product is produced by summarizing the pixel-level results every 3 hours on an equal-area map with 280 km resolution and merging the results from separate satellites with the atmospheric and ice/snow data sets to produce global coverage at each time. The Stage D2 data product is produced by averaging the Stage D1 data over each month, first at each of the eight three hour time intervals and then over all time intervals.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
21 ISCCP B3 read software for use with the Portland Group Compiler (Linux machine only) - Direct File Download (.f) https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/read_software/isccp_b3_read_linux.f
33 ISCCP Stage B3 Reduced Radiances in Native (NAT) Format(ISCCP_B3_NAT) Data Set Abstract https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/guide/abstract_ISCCP_Stage_B3.pdf
21 ISCCP project home page https://isccp.giss.nasa.gov/
21 Earthdata Search for ISCCP_B3_NAT_1 (NASA Application to search, discover, visualize, refine, and access NASA Earth Observation data) https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search/granules?p=C7994310-LARC_ASDC
21 Goddard's Panoply - plots geo-gridded data from netCDF, HDF, GRIB datasets. https://www.giss.nasa.gov/tools/panoply/
21 ASDC Direct Data Download for ISCCP_B3_NAT_1 https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/data/ISCCP/B3_NAT_1/
21 DOI data set landing page for ISCCP_B3_NAT_1 https://doi.org/10.5067/ISCCP/B3_NAT
21 Search results for publications that cite this dataset by its DOI. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=10.5067%2FISCCP%2FB3_NAT
33 ISCCP_B3_NAT Detailed Temporal Coverage by Satellite https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/isccp_b3_details.pdf
21 How to cite ASDC data https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/citing-data
21 ISCCP_B3_NAT Data Set Readme https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/readme/readme_isccp_b3_nat.txt
21 MODULE B3_KIND - Direct File Download (.f) https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/read_software/isccp_b3_kind.f
21 Fortran 90 Code Version of B3READ with the same variable names as older Version set to read one image - Direct File Download (.f) https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/read_software/isccp_b3_read.f
21 Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) Article: "But the winds... but the spaces" By Annette Varani https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/but-the-winds-but-the-spaces
21 ASDC Data and Information for ISCCP https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/project/ISCCP
21 NCAR UCAR Climate Data Guide https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/
21 Program to read SRB Release 3 QCSQ Monthly nc - Direct File Download (.f) https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/read_software/isccp_b3_module.f
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Shadows of Doubt - Monitoring Cloud Effects https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/ShadowsDoubt
21 NASA Earth Observatory Article: Stars, Clouds, Crops https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/StarsCloudsCrops
21 ISCCP Data Products List https://isccp.giss.nasa.gov/products/products.html
21 ISCCP Known and Fixed Errors in Data Products https://isccp.giss.nasa.gov/errors.html
21 ISCCP New Algorithm: Summary of Changes https://isccp.giss.nasa.gov/newalg.html
33 ISCCP Project/Campaign Document for the Langley DAAC https://asdc.larc.nasa.gov/documents/isccp/guide/isccp_project.pdf
21 Publications for ISCCP https://isccp.giss.nasa.gov/docs/documents.html
21 EOS Aura Science Team Meeting AGENDA, August 27 - August 29, 2019 Pasadena CA, USA https://avdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/Overview/
21 Earth Observing System Data and InformationSystem (EOSDIS) Article: Global Cloud Process Studies in the Context of Decadal Climate Variability: Enhancement and Continuation of Data Analysis for the International Satellite Cloud Climatalogy Project (ISCCP) https://earthdata.nasa.gov/esds/competitive-programs/measures/data-analysis-for-isccp

Tags

  • infrared-wavelengths
  • visible-wavelengths
  • spectral-engineering
  • earth-science

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