Ms. Jones et al., GLOBAL REMNANT CLOUD CONTAMINATION IN THE ALONG-TRACK SCANNING RADIOMETER DATA - SOURCE AND REMOVAL, J GEO RES-O, 101(C5), 1996, pp. 12141-12147
Validation studies indicate that in cloud free conditions the along-tr
ack scanning radiometer (ATSR) on the ERS 1 satellite is measuring glo
bal sea surface temperature (SST) to a point relative precision of bet
ter than 0.3 degrees C. However, recent reports show that the presence
of nighttime remnant cloud contamination is affecting ATSR SST precis
ion in certain geographical areas. We modify the filtering scheme desc
ribed by Jones ct al. [1996] for removing remnant cloudiness in ATSR 0
.5 degrees spatially averaged sea surface temperature (ASST) data from
the South Atlantic and apply this scheme to global ASST data (version
500) for the whole of 1992, 1993, and 1994. We find that globally 4.6
5% of the ASST data is cloud contaminated and that remnant cloud remov
al substantially reduces differences between day and night SST signals
. The cloud contamination is seasonal and is linked to the occurrence
of marine stratiform (fog, stratus, and stratocumulus) cloud types. Su
ch cloud is low-lying and uniform and thus difficult to detect with co
nventional cloud-clearing techniques. Our effective global removal of
remnant cloudiness will improve the accuracy of the ASST data and thus
benefit the use of the ATSR in the early detection of climate change.