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

    Metadata Updated: December 6, 2023

    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.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date December 6, 2023

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from NASA Data.json

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date November 12, 2020
    Metadata Updated Date December 6, 2023
    Publisher NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC
    Maintainer
    Identifier C7994310-LARC_ASDC
    Data First Published 1999-09-08
    Language en-US
    Data Last Modified 2018-02-06
    Category ISCCP, geospatial
    Public Access Level public
    Bureau Code 026:00
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Metadata Catalog ID https://data.nasa.gov/data.json
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Citation 1999-09-10. Archived by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Government, NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC. https://doi.org/10.5067/ISCCP/B3_NAT.
    Harvest Object Id c62b057d-311b-40c2-8b14-88f927e6c5bd
    Harvest Source Id 58f92550-7a01-4f00-b1b2-8dc953bd598f
    Harvest Source Title NASA Data.json
    Homepage URL https://doi.org/10.5067/ISCCP/B3_NAT
    Metadata Type geospatial
    Old Spatial <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><gml:Polygon xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2" srsName="EPSG:9825"><gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:LinearRing><gml:posList>-90.0 -180.0 -90.0 180.0 90.0 180.0 90.0 -180.0 -90.0 -180.0</gml:posList></gml:LinearRing></gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:innerBoundaryIs></gml:innerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon>
    Program Code 026:001
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash edbee262de5af5d3b501e43269d1a72dbc66dfe8fc0d1d83bd71a029b3931389
    Source Schema Version 1.1
    Spatial
    Temporal 1983-07-01T00:00:00Z/2009-12-31T23:59:59.999Z

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