At the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), a team of scientists has been working on the retrieval of global cloud properties from multispectral satellite data. The team involves personnel from NASA, NOAA, CIMSS, and also the UW Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (AOS) department. This project specifically deals with the topic of multilayered clouds, which has long been a source of difficulty for the cloud remote sensing community.

These pages are intended to provide information on our effort to improve the detection and analysis of multilayered, overlapping clouds in satellite imagery, specifically optically thin cirrus overlying lower-level water clouds. Included on these pages will be an explanation of the project, the satellite image analysis methodology, validation exercises, and ultimately access to processed data derived from application of the methodology.

As this effort needs extensive testing before it can be considered for operational use for global multilayered cloud detection, we have begun the process of applying the method daily to MODIS direct broadcast data. Data products for 8 days are available at any time through a rolling data archive. CIMSS has a direct broadcast X-band downlink which allows data to be received in real time. The International MODIS/AIRS Processing Package (IMAPP) allows CIMSS to produce calibrated and geo-located MODIS radiances which are available through the links provided elsewhere on this page.