Satellite Images
Anaylizing Infrared Satellite Images
IR imagery can be used to distinguish low clouds from high clouds. Low clouds are relatively warm and appear gray in satellite IR images. Thick cold clouds, like the tops of thunderstorms, appear bright white. An obvious advantage of IR satellite images over visible images is that IR images are available both day and night.
A drawback of both visible and IR satellite images is that they rely on the presence of clouds and don’t provide much information about clear regions of the atmosphere. Fortunately there are satellite radiometers that measure other wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. The most common is a special channel near one of the infrared absorption bands of H20 that we call the “water vapor channel”.
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