Aerosol-cloud interaction-Misclassification of MODIS clouds in heavy aerosol |
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Authors: | Brennan JI Kaufman YJ Koren I Rong Rong Li |
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Affiliation: | Summer Inst. on Atmos., Hydrospheric & Terrestrial Sci., NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA; |
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Abstract: | The accuracy of the spaceborne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud mask was evaluated for possible contamination by areas of heavy aerosol that may be misclassified as clouds. Analysis for several aerosol types shows that the cloud mask and products can be safely used in the presence of aerosol up to optical thickness of 0.6. Here we define as cloudy all MODIS 1-km (at nadir) pixels that were used to derive the cloud effective radius and optical thickness of water and ice clouds. The findings make it possible to study aerosol-cloud interaction from the MODIS aerosol and cloud products. |
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