Case study of inhomogeneous cloud parameter retrieval from MODIS data -: art. no. L13807

Cloud parameter retrieval of inhomogeneous and fractional clouds is performed for a stratocumulus scene observed by MODIS at a solar zenith angle near 60 degrees. The method is based on the use of neural network technique with multispectral and multiscale information. It allows to retrieve six cloud parameters, i.e. pixel means and standard deviations of optical thickness and effective radius, fractional cloud cover, and cloud top temperature. Retrieved cloud optical thickness and effective radius are compared to those retrieved with a classical method based on the homogeneous cloud assumption. Subpixel fractional cloud cover and optical thickness inhomogeneity are compared with their estimates obtained from 250m pixel observations; this comparison shows a fairly good agreement. The cloud top temperature appears also retrieved quite suitably.