![\"PATMOS-x](\"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2014\/11\/cod_global.png\")
<\/a>Example of a PATMOS-x 0.1\u00ba level-2b cloud product (optical depth) viewed globally over a single day.<\/p><\/div>\n
Led by NOAA scientist Andrew Heidinger of the Advanced Satellite Products Branch (ASPB), a team of CIMSS researchers and programmers contributed to the project. Andrew Heidinger and Andi Walther developed the scientific algorithms, Denis Botambekov handled validation and quality control, Mike Foster was tasked with turning the Level 2 data into Level 3 data, as well as managing the reporting and documentation, while Mike Hiley handled the processing.<\/p>\n
Producing a dataset for NCDC\u2019s CDR Program requires following a set of precise guidelines. First and foremost, the dataset needs to be long-term \u2014 30+ years \u2014 and stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great thing about PATMOS-x is that it\u2019s a very long time series. For a climate record, we need this long-term data. And we could prove through publications that the time series is stable enough to be seen as a climate data record,\u201d Walther said.<\/p>\n
Publishing peer-reviewed articles to establish the dataset as stable and suitable for a CDR is just one component of the CDR process, which also included completing a maturity matrix and undergoing validation. The end goal is to ensure that the dataset could be used in climate applications. With its successful delivery of a CDR, this NOAA\/CIMSS team has achieved something quite unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are one of a handful of multi-decadal satellite climate records in the world,\u201d noted Walther.<\/p>\n
Heidinger added that, prior to the PATMOS-x delivery, the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) dataset had been the main long-term cloud data record available.<\/p>\n
While preparing the CDR, the team relied on prior experience working with NCDC, specifically their 2010 delivery of calibrated AVHRR reflectances. This new dataset, however, is a significant extension of that prior delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big step for us this time was that we actually have our cloud products submitted, the things that we derive ourselves,\u201d commented Foster, adding that this new CDR allows for a near real-time generation capability.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time, you can get up to within a four-to-five-day latency the entire PATMOS-x cloud record, which is nice for climate monitoring applications,\u201d he remarked.<\/p>\n
This work complements research for which CIMSS and the Space Science and Engineering Center (SSEC) are already well known.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really are a center of satellite climate datasets,\u201d noted Heidinger, highlighting the cloud climatology from SSEC\u2019s Paul Menzel and Don Wylie and polar cloud work from ASPB\u2019s Jeff Key.<\/p>\n
As the team learned, creating the CDR at SSEC had certain benefits. Heidinger specifically called out the importance of computing resources available at SSEC that offered the ability to reprocess the data as needed. Walther echoed Heidinger\u2019s comment, also noting how the vast improvements in computing speed and memory over the last decade have made their work significantly easier.<\/p>\n
In fact, it was just over a decade ago when the initial work on this project began. Heidinger related how small, pilot projects through NOAA\u2019s Office of Research and Applications led to connections with the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) research program. Participating in GEWEX brought opportunities to begin the process of comparing and validating their dataset. In 2006 Heidinger and his team formally proposed the creation of the CDR. In addition to those named above, many NOAA and CIMSS scientists, including Mike Pavolonis, Christine Molling and William Straka, contributed to the PATMOS-x project over the years.<\/p>\n