A flux retrieval error behavior with CERES/TRMM data

2003

With the aid of CERES/TRMM (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System/Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) data, sampling problems that may impact the construction of anisotropic models have been investigated. We show the influence of the sun-orbit geometry, which causes a lack of measurements in forward and backward scattering directions at large viewing zenith angles, and how cloud properties retrieval algorithms as obtained from the Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) also affect sampling. We have also focused our attention on the dependency of the cloud cover retrieval algorithm with respect to the viewing zenith angle (VZA), showing that the shape of the cloud cover probability density …