Search results for "cloud cover"
showing 10 items of 48 documents
Correlation between relative sunshine and state of the sky
1981
Abstract It is possible to construct a sunshine map referring to a large zone, lacking in a widespread network of recording stations, correlating the relative sunshine with the “state of the sky”, defined by the monthly mean number of the clear, mixed and overcast days, whose data are more largely available. In the correlation here proposed climatological and meteorological factors are introduced in order to express the helioclimatic characteristics of every location. The application to Italy, using the data of the period 1973–1977 provided by the 31 stations of ITAV, has suggested the classification of these stations in seven “helioclimatic groups” characterized by different values of the …
Surface soil humidity retrieval by means of a semi-empirical coupled SAR model
2010
In the last years, the availability of new technologies of Earth Observation encouraged researches to use integrated approaches for environmental monitoring. Even for agro-hydrological applications, remotely sensed data are available on wide areas allowing the retrieval of cost-effective and representative estimation of high spatial and temporal variability of the soil-vegetation system variables. In particular, soil water content plays an important role determining the partition of precipitation between surface runoff and infiltration and, moreover, influences the distribution of the incoming radiation between latent and sensible heat flux. As a consequence, distributed soil water content …
Estimation of Daily Solar Radiation from Measured Air Temperature Extremes in the Mid-Mediterranean Area
2012
AbstractDaily solar radiation Rs at ground level is a necessary input variable required for the evaluation of evapotranspiration and crop growth, development, and yield-simulation models. Nevertheless, it is measured in few weather stations and at many locations it is not observed; also, available Rs temporal series are generally no longer than a few years. A valid surrogate of Rs measurement is the diurnal air-temperature range (ΔT); indeed, ΔT is inversely proportional to cloudiness and therefore could be a good indicator of atmospheric transmittance. As opposed to Rs, daily maximum and minimum air temperatures are measured at many locations and their observations in developed countries b…
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 …
Cloudiness and Sunshine
1988
Records on mean monthly and annual cloudiness are contained in the climate tables (see Appendix). Despite regional gaps of data sources, the attempt was nevertheless made to work out some principal observations on cloudiness.
Intercomparison of remote-sensing based evapotranspiration algorithms over amazonian forests
2019
Abstract Evapotranspiration (ET) is considered a key variable in the understanding of the Amazonian tropical forests and their response to climate change. Remote-Sensing (RS) based evapotranspiration models are presented as a feasible means in order to provide accurate spatially-distributed ET estimates over this region. In this work, the performance of four commonly used ET RS models was evaluated over Amazonia using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. RS models included i) Priestley-Taylor Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PT-JPL), ii) Penman-Monteith MODIS operative parametrization (PM-Mu), iii) Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS), and iv) Satellite Application Facility…
Measurements of total ozone amount over Badajoz (Southwestern Spain) by means of a GUV multiband radiometer
2012
This paper presents the first measurements of total ozone amount performed at the radiometric station of Badajoz (Spain) by means of a multichannel radiometer GUV-2511. The retrieval of total ozone amount from GUV measurements of solar ultraviolet irradiance is performed with the support of look-up tables calculated using the SBDART radiation transfer code. This methodology is based on the different absorption by ozone suffered by the radiation at two certain near wavelengths. In this case the pair 305, 340 nm was chosen because of its better performance than the pair 305, 320 nm. The look-up table contains the ratio between irradiances at the mentioned wavelengths calculated under differen…
Sensitivity of UVER enhancement to broken liquid water clouds: A Monte Carlo approach
2016
The study uses a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model to examine the sensitivity of the UV erythemal radiation (UVER) enhancement to broken liquid water clouds of the cumulus and stratocumulus type. The model uses monochromatic radiation at 310 nm corresponding approximately to the peak of the product between irradiance and the erythemal curve. All scattering, absorption, extinction coefficients, and spectral albedos are tuned to this wavelength. In order of importance, fractional cloud cover, the area of individual cloud patches, and cloud thickness exert a strong influence on the enhancement, with smaller contributions from cloud optical depth, cloud base height, and solar zenith angle. I…
Uniform climate sensitivity in tree-ring stable isotopes across species and sites in a mid-latitude temperate forest.
2014
Tree-ring stable isotopes, providing insight into drought-induced eco-physiological mechanisms, are frequently used to reconstruct past changes in growing season temperature and precipitation. Their climatic response is, however, still not fully understood, particularly for data originating from non-extreme, mid-latitude environments with differing ecological conditions. Here, we assess the response of δ(13)C, δ(18)O and tree-ring width (TRW) from a temperate mountain forest in the Austrian pre-Alps to climate and specific drought events. Variations in stem growth and isotopic composition of Norway spruce, common beech and European larch from dry, medium and moist sites are compared with re…
A Study for Cloud Parameter Retrieval from the IR Cloud Cameras of the AUGER Observatory
2009
The Pierre Auger Observatory operative in Argentina, studies the ultra-high energy cosmic rays with energies above 1018eV. The atmosphere is also monitored by a collection of different instruments. In this paper we present a study on the retrieval of the cloud coverage from the atmospheric monitoring data collected by the four IR cloud cameras placed in the sites of the Observatory. We discuss two different algorithms that supply pixel by pixel cloudiness information in the form of binary masks. The final objective of the study is collecting different algorithms to obtain a reliable set that allow to overcome most of the more frequent ambiguities due to particular cloud configurations and a…