Observation of Polar Mesospheric Clouds by Geostationary Satellite Sensors

Author

Proud, Simon

Author_Institution

Dept. of Earth, Atmos. & Planetary Sci., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

12

Issue

6

fYear

2015

fDate

Jun-15

Firstpage

1332

Lastpage

1336

Abstract

Polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) form at very high altitude (around 80 km) over high latitudes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Because of their altitude, seasonality, and tenuous nature, PMCs are not well understood. This letter presents a method for detecting PMCs using geostationary satellite images of the Earth´s limb. The method is tested against data from the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere mission that was specifically designed for PMC detection. It is found that the new method is successful in detecting seasonal trends in PMC formation and, due to the larger data set of geostationary images, may allow examination of the temporal properties of PMCs in greater detail than possible by satellites in polar orbit.

Keywords

atmospheric measuring apparatus; clouds; mesosphere; remote sensing; sensors; Northern Hemispheres; Observation Southern Hemispheres; PMC detection; geostationary satellite; geostationary satellite sensors; polar mesospheric clouds; polar orbit; tenuous nature; Clouds; Earth; Heart rate variability; Ice; Market research; Satellites; Sensors; Atmospheric limb; Meteosat; polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs); satellite;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1545-598X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LGRS.2015.2399532

Filename

7047696