Remote Sens. 2012, 4(7), 1963-1973; doi:10.3390/rs4071963
Article

The Impact of Subscale Inhomogeneity on Oxygen A Band Cloud-Top Pressure Estimates: Using ESA’s MERIS as a Proxy for DSCOVR-EPIC

Rasmus Lindstrot 1,* email, Ralf Bennartz 2 email, Rene Preusker 1 email and Jürgen Fischer 1 email
1 Institut für Weltraumwissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Carl-Heinrich-Becker-Weg 6-10, D-12165 Berlin, Germany 2 Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1225 W. Dayton Street, Madison, WI 53706, USA
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 9 May 2012; in revised form: 25 June 2012 / Accepted: 26 June 2012 / Published: 29 June 2012
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Abstract: Medium Spectral Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) oxygen A band measurements were used as a proxy for the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC),to be launched on NASA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR). The high spatial resolution of MERIS (1 × 1 km2) is exploited to study the effects of subscale spatialheterogeneity of clouds on the cloud-top pressure retrieved at the coarser spatial resolutionof EPIC (10 × 10 km2). In general, for a sub-scale cloud fraction less than 1, a shift of cloud-top pressure toward the middle atmosphere is found, with a low-bias for highclouds and a high-bias for low clouds. In addition, the deviation is found to be a function of surface reflectance. The subscale variability of fully clouded EPIC pixels causes a weak underestimation of cloud-top pressure, when compared to averaged high-resolution retrievals.
Keywords: cloud-top pressure; Oxygen A band; DSCOVR; MERIS; spatial resolution

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MDPI and ACS Style

Lindstrot, R.; Bennartz, R.; Preusker, R.; Fischer, J. The Impact of Subscale Inhomogeneity on Oxygen A Band Cloud-Top Pressure Estimates: Using ESA’s MERIS as a Proxy for DSCOVR-EPIC. Remote Sens. 2012, 4, 1963-1973.

AMA Style

Lindstrot R, Bennartz R, Preusker R, Fischer J. The Impact of Subscale Inhomogeneity on Oxygen A Band Cloud-Top Pressure Estimates: Using ESA’s MERIS as a Proxy for DSCOVR-EPIC. Remote Sensing. 2012; 4(7):1963-1973.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lindstrot, Rasmus; Bennartz, Ralf; Preusker, Rene; Fischer, Jürgen. 2012. "The Impact of Subscale Inhomogeneity on Oxygen A Band Cloud-Top Pressure Estimates: Using ESA’s MERIS as a Proxy for DSCOVR-EPIC." Remote Sens. 4, no. 7: 1963-1973.

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