Cloud-Top Heights from GOES-8 and GOES-9 Stereoscopic Imagery

Abstract

Operational satellite data from GOES-8 and GOES-9 were used to make stereoscopic measurements of cloud heights during the National Aeronautics and Space Administration?s Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study program. The stereoscopic data were used to differentiate between boundary layer wave clouds and cirrus in the mid- and upper troposphere. This separation was difficult to evaluate from radiometric data alone. Stereographic cloud height analysis provided a definitive result. The technique used for calculating cloud heights is described. GOES-8 and -9 data were better suited for stereoscopic measurements than data from previous satellites.