Eight Years of High Cloud Statistics Using HIRS

Abstract

Over the last 8 yr frequency and location of cloud observations have been compiled using multispectral High Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder (HIRS) data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration polar-orbiting satellites; this work is an extension of the 4-yr dataset reported by D. Wylie et al. The CO2 slicing algorithm applied to the HIRS data exhibits a higher sensitivity to semitransparent cirrus clouds than the cloud algorithm used by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project; the threshold for cloud detection appears to require visible optical depths (τvis) greater than 0.1. The geographical distributions of clouds in the 8-yr dataset are nearly the same as those reported from 4 yr of data. The detection of upper-tropospheric clouds occurs most often in the intertropical convergence zone and midlatitude storm belts with lower concentrations in subtropical deserts and oceanic subtropical highs. The areas of concentrated cloud cover exhibit latitudinal movement with the seasons as in other cloud datasets. HIRS finds clear sky in 25%, opaque cloud in 32%, and semitransparent cloud in 43% of all its observations. The effective emissivity of the all semitransparent clouds (τvis < 6) ranges from 0.2 to 0.6 with an average value of about 0.5. Time trends are reexamined in detail. A possible cirrus increase in 1991 reported by Wylie and coauthors in 1994 is found to be diminished upon reinspection. The revised 8-yr record has indications of an increase in high clouds in the northern midlatitudes (0.5% yr?1) but little change elsewhere. The seasonal cycle of cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere becomes very noticeable in 1993.