Improved Detection of Interannual Cloud Variability over the Southern Hemisphere Using Legacy Satellites

Abstract

Shifts in deep tropical convection and midlatitude jet streams both manifest themselves in high cloud anomalies. Such anomalies may play a significant role in local to global climate processes. This work investigates how high cloud properties covary with two primary interannual modes of variability in the Southern Hemisphere (SH): El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the southern annular mode (SAM). In contrast to several recent studies that utilize the latest remote sensing datasets (e.g., CloudSat), we employ a novel combination of imager and sounder data from legacy satellite instruments. Using these legacy data, we confirm the poleward shift of high cloud fields in the SH midlatitudes with SAM seen in other recent studies and characterize the opposing impacts of SAM and ENSO on the South Pacific convergence zone and Southern Hemisphere storm tracks. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the standard deviation of brightness temperature data from the window channel acts as a surrogate for high cloud fraction in the tropics and midlatitudes. Our results reconcile apparent differences in recent studies and suggest that brightness temperature standard deviations are climate relevant, in addition to being largely insensitive to instrument calibration.