NOAA GOES-R Series Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Level 2 Cloud Particle Size Distribution (CPS)

The GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Cloud Particle Size product contains an image with pixel values identifying a measure of the effective radius of the particles in a single cloud layer. It is defined by the ratio of the third and second moment of the particle size distribution. Separate algorithms are used for daytime, solar zenith angle to 82 degrees, and nighttime, solar zenith angle greater than 82 degrees, conditions. The product is generated in combination with the Cloud Optical Depth product by the same algorithms. The product includes data quality information that identifies whether the daytime or nighttime algorithm generated the pixel, and provides an assessment of the cloud particle size data values for on-earth pixels. The units of measure for the cloud particle size value is microns. Product data is produced under the following conditions for the daytime algorithm: Cloudy; Geolocated source data to local zenith angles of 65 degrees and to solar zenith angles of 82 degrees. Product data generated by the nighttime algorithm is produced under the following conditions: Cloudy; Geolocated source data to local zenith angles of 70 degrees and solar zenith angles between 82 and 180 degrees. The cloud particle size values reported range from 0 to 100 um. However, the size range depends on day/night conditions and the liquid/ice water phase. Cloud Particle Size product data is identified as degraded in the terminator region, which is a solar zenith angle between 65 and 82 degrees for the daytime algorithm, and 82 and 90 degrees for the nighttime algorithm. The measurement range for Cloud Particle Size is determined by the model parameterization used in the algorithm retrieval. For daytime retrievals, the effective radius is determined by the lookup table bounds, 100.4 to 102.0, corresponding to 2.51 to 100 um, for both liquid and ice clouds. For nighttime retrievals, the effective radiance is determined by the range of particle size models considered: 2 to 32 um for water clouds, and; 2.62 to 78.15 um for ice clouds where the retrieval of particle size diameter is related to the effective radius by a quadratic equation. The product image is provided at 2 km resolution on the ABI fixed grid for Full Disk, CONUS, and Mesoscale coverage regions from GOES East and West.

Tags: 1 km - < 10 km or approximately .01 degree - < .09 degree, 1 minute - < 1 hour, abi, abi-l2-cps, abil2pcpsi, abil2pcpsr, abil2pcpst, abil2prod, advanced baseline imager, atlantic ocean, atmosphere, atmospheric - upper-air - cloud properties, center for satellite applications and research, central america, cloud microphysics, clouds, continent, doc/noaa/nesdis/ncdc, doc/noaa/nesdis/ncei, doc/noaa/nesdis/ospo, doc/noaa/nesdis/star, earth science, equatorial, geographic region, geostationary operational environmental satellite 16, geostationary operational environmental satellite 17, geostationary operational environmental satellite 18, geostationary operational environmental satellite 19, geostationary operational environmental satellites, goes, goes-16, goes-17, goes-18, goes-19, gov.noaa.class:grabiprd, grabiprd, mid-latitude, national centers for environmental information, national climatic data center, nesdis, noaa, north america, northern hemisphere, ocean, office of satellite and product operations, pacific ocean, particle size distribution, south america, southern hemisphere, tropics, troposphere, u.s. department of commerce, united states of america, vertical location, western hemisphere
Organization: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce