International Satellite Cloud Climatology
Project (ISCCP) Correlative Data Center (CDC)
International Satellite Cloud
Climatology
Project (ISCCP) Correlative Data Center
(CDC)
Introduction:
The Satellite Services Branch (SSB) of NOAA/NESDIS' National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
serves as the Correlative Data Center for the ISCCP. On a routine basis, SSB collects and
delivers additional satellite and weather data to the Global Processing Center (GPC) for use in the
cloud analysis.
Data Collection Schedule:
- Actual surface observations from NOAA's National Meteorological Center (NMC) are
ftped
to the GPC once each week. These data are a 3-hourly global collection of
surface reports. The NMC data are used to specify the diurnal and synoptic time variations of
land surface temperature in order to improve the discrimination of low clouds and land surface,
especially at night.
- NOAA/NESDIS generates the TOVS Sounding Product once a week from the current
NOAA
polar orbiter satellites. These weekly cartridges (2 cartridges/week) are copied and shipped to the
GPC once each month (8 or 10 cartridges). The TOVS Sounding Product provides vertical
profiles of temperature
and humidity, as well as ozone column concentrations. The temperature and humidity data are
used to analyze the atmospheric effects on infrared radiances and the location of clouds in
altitude. The ozone data are used to study the atmospheric effects on visible radiances in
radiative transfer analysis.
Web page is maintained by Kathy Kidwell
NOAA/NESDIS
National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
Climate Services Division
Satellite Services Branch
Tel: 301-457-5100
Email: kkidwell@ncdc.noaa.gov
Updated October 2, 1998