ISCCP Project Documents
About ISCCP
A series of four articles about the project that appeared in the Bulletin of the Americal Meteorological Society.
Schiffer, R.A., and Rossow, W.B., 1983: The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP): The First Project of the World Climate Research Programme. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 64, 779-784. Read abstract and download PDF document (6pp).
Schiffer, R.A., and Rossow, W.B., 1985: ISCCP Global Radiance Data Set: A New Resource for Climate Research. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 66, 1498-1505. Read abstract and download PDF document (9pp).
Rossow, W.B., and Schiffer, R.A., 1991: ISCCP Cloud Data Products. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 71, 2-20. Read abstract and download document (20pp).
Rossow, W.B., and Schiffer, R.A., 1999: Advances in Understanding Clouds from ISCCP. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 80, 2261-2288. Read abstract and download document (27pp).
B3 Radiance Data Documentation
Rossow, W.B., A. Walker, and M. Roiter, 1996 revision: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Description of Reduced Resolution Radiance Data. WMO/TD-No. 58. World Meteorological Organization, 163 pp. Download document 787 Kbytes Encapsulated PostScript (UNIX gzip) and Addendum to document. NOTE: Mistakes in the document discovered post-publication are corrected by errata pages which are available as PostScript replacement pages.
Rossow, W.B., E. Kinsella, A. Wolf, and L. Garder, 1987 revision: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Description of Reduced Resolution Radiance Data. WMO/TD-No. 58. World Meteorological Organization, 150 pp. Download document 934 Kbytes Encapsulated PostScript (UNIX gzip).
Calibration Documentation
(See the Table of Contents to download document by parts in PDF format.)
Rossow, W.B., C.L. Brest, and M. Roiter, 1996: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Update of Radiance Calibrations. WMO/TD.-No. 736. World Meteorological Organization. Read abstract and download PDF document (79 pages).
Desormeaux, Y., W.B. Rossow, C.L. Brest, and C.G. Campbell, 1993: Normalization and calibration of geostationary satellite radiances for ISCCP. J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., 10, 304-325. Read abstract and download PDF document (22 pages).
Rossow, W.B., Y. Desormeaux, C.L. Brest, and A.W. Walker, 1992: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Radiance Calibration Report. WMO/TD-No. 520, WCRP-77, World Meteorological Organization. Read abstract and download document 403 Kbytes PostScript(104 pages) and Addendum to document. NOTE: Mistakes in the document discovered post-publication are corrected by errata pages which are available as PostScript replacement pages.
Brest, C.L., and W.B. Rossow, 1992: Radiometric calibration and monitoring of NOAA AVHRR data for ISCCP. Int. J. Remote Sens., 13, 235-273. Read abstract and download PDF document
Brest, C.L., W.B. Rossow, and M. Roiter, 1997: Update of Radiance Calibrations for ISCCP J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., 14, 1091-1109. Read abstract and download PDF document (19 pages).
C1/C2 Cloud Data Documentation
Rossow, W.B., L.C. Garder, P.J. Lu, and A.W. Walker, 1991: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Documentation of Cloud Data. WMO/TD-No. 266, World Meteorological Organization, 76 pp. plus appendices. Download Main Document 500 Kbytes PostScript (76 pages) UNIX gzip. Download Appendix A (TOVS) PDF file (10 pages). Download Appendix B (Snow/Ice) 300 Kbytes PostScript (20 pages) UNIX gzip. Download Appendix C (C2) 200 Kbytes PostScript (29 pages) UNIX gzip.
DX/D1/D2 New Cloud Data Documentation
(See the Table of Contents to download document by parts in PDF format.)
Rossow, W.B., A.W. Walker, D.E. Beuschel, and M.D. Roiter, 1996: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Documentation of New Cloud Datasets. WMO/TD-No. 737, World Meteorological Organization, 115 pp. Download Document PDF. NOTE: Mistakes in the document discovered post-publication are corrected by errata pages which are available as PostScript replacement pages.
H Cloud Data Documentation
Young, A. H., Knapp, K. R., Inamdar, A., Hankins, W., and Rossow, W. B., 2018: The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project H-Series climate data record product. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 583-593, doi:10.5194/essd-10-583-2018.
Cloud Detection Algorithm Documentation
Rossow, W.B., F. Mosher, E. Kinsella, A. Arking, M. Desbois, E. Harrison, P. Minnis, E. Ruprecht, G. Seze, C. Simmer and E. Smith, 1985: ISCCP cloud algorithm intercomparison. J. Climate Appl. Meteor., 24, 877-903.
Rossow, W.B., L.C. Garder and A.A. Lacis, 1989: Global, seasonal cloud variations from satellite radiance measurements. Part I: Sensitivity of analysis. J. Climate, 2, 419-462.
Rossow, W.B., and L.C. Garder, 1993a: Cloud detection using satellite measurements of infrared and visible radiances for ISCCP. J. Climate, 6, 2341-2369. Read abstract.
Rossow, W.B., and L.C. Garder, 1993b: Validation of ISCCP cloud detections. J. Climate, 6, 2370-2393. Read abstract.
Rossow, W.B., A.W. Walker, and L.C. Garder, 1993: Comparison of ISCCP and other cloud amounts. J. Climate, 6, 2394-2418. Read abstract.
Cloud Property Retrieval Documentation
Rossow, W.B., 1989: Measuring cloud properties from space: A review. J. Climate, 2,201-213. Read abstract.
Rossow, W.B., and A.A. Lacis, 1990: Global, seasonal cloud variations from satellite radiance measurements. Part II: Cloud properties and radiative effects. J. Climate, 3, 1204-1253.
Seze, G., and W.B. Rossow, 1991b: Effects of satellite data resolution on measuring the space-time variations of surfaces and clouds. Int. J. Remote Sensing, 12, 921-952.
Han, Q.-Y., W.B. Rossow, and A.A. Lacis, 1994: Near-global survey of effective cloud droplet radii in liquid water clouds using ISCCP data. J. Climate, 7, 465-497.
Lin, B., and W.B. Rossow, 1994: Observations of cloud liquid water path over oceans - optical and microwave remote sensing methods. J. Geophys. Res., 99, 20,907-20,927.
Han, Q., W.B. Rossow, R. Welch, A. White and J. Chou, 1995: Validation of satellite retrievals of cloud microphysics and liquid water path using observations from FIRE. J. Atmos. Sci., 52, 4183-4195.
Liao, X., D. Rind, and W.B. Rossow, 1995a: Comparison between SAGE II and ISCCP high-level clouds, Part I: Global and zonal mean cloud amounts. J. Geophys. Res., 100, 1121-1135.
Liao, X., D. Rind, and W.B. Rossow, 1995b: Comparison between SAGE II and ISCCP high-level clouds, Part II: Locating cloud tops. J. Geophys. Res., 100, 1137-1147.
Rossow, W.B., B. Cairns, 1995: Monitoring changes of clouds. Clim. Change. 31, 305-347.
Wang, J., and W.B. Rossow, 1995: Determination of cloud vertical structure from upper air observations. J. Appl. Meteor., 34, 2243-2258.
Jin, Y., W.B. Rossow, and D.P. Wylie, 1996: Comparison of the climatologies of high-level clouds from HIRS and ISCCP. J. Climate., 9, 2850-2879.
Lin, B., and W.B. Rossow, 1996: Seasonal variation of liquid and ice water path in nonprecipitating clouds over oceans. J. Climate, 9, 2890-2902.
Mishchenko, M.I., W.B. Rossow, A. Macke, and A. Lacis, 1996: Sensitivity of cirrus cloud albedo, bidirectional reflectance and optical thickness retrieval accuracy to ice particle shape. J. Geophys. Res., 101, 16973-16985.
Jin, Y., and W.B. Rossow, 1997: Detection of cirrus overlapping low-level clouds. J. Geophys. Res. 102, 1727-1737.
Lin, B., B. Wielicki, P. Minnis, and W. Rossow, 1998: Estimation of water cloud properties from satellite microwave, infrared and visible measurements in oceanic environments: 1. Microwave brightness temperature simulations. J. Geophys. Res. 103, 3873-3886.
Han, Q., W.B. Rossow, J. Chou, K.-S. Huo, and R.M. Welch, 1999: The effects of aspect ratio and surface roughness on satellite retrievals of ice-cloud properties. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer. 63, 559-583.
Prigent, C., and W.R. Rossow, 1999: Retrieval of surface and atmospheric parameters over land from SSM/I: Potential and limitations. Q. J. Royal Meteor. Soc. 125, 2379-2400.
Stubenrauch, C.J., W.B. Rossow, F. Cheruy, A. Chédin, and N.A. Scott, 1999: Clouds as seen by satellite sounders (3I) and imagers (ISCCP). Part I. Evaluation of cloud parameters. J. Climate, 12, 2189-2213.
Stubenrauch, C.J., W.B. Rossow, N.A. Scott, and A. Chédin, 1999: Clouds as seen by satellite sounders (3I) and imagers (ISCCP). Part III: Spatial heterogeneity and radiative effects. J. Climate, 12, 3419-3442.
Wang, J., W.B. Rossow, T. Uttal, and M. Rozendaal, 1999: Variability of cloud vertical structure during ASTEX observed from a combination of rawinsonde, radar, ceilometer, and satellite. M. Weather Rev. 127, 2484-2502.
Wang, J., W.B. Rossow, and Y. Zhang, 2000: Cloud vertical structure and its variations from a 20-year global rawinsonde dataset. J. Climate, 13, 3041-3056.
Aires, F., C. Prigent, W.B. Rossow, and M. Rothstein, 2001: A new neural network approach including first-guess for retrieval of atmospheric water vapor, cloud liquid water path, surface temperature and emissivities over land from satellite microwave observations. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 14887-14907.
Prigent, C., J.R. Pardo, M.I. Mishchenko, and W.B. Rossow, 2001: Microwave polarized scattering signatures in clouds: Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) observations interpreted with radiative transfer simulations. J. Geophys. Res. 106, 28243-28258.
Luo, Z., W.B. Rossow, T. Inoue, and C.J. Stubenrauch, 2002: Did the eruption of the Mt. Pinatubo volcano affect cirrus properties? J. Climate 15, 2806-2820.
Rossow, W.B., C. Delo, and B. Cairns, 2002: Implications of the observed mesoscale variations of clouds for the Earth's radiation budget. J. Climate, 15, 557-585. Read abstract and download PDF document.
Workshop Reports
Report on the International Workshop on Research Uses of ISCCP Datasets that was held at NASA/GISS on 15-18 April 1996. Download document 97 Kbytes PostScript, 8 pp.
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