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table1_1 table1_1

Table 1-1: GCOS targets for cloud properties ECVs. Note that the Cloud_cci doesn't meet the temporal requirements due to the nature of the satellite observations, but exceeds the spatial resolution and aims to achieve the uncertainty and stability requirements.

1.3 Data usage information

Cloud_cci and SLSTR ICDR products are provided in NetCDF (version 4), which are compliant with the conventions CF 1.8 and the NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords vocabulary. Filenames follow the structure:

C3S-312bL1-L3C-MONTHLY-CLOUD-INSTORACPLATFORM{}YYYYMM{_}_fvVVV.nc,

where INST and PLATFORM refer to the instrument and platform from which data originates (either ATSR2 and ERS2, or AATSR and ENVISAT for the CDR, or SLSTR and Sentinel-3a or -3b for the ICDR), YYYYMM provides the year and month covered by the monthly mean product, and VVV denotes the product version (3.0 for the TCDR, 3.1 for the ICDR).

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The list of cloud properties, the variable names used within the NetCDF data files and their units are given in Table 1-2.

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table1_2 table1_2

Table 1-2: Cloud properties included in Cloud_cci TCDR and SLSTR ICDR monthly products.

For lists and details of known issues and limitations of the data, the user is referred to the referenced ATBDs and papers in Section 1.1. In particular, it should be noted that the monthly mean is computed using data from sun-synchronous polar-orbiting satellites, with a relatively narrow swath. Thus, it cannot be considered a representation of the mean properties of clouds across the whole month for two reasons:

• The narrow swath of the (A)ATSR instruments means that it requires approximately three days of measurements to provide full global coverage.
• The sun-synchronous orbit used by ERS-2, ENVISAT and Sentinel-3, means that observations are made near two fixed local solar times At high latitudes temporal sampling becomes somewhat better, as adjacent orbits overlap.; 10:00 and 22:00 for the descending and ascending halves of the ENVISAT and Sentinel-3 orbit, and 10:30 and 22:30 for ERS-2. Thus, the diurnal cycle is poorly sampled.

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The target requirements for cloud observations are defined by the WMO Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) initiative, which defines and lays down targets for the observation of essential climate variables (ECVs). It should be noted that GCOS requirements are targets and are often not attainable using existing or historical observing systems. Table 2-1 provides an overview of the GCOS requirements for cloud properties.

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table2_1 table2_1

Table 2-1: GCOS targets for cloud ECVs. Note that the Cloud_cci doesn't meet the temporal requirements due to the nature of the satellite observations, but exceeds the spatial resolution and aims to achieve the uncertainty and stability requirements.

2.3 Data usage information

Cloud_cci products are provided in NetCDF (version 4), which are compliant with the conventions CF 1.8 and the NASA Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Science Keywords vocabulary. Filenames follow the structure:

C3S-312bL1-L3C-DAILY-CLOUD-INSTORACPLATFORM{}YYYYMMDD{_}fvVVV{_}.nc,

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table2_2 table2_2

Table 2-2: Cloud properties included in Cloud_cci TCDR and SLSTR ICDR daily products.

For lists and details of known issues and limitations of the data, the user is referred to the referenced ATBDs and papers in Section 1.1.

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