International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project
Name	International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project
Abbreviation	ISCCP
Established	1982
Discipline	Satellite remote sensing
Headquarters	unknown
Website	none

Contents

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project is a long-term international program to collect and analyze satellite radiance data for global cloud studies, linking observational records from polar-orbiting and geostationary platforms. It synthesizes inputs from agencies and missions such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program to produce multi-decadal cloud climatologies. The project underpins research in climate change, weather prediction, and radiative transfer, informing assessments by bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and World Meteorological Organization.

Overview

ISCCP created standardized, global cloud datasets by merging observations from diverse instruments aboard satellites including Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, Meteosat, GOES-8, NOAA-AVHRR, and Himawari. The datasets characterize cloud amount, optical thickness, cloud-top pressure, and cloud phase across gridboxes used by models such as those from Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services, Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, and National Center for Atmospheric Research. These products provide inputs to studies by research centers including NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

ISCCP was initiated as part of the World Climate Research Programme and coordinated with initiatives like Global Energy and Water Exchanges project and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme. Early development involved collaborations among institutions such as NASA, NOAA, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and Canadian Space Agency. Key milestones include algorithm design driven by teams at University of Wisconsin–Madison, calibration efforts referencing missions like Nimbus 7, and dataset releases that responded to critiques from groups including Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change authors and investigators at University of Reading. Over decades the project updated processing to accommodate instruments from Meteosat Second Generation, GOES-R Series, and Suomi NPP.

ISCCP methodology combined radiance intercalibration, cloud detection, and cloud property retrievals using radiative transfer frameworks developed by researchers at Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Core products include gridded cloud amount and cloud-type time series at multiple spatial and temporal resolutions used by centers such as European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and Hadley Centre. Ancillary datasets included surface albedo, outgoing longwave radiation, and fluxes that supported studies by Princeton University, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley. Processing chains integrated data from sensors like AVHRR, SEVIRI, MODIS, and calibration references such as Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics measurements.

ISCCP datasets contributed to quantifying cloud feedbacks central to assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, advancing understanding of cloud radiative forcing studied at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Applications span validation of climate models at institutions like Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and Met Office Hadley Centre, assimilation into reanalysis projects including ERA-Interim and MERRA-2, and evaluation of satellite missions by groups at NOAA and NASA Ames Research Center. ISCCP informed regional studies undertaken at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and CSIRO Land and Water, and supported investigations of phenomena such as El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, and Arctic amplification.

ISCCP functioned through governance and steering by entities including the World Meteorological Organization, International Council for Science, World Climate Research Programme, and national space agencies like NASA and ESA. Scientific input and peer review involved universities and research laboratories such as University of Colorado Boulder, University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and California Institute of Technology. Data distribution relied on archives managed by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and international data centers associated with European Space Agency and national meteorological services including UK Met Office.

ISCCP faced methodological challenges linked to sensor calibration drift, inter-satellite differences, and algorithmic assumptions critiqued by researchers at University of Washington, University of Tokyo, and Imperial College London. Debates involved discrepancies between ISCCP-derived trends and in situ cloud observations reported by groups at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and University of Reading, and contrasts with cloud products from MODIS and active sensors like CloudSat and CALIPSO. Concerns over temporal homogeneity and sampling biases prompted reanalysis efforts by NOAA and comparisons with reprocessed datasets from NASA and ESA as well as methodological improvements by teams at Princeton University and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Category:Satellite meteorology