NEW HIGH-RESOLUTION CLOUD CLIMATOLOGY PRODUCTS FROM METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITES

This Phase I SBIR will investigate the feasibility of producing reliable High-Resolution Satellite Cloud Climatologies (HRSCC's) from meteorological satellite imagery. There is currently NO DoD HRSCC dtatbase which meets the requirements for medium and long-range cloud forecasts. The HRSCC's show the frequency of occurence of cloud cover, spatial distribution of clouds, and cloud cover amount, and can be stratified by cloud type and cloud height. They are produced from both archived and real-time data streams, and are produced exclusively from satellite imagery. Phase I will determine how HRSCC's can be produced from the USAF Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) digital imagery and will demonstrate how these new products can be applied to meet USAF operational requirements. These new high-resolution cloud products are unique, and rely on innovative image processing techniques to make use of current technology meteorological satellite imagery. We will demonstrate how HRSCC's can serve as both an assessment and foecast tool. We believe this type of product has the potential to become standard cloud climatology reference for DOD. There is excellant potential for long term product development with applications for both the DOD and civilian operations that are impacted by clouds.