ISCCP Stage DX: Pixel-Level Cloud Properties from Satellite Radiance

ISCCP_DX_1 contains 3-hourly, 30 km resolution satellite image projection data from up to five geostationary and two polar orbiting satellites. The pixel-level product includes calibrated radiances, cloud detection results, and cloud and surface properties from radiative analysis. The dataset was produced by the World Climate Research Program's International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, established in 1982, with data collection starting in 1983.

Use Cases

• Parameterizing clouds in climate models based on global cloud climatology derived from radiance data.
• Analyzing diurnal, seasonal, and inter-annual variations in cloud properties based on 3-hourly global distributions.
• Studying the Earth's radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere and surface based on calibrated radiances.
• Improving understanding of the global hydrological cycle based on cloud and surface property retrievals.

Strengths

• Data collection is complete, providing a finalized global record.
• Pixel-level analysis at a nominal resolution of 30 km and 3 hours.
• Combines satellite-measured radiances with atmospheric temperature-humidity and ice/snow correlative data sets.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is stored in binary format (BIN), which may require specialized tools for access and processing.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite radiance measurements collected and analyzed by an international group of institutions.

Time Range

Data collection started in 1983, with a first phase from 1983-1995 and a second phase from 1995 onward.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 01:14:30.729953; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Global coverage.