MACLWP_mean: Monthly Ocean Cloud Liquid Water Path from Multi-Sensor Satellites

Monthly 1.0-degree ocean-only estimates of cloud liquid water path derived from seven satellite sensors, including SSM/I and AMSR-2. The Multi-Sensor Advanced Climatology algorithm performs bias corrections and mitigates spurious trends from drifting satellite overpass times. This dataset, produced by NASA, also includes total water path and diurnal cycle climatologies.

Use Cases

• Analyzing monthly ocean cloud liquid water path trends based on the MACLWP_mean field
• Studying the diurnal cycle of cloud water based on the MACLWP_diurnal amplitude and phase fields
• Quality-screening cloud water path estimates using the total water path (MACTWP_mean) field as described
• Investigating the ratio of cloud to total water path for uncertainty assessment as per the referenced methodology

Strengths

• Algorithm uses input from seven satellite sensors for multi-sensor consistency
• Includes bias correction based on AMSR-E matchups to clear-sky MODIS scenes
• Simultaneously solves for monthly averages and diurnal cycles to mitigate spurious trends from satellite drift

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Data is ocean-only, limiting analysis over land masses

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Algorithm processes Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) Version 7 0.25-degree retrieval products from multiple satellite sensors.

Time Range

Monthly data; specific temporal coverage is not provided in the input.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 00:05:22.656473

Geography

Global ocean coverage at 1.0-degree spatial resolution.