Properties of Identified Ship Tracks from Satellite and AIS Data

A manually curated database links ship tracks observed in satellite imagery to specific vessels using Automatic Identification System data. The dataset includes ship emission rates, cloud microphysical properties, and local meteorology from MODIS and ERA5 reanalysis. It was compiled by Rodrigo Quilelli Correa Rocha Ribeiro at Imperial College London.

Use Cases

• Modeling aerosol-cloud interactions based on SOx emission rates and cloud droplet number concentrations.
• Analyzing the relationship between ship emissions and cloud properties based on linked AIS and satellite data.
• Studying the impact of local meteorology on ship track formation based on boundary layer height and low tropospheric stability.
• Classifying cloud coupling states based on the cloud base height indicator flag.

Strengths

• Data integrates multiple sources: satellite imagery, ship AIS data, and meteorological reanalysis.
• Ship tracks are manually identified and linked to specific generating vessels.
• Includes calculated variables like mass emission rates and cloud droplet number concentration.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Imperial College London

Collection Method

Manual identification from MODIS satellite imagery, assisted by AIS data and ERA5 reanalysis.