Past studies based on the NOAA/AVHRR and GOES I-M imager instruments have documented the link between certain storm top features referred to as the “cold-U/V” shape in the 10–12 μm IR band imagery and plumes of increased 3.7/3.9 μm band reflectivity. Later, similar features in the 3.7/3.9 μm band have been documented in the AVHRR/3 1.6 μm band imagery. The present work focuses on storm top obse...

Automated cloud detection and tracking is an important step in assessing global climate change via remote sensing. Cloud masks, which indicate whether individual pixels depict clouds, are included in many of the data products that are based on data acquired onboard earth satellites. Many cloud-mask algorithms have the form of decision trees, which employ sequential tests that scientists designe...

The German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) TIMELINE project (“Time Series Processing of Medium Resolution Earth Observation Data Assessing Long-Term Dynamics in our Natural Environment”) aims to develop an operational processing and data management environment to process 30 years of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—Advanced Very High-Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) raw data into Le...