Variation in Tropical Deep Convection Observed by PATMOS-x from 1979 to 2014

Abstract:

The AVHRR PATMOS-x data provides global satellite imager observations from 1979 to 2014 and is hosted at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The Pathfinder Atmospheres Extended (PATMOS-x) provides observations from 0.6 to 12 microns with spatial resolution of 4km (sampled every 10 km) and a temporal resolution of 4 times per day. We have written tools to analyze PATMOS-x observations and cloud properties to estimate the areal extent of deep convective clouds, their intensity and their location. We will apply these tools to PATMOS-x in the Tropics and study the variability of these metrics over the past 3 decades. Our goal is to contribute to the WCRP Grand Challenge Questions regarding Clouds, Circulation and Climate Sensitivity. In addition, we will also apply geostationary versions of PATMOS-x over shorter periods to verify the findings from the longer AVHRR data which has limited and variable temporal sampling.