Variability of Cloud Parameters from Satellite Data

Abstract

A method for analyzing the variability of characteristics of different cloud types is developed using the results of cloud classification and thematic processing of satellite data. To increase the efficiency of the proposed approach, 16 cloud types were identified during the periods of snow cover absence, and 12 cloud types, in its presence; parallel computation methods on the general-purpose graphic processor units were used. The results of studying the frequency of various cloud types and variations in their parameters over the latitude zones of 50°–60° and 60°–70° N in the Tomsk oblast in 2017 are analyzed. The episodes with the deviation from the annual course are considered for a number of characteristics of several cloud types.