Cloud Archive User Service data (CLAUS)

General Info

Title:	Cloud Archive User Service data (CLAUS)
Type:	Data Entity
Sub-Type:	Measurement
Abbreviation:	CLAUS
Publication State:	published
The publication state of this metadata: 'old' - for redundant records; 'working' - for new/in progress records; 'published' - for records approaching maturity, which may still change, but should be available via the discovery services; and 'Published' for mature records that are unlikely to change and should be available via the discovery services.

URI:	http://badc.nerc.ac.uk/view/badc.nerc.ac.uk__ATOM__dataent_claus

Summary
A brief description of the data.

Global Brightness Temperature imagery from the Cloud Archive User Service project. This project produced a long time-series of global thermal infra-red imagery of the Earth using data from operational meteorological satellites, which was used in validating atmospheric General Circulation Models

Content
The actual data being described by this document. NB, in the case of data granules, this content may just be a reference to an ingested CSML or CDML file.

Introduction

The CLAUS project was co-ordinated by ESSC and involved all of the major climate modelling groups in Europe. The project was supported by the European Union under the IVth Framework Programme (Environment and Climate) and ran from April 1997 to December 1999.

The aim of the CLAUS project was to produce a long time-series of three-hourly global window channel thermal infra-red images of the Earth and to test the feasibility of using this in evaluating atmospheric General Circulation Models. The CLAUS archive currently spans the period 1st July 1983 - 30th June 2006. Responsibility for maintaining and updating the CLAUS archive resides with the Environmental Systems Science Centre (ESSC). Because the data are of wider use ESSC are making the CLAUS archive available generally.

The source data used in CLAUS are the level B3 (reduced resolution) 10 micron radiances from operational meteorological satellites participating in the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Programme (ISCCP) and were obtained from the NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center (LASDC). During the CLAUS project the B3 data were processed to create a uniform latitude-longitude grid (or image) of Brightness Temperature (BT) values at a spatial resolution of 0.5 by 0.5 degrees and temporal resolution of three hours. Information at the grid point level about the satellites used in generating each BT image, and the type of interpolation applied, was held in two supplementary quality files.

The B3 data are now being rigorously quality controlled to remove residual noise and navigation/calibration errors that were noticed in the original processing. The 0.5 degree resolution data are being updated and supplemented by a new product at one-third degree spatial resolution for use in process studies. These higher resolution data are also being used to create monthly animations for educational purposes.

Availability of data and file format

Data and software supplied to the BADC by ESSC are stored in the BADC CLAUS archive. These data are available for general use, subject to the terms and conditions of use described in the Access Restrictions section below.

CLAUS Documentation is as follows:

Access Restrictions

Access to this data is restricted. In order to gain access to the data, please apply for access to CLAUS data .

Links to further information

Picture Gallery

Information about the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program

Citation

Date of citation

Who to contact

If you would like to know more about the CLAUS data and how to obtain it from the BADC, you should contact us through the BADC support line.

For more detailed information about the CLAUS project, the methodology employed in creating the CLAUS archive and the characteristics of the data that might affect its use in applications, please contact the Project Scientist Dr. Gary J Robinson.

Lineage
Summary of the origins of the dataset, e.g.: "Dataset produced from NASA MODIS instrument on Terra and collected at the University of York's groundstation 1999-2003 and a copy provided to NEODC in June 2007".

Latest version of the CLAUS data (4.7) was acquired as is from Dr Gary Robinson (University of Reading) in December 2009.

Quality Statement
Description of the relative quality of the dataset.

Please see CLAUS User Guide for full details.

Author
The principal author of the actual underlying data. Only one author can be specified per atom; if there are multiple authors, these should be specified as 'contributors'. NB, an atom MUST have an author specified.

Name	email
Gary Robinson, University of Reading

Online References
Online references with a specific relationship to the data being described here. NB, if links are supplied they must be valid and include the transport protocol - e.g. 'http://blah.co.uk'. Also, note, three online references can be added at once; after these are added a further three may be specified - and so on.

Relation	Title
Download	CLAUS Data Directory
Documentation	CLAUS Data Version History
Documentation	CLAUS Picture Gallery
Documentation	CLAUS Data User Guide
Documentation	The ISCCP Website
Documentation	PGM file format explained
Apply for access	Apply for access to CLAUS
Logo	CLAUS Logo

Parent Data Entity
Define the parent of this record. There should probably only be one parent, but this is not enforced.

No data specified at present

Sub Data Entities
Lists all entities which have the current entity as their parent.

None

Associated Deployments

Parameters - summary

CLOUDCOVER	FREQUENCY	CLOUDAMOUNT	CLOUDS
ATMOSPHERE	EARTH SCIENCE	NULL

Parameters - details
Parameters to describe the data - with vocab URL and term IDs for further classification. Note, three parameters can be added at once; after these are added a further three may be specified - and so on.

Label	Vocab Term URL	Vocab Term ID
CLOUDCOVER	http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/null	NULL
FREQUENCY	http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/null	NULL
CLOUDAMOUNT	http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/null	NULL
CLOUDS	http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/P141	NULL
ATMOSPHERE	http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/P131	NULL
EARTH SCIENCE	http://vocab.ndg.nerc.ac.uk/term/P111	GCAT0001
NULL	general_units	0

Data Coverage
Summary of the temporal and spatial data coverage for the data.

Spatial coverage
Max Y: 90.0
Min X: -180.0	Max X 180.0
Min Y -90.0

Temporal coverage
Start Date:	1983-07-01
End Date:	1994-12-31

Spatial resolution

No spatial resoultion information available.

Vertical extent

No vertical extent information available.

Responsible Parties
Parties responsible for the metadata - e.g. data curator. Responsible parties can have a role specified to make their function clearer. Multiple responsible parties can be specified.

Role	Name	URI
Data Curator	badc.nerc.ac.uk	http://badc.nerc.ac.uk

Other Info
Other miscellaneous information. Note, update frequency relates to the update frequency of the underlying data, not the metadata.

Dataset language

English

Update frequency

asNeeded

Links and Services
	Downloadable XML version of this record

Not all information in this record may be rendered in this view. Please see the XML version for complete content

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