Removing Satellite Equatorial Crossing Time Biases from the OLR and HRC Datasets

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Abstract
The objective of this study is to examine the impacts from satellite equatorial crossing time (ECT) changes on the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and highly reflective cloud (HRC) datasets and to design appropriate and robust methods to remove these satellite-dependent biases. The OLR record covers the period from June 1974 to July 1996 and is on a 2.5° grid extending from 30°S to 30°N over the global Tropics. The HRC record covers the period from January 1971 to December 1987 and is on a 2° grid extending from 25°S to 25°N over the global Tropics. Rotated empirical orthogonal function analysis (REOF) is performed on both the monthly OLR and HRC anomalies to help distinguish between artificial modes of variability and those associated with real variability. Results from the analysis show that significant errors are introduced by changes in the satellite ECT, and they appear differently in the two datasets. The primary satellite-related bias in the OLR appears as the fourth REOF mode, which acc... Abstract The objective of this study is to examine the impacts from satellite equatorial crossing time (ECT) changes on the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and highly reflective cloud (HRC) datasets and to design appropriate and robust methods to remove these satellite-dependent biases. The OLR record covers the period from June 1974 to July 1996 and is on a 2.5° grid extending from 30°S to 30°N over the global Tropics. The HRC record covers the period from January 1971 to December 1987 and is on a 2° grid extending from 25°S to 25°N over the global Tropics. Rotated empirical orthogonal function analysis (REOF) is performed on both the monthly OLR and HRC anomalies to help distinguish between artificial modes of variability and those associated with real variability. Results from the analysis show that significant errors are introduced by changes in the satellite ECT, and they appear differently in the two datasets. The primary satellite-related bias in the OLR appears as the fourth REOF mode, which acc...

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