A Method for Estimating the Cloud Adjacency Effect on the Ground Surface Reflectance Reconstruction from Passive Satellite Observations through Gaps in Cloud Fields

Abstract

A method for estimating the cloud adjacency effect on the reflectance of ground surface areas reconstructed from passive satellite observations through gaps in cloud fields is proposed. The method allows one to estimate gaps of cloud fields in which the cloud adjacency effect can be considered small (the increment of the reflectance Δrsurf≤ 0.005). The algorithm is based on statistical simulation by the Monte Carlo method of radiation transfer in stochastic broken cloudiness with a deterministic cylindrical gap. An interpolation formula is obtained for the radius of the cloud adjacency effect that can be used for the reconstruction the ground surface reflectance in real time without calculations by the Monte Carlo method.