Cloud Observation and Cloud Cover Calculation at Nighttime Using the Automatic Cloud Observation System (ACOS) Package

Abstract

An Automatic Cloud Observation System (ACOS) and cloud cover calculation algorithm were developed to calculate the cloud cover at night, and the calculation results were compared with the cloud cover data of a manned observatory (Daejeon Regional Office of Meteorology, DROM) that records human observations. Annual and seasonal analyses were conducted using the 1900–0600 local standard time (LST) hourly data from January to December 2019. Prior to calculating the cloud cover of ACOS, pre-processing was performed by removing surrounding obstacles and correcting the distortion caused by the fish-eye lens. In addition, the red–blue ratio (RBR) threshold was determined, according to the image characteristics (RBR and luminance) using the red, green, and blue (RGB) brightness value of the area in which the solar zenith angle (SZA) was less than 80°, to calculate the cloud cover. The calculated cloud cover exhibited a bias of −0.28 tenths, root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.78 tenths, and a correlation coefficient of 0.91 for DROM across all cases. The frequency of the cases that exhibited differences less than 1 tenth between the observed and calculated cloud cover was 46.82%, while the frequency of cases that exhibited differences less than 2 tenths was 87.79%.