Observing Clouds in 4D with Multiview Stereophotogrammetry

Abstract

AbstractNewly installed stereo cameras ringing the Southern Great Plains (SGP) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) site in Oklahoma are providing a 4D gridded view of shallow clouds. Six digital cameras have been installed in pairs at a distance of 6 km from the site and with a spacing of 500 m between cameras in a pair. These pairs of cameras provide stereoscopic views of shallow clouds from all sides; when these data are combined, they allow for a complete stereo reconstruction. The result—the Clouds Optically Gridded by Stereo (COGS) product—is a 4D grid of cloudiness covering a 6 km × 6 km × 6 km cube at a spatial resolution of 50 m and a temporal resolution of 20 s. This provides a unique set of data on the sizes, lifetimes, and life cycles of shallow clouds. This type of information is critical for developing cloud macrophysical schemes for the next generation of weather and climate models.