GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document For Low Cloud and Fog

Transcription

1 NOAA NESDIS CENTER for SATELLITE APPLICATIONS and RESEARCH GOES-R Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document For Low Cloud and Fog Corey Calvert, UW/CIMSS Mike Pavolonis, NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Version 1.0 September 15, 2010

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION Purpose of This Document Who Should Use This Document Inside Each Section Related Documents Revision History OBSERVING SYSTEM OVERVIEW Products Generated Product Requirements Instrument Characteristics ALGORITHM DESCRIPTION Algorithm Overview Processing Outline Algorithm Input Primary Sensor Data Derived Data Ancillary Data Radiative Transfer Models Theoretical Description Physics of the Problem Mathematical Description Fog Property Metrics The 3.9 µm Pseudo-emissivity Radiometric Surface Temperature Bias Spatial Uniformity Cloud Mask and Phase Assessing Fog Probability Nighttime Probability Nighttime Fog Probability LUT s Daytime Probability Daytime Fog/Low Cloud Probability LUT Constructing Cloud Objects Fog Object Membership Criteria Fog Probability Cloud Objects Radiometric Surface Temperature Bias Cloud Objects Fog Object Statistics Fog Probability Objects Daytime Fog Probability Object Statistics Nighttime Fog Probability Object Statistics Fog Object Statistics Radiometric Surface Temperature Statistics Daytime Radiometric Surface Temperature Bias Object Statistics Nighttime Radiometric Surface Temperature Bias Object Statistics 47 2

3 Object-Based Fog Decision Logic Daytime Fog Decision Logic Fog Decision Logic for Fog Probability Cloud Objects µm Reflectance CDF µm Reflectance Spatial Uniformity CDF µm Reflectance CDF Standard Deviation of the 3.9/0.65 µm Reflectance Ratio Surface Temperature Bias Fog Decision Logic for Radiometric Surface Temperature Bias Cloud Objects µm Reflectance CDF µm Reflectance CDF Standard Deviation of the 11 µm BT Standard Deviation of the 3.9/0.65 µm Reflectance Ratio Nighttime Fog Decision Logic Fog Decision Logic for Fog Probability Cloud Objects µm BT Spatial Uniformity CDF Surface Temperature Bias CDF Determining Fog Depth Daytime Fog Depth Nighttime Fog Depth Mathematical Description Algorithm Output Quality Flags (QF) Product Quality Information (PQI) Product Metadata TEST DATA SETS AND OUTPUTS Simulated/Proxy Input Data Sets GOES-12 Data Surface Observations SODAR Data Output from Simulated/Proxy Inputs Data Sets Precisions and Accuracy Estimates Error Budget Fog/Low Cloud Detection Error Budget Fog/Low Cloud Thickness Error Budget PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS Numerical Computation Considerations Programming and Procedural Considerations Quality Assessment and Diagnostics Exception Handling Algorithm Validation ASSUMPTIONS AND LIMITATIONS Performance Assumed Sensor Performance Pre-Planned Product Improvements

4 6.3.1 Additional Capability to Run On SEVIRI Terminator Temporal Test REFERENCES

5 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 - High-level flowchart of the fog algorithm illustrating the main processing sections Figure 2 - The calculated skill score (blue line) obtained using the ems(3.9 µm) parameter (top) or BTD( µm) (bottom) when attempting to detect fog/low cloud alone. SEVIRI data were used in this analysis. The peak of the blue line represents the optimal threshold (x-axis) for each parameter, which resulted in the highest skill score. The red line represents the false alarm rate obtained using any given threshold. The dotted line represents the accuracy goal of the GOES-R fog/low cloud detection algorithm Figure 3 24-hour analysis of the clear sky, full disk radiometric surface temperature bias (GOES µm retrieved temperature modeled surface temperature) over land (top) and water (bottom) at each pixel s local solar time. The black lines and symbols represent the average temperature difference while the red error bars represent the standard deviation Figure 4 GOES-12 RGB image (top) and corresponding radiometric surface temperature bias (bottom) calculated over CONUS from January 28, 2007 at 7:45 UTC Figure 5 - GOES-12 false color image (top) using the 0.65, 3.9 and 11 µm channels with accompanying cloud type product (bottom) from the ABI cloud type algorithm. The cloud type category SC refers to super cooled-type clouds Figure 6 GOES-12 RGB image (top) and 3.9 µm pseudo-emissivity (bottom) over CONUS on January 28, 2007 at 7:45 UTC Figure µm surface emissivity over CONUS Figure µm surface emissivity greater than or equal to 0.90 (top) and less than 0.90 (bottom) Figure 9 - Nighttime fog probability LUT s for surface emissivities less than 0.90 (top) and greater than or equal to 0.90 (bottom) Figure 10 RGB image (top) and fog/low cloud probability (bottom) from the nighttime LUT applied to a GOES-12 scene over CONUS from December 13, Figure 11 RGB image (top) and the 3x3 pixel 11 µm BT spatial uniformity (bottom) calculated for a GOES-12 scene over CONUS on January 28, 2007 at 15:45 UTC. Gray areas are pixels flagged as either clear sky or ice cloud by the cloud phase algorithm Figure 12 Daytime fog probability look-up table Figure 13 RGB image (top) and fog/low cloud probability (bottom) from the daytime LUT applied to a GOES-12 scene over CONUS from December 13, 2009 at 17:45 UTC. Black areas indicate pixels flagged as ice cloud by the cloud phase algorithm. Gray areas indicate pixels flagged as being clear sky Figure 14 Daytime (top) and nighttime (bottom) GOES-12 scenes showing fog probabilities greater than 40% that are used to make up the cloud object mask from December 13, 2009 at 7:45 UTC (top) and 17:45 UTC (bottom). Black areas are pixels flagged as ice cloud by the cloud phase algorithm and gray pixels are those that have a probability less than 40%, both of which are not used to create cloud objects. These are the same scenes shown in Figure 10 and Figure

6 Figure 15 - False color RGB image (left) and surface temperature bias (right) of a valley fog scene over the Northeast U.S. from GOES-12 on September 17, 2007 at 13:15 UTC. The crosses on the false color RGB image indicate surface observations. Red crosses indicate ceilings that meet IFR ceiling criteria (fog/low cloud), green crosses indicate ceilings that do not meet IFR criteria (not fog/low cloud) Figure 16 - The surface temperature bias over land (left) when greater than K and water, mixed or super cooled clouds are flagged by the cloud type algorithm (right) (gray indicates areas where these conditions are not met) for the same GOES-12 valley fog scene as Figure 15 on September 17, 2007 at 13:15 UTC Figure 17 - CDF of the 0.65 µm reflectance for several manually chosen areas of fog/low cloud (red) and non-fog/low cloud (black). The green line represents where 50% of the pixels in the distribution have a 0.65 µm reflectance above the value it intersects the CDF Figure 18 - CDF of the 3x3 pixel 0.65 µm reflectance spatial uniformity for several manually chosen areas of fog/low cloud (red) and non-fog/low cloud (black). The green line represents where 50% of the pixels in the distribution have a 0.65 µm reflectance spatial uniformity above the value it intersects the CDF Figure 19 - CDF of the 3.9 µm reflectance for several manually chosen areas of fog/low cloud (red) and areas with unobstructed snow/ice (black). The green line represents where 50% of the pixels in the distribution have a 3.9 µm reflectance above the value it intersects the CDF Figure 20 - CDF of the surface temperature bias for several manually chosen areas of daytime fog/low cloud (red) and non-fog/low cloud (black). The green line represents where 50% of the pixels in the distribution have a surface temperature bias above the value it intersects the CDF Figure 21 - CDF of the 3x3 pixel 11 µm BT spatial uniformity for several manually chosen areas of fog/low cloud (red) and non-fog/low cloud (black). The green line represents where 50% of the pixels in the distribution have a spatial uniformity below the value it intersects the CDF Figure 22 - CDF of the surface temperature bias for several manually chosen areas of nighttime fog/low cloud (red) and non-fog/low cloud (black). The green line represents where 50% of the pixels in the distribution have a surface temperature bias above the value it intersects the CDF Figure 23 - False color image (top) using the 0.65, 3.9 and 11 µm channels for GOES-12 over CONUS on December 13, 2009 at 17:45 UTC along with the fog/low stratus detection and thickness output (bottom) from the ABI fog algorithm Figure 24 - Scatter plot of fog thickness measured by ground-based SODAR and ceiling heights vs. collocated 3.9 µm pseudo-emissivity from GOES Figure 25 - False color image (left) using the 3.9, 11 and 11 µm channels for GOES-12 over CONUS on December 13, 2009 at 7:45 UTC along with the fog/low stratus detection and thickness output (right) from the ABI fog algorithm Figure 26 - Schematic illustration of the logic employed to derive the fog/low stratus mask from the individual test results Figure 27 GOES-12 RGB image from 17:45 UTC on December 13, Figure 28 An example of SODAR data combined with cloud ceiling. The red dashed line represents the base of the atmospheric inversion (i.e., stratus top) and

7 Figure 29 Example results (using GOES-12) from the ABI fog/low cloud detection algorithm for December 13, The left side panels are RGB false color images for 5:45 UTC (top) and 17:45 UTC (bottom) from December 13, The panels on the right side show the corresponding fog/low cloud thickness results where the algorithm detected fog/low cloud Figure 30 A more detailed look at the fog/low cloud detection and thickness results shown in Figure 29 over CONUS Figure 31 GOES-12 RGB image for January 16, 2010 at 7:45 UTC with collocated surface observations (crosses). Collocated Surface observations flagged as either Figure 32 The ABI cloud type algorithm for the same scene as Figure Figure 33 ABI fog/low cloud detection validation skill scores using different thresholds of radiometric surface temperature bias to screen the surface observations. The green line represents the 100% F&PS fog/low cloud detection specification. The far left side of the curves represent the skill scores during the day, night and both combined, calculated using only surface observations with surface temperature biases > -15 K. The far right side of the curves represent the skill scores calculated using only observations with surface temperature biases > -3 K Figure 34 Scatter plot comparing measured fog thicknesses using SODAR and ceiling data with thicknesses output from the ABI fog/low cloud thickness algorithm for both day (left panel) and night (right panel)

8 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: F&PS requirements for GOES-R fog/low cloud products Table 2: Channel numbers and wavelengths for the ABI Table 3 Daytime cloud object statistics used to analyze the fog probability cloud objects. In this table, CDF is defined as Cumulative Distribution Function Table 4 Nighttime cloud object statistics used to analyze the fog probability cloud objects. In this table, CDF is defined as Cumulative Distribution Function Table 5 Daytime cloud object statistics used to analyze the radiometric surface temperature bias cloud objects. In this table, CDF is defined as Cumulative Distribution Function Table 6 - Table describing the fog/low stratus detection output from the ABI fog algorithm Table 7 A complete description of the fog/low cloud quality flag output is shown Table 8 A complete description of the fog/low cloud Product Quality Information (PQI) output is shown Table 9 A complete description of the fog/low cloud metadata output is shown Table 10 The Hanssen-Kuiper Skill Score (KSS) visualized using the GOES-R fog/low cloud detection algorithm as an example Table 12 ABI fog/low cloud detection validation statistics for December 13, 2009 including the probability of detection (POD), the false alarm rate (FAR) and the Hanssen- Kuiper skill score (KSS) Table 14 Same as Table 12 but for January 16, Table 16 Same as Table 12 but for both cases combined

9 LIST OF ACRONYMS ABI Advanced Baseline Imager AC Above Cloud ACT ABI Cloud Type AGL Above Ground Level ASOS Automated Surface Observing System AIADD Algorithm Interface and Ancillary Data Description ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement ATBD Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer BT Brightness Temperature CALIOP Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization CALIPSO Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation CDF Cumulative Distribution Function CONUS Continental United States DOD Department of Defense EOS Earth Observing System ESA European Space Agency F&PS Functional & Performance Specification FAA Federal Aviation Administration FAR False Alarm Rate GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite KSS Hanssen-Kuiper Skill Score LRC Local Radiative Center LUT Look-up Table MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer NASA National Aeronautics and Space Agency NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NWP Numerical Weather Prediction NWS National Weather Service POD Probability Of Detection POES Polar Operational Environmental Satellite PQI Product Quality Information QF Quality Flag SEVIRI Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager SODAR Sonic Detection And Ranging SSEC Space Science and Engineering Center STAR Center for Satellite Applications and Research TOA Top of Atmosphere 9

10 ABSTRACT This document provides a high level description of the physical basis of the fog/low cloud detection algorithm for the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), flown on the GOES- R series of NOAA geostationary meteorological satellites. The GOES-R fog/low cloud detection product is designed to quantitatively identify clouds that produce Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions, defined as having a cloud ceiling between 500 ft (152 m) and 1000 ft (305 m) above ground level (AGL), or Low Instrument Flight Rules (LIFR) conditions, defined as having a cloud ceiling below 500 ft (152 m) AGL. The GOES-R fog product does not differentiate between IFR and LIFR conditions, but rather returns a probability that the cloud ceiling is below 1000 ft (305 m) AGL. There are visibility requirements included in the IFR and LIFR definitions; however, surface visibility is not available for the GOES-R algorithm (the GOES-R surface visibility algorithm relies on the fog product described herein) and is therefore not used for the GOES-R fog/low cloud algorithm. At night, the algorithm utilizes the 3.9 and 11 µm channels to detect IFR conditions. Fog detection during the day is determined using the 0.65, 3.9, and 11 µm channels. The fog detection algorithm utilizes textural and spectral information, as well as the difference between the cloud radiative temperature and surface temperature. There are a few important caveats that users need to be aware of. Fog cannot be detected if there are higher cloud layers overlaying the fog layer. The GOES-R fog/low cloud product specifications reflect this fundamental limitation of passive remote sensing. Secondly, passive satellite measurements do not provide direct information on cloud base or ceiling, so the properties of the cloud layer actually sensed by the radiometer must be used to indirectly infer information on cloud base. Since the properties of the cloud base are not directly measured, variations in cloud base due to local boundary layer effects (e.g. local moisture sources/sinks and local turbulent mixing processes) generally will not be captured. Also, limited spatial resolution and errors in forecast model temperature data may make accurate fog/low cloud detection difficult in mountainous regions due to underlying terrain that may not be accurately accounted for. As such, not every surface observation underneath a GOES-R detected low cloud will necessarily indicate a ceiling of 1000 ft AGL or lower, but those surface observations that do not indicate LIFR or IFR will generally indicate Marginal Visual Flight Rules (MVFR) conditions, defined as having a cloud ceiling between 1000 ft (305 m) and 3000 ft (1515 m) AGL. In other words, the GOES-R fog/low cloud algorithm will rarely identify Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions, which is desirable. The GOES-R fog/low cloud detection algorithm is required to achieve a skill score (probability of detection probability of false alarm) of Validation efforts indicate the algorithm is close to meeting this specification. 10

11 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose of This Document The fog/low cloud detection algorithm theoretical basis document (ATBD) provides a high level description of the physical basis for detecting low cloud and fog, which produces Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions, with images taken by the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) flown on the GOES-R series of NOAA geostationary meteorological satellites. IFR conditions occur when the cloud base is 305 m (1000 ft) above ground level (AGL) or lower or surface visibility is less than 3 miles. Surface visibility is not available to the GOES-R fog/low cloud algorithm (the GOES-R surface visibility algorithm relies on the fog product described herein) so for this algorithm IFR conditions are defined as just having a ceiling less than 305 m (1000 ft) AGL. The fog/low stratus algorithm (herein called the fog algorithm) provides a binary mask, which indicates the presence or absence of fog/low cloud (IFR conditions) as well as fog/low cloud thickness within each ABI pixel. 1.2 Who Should Use This Document The intended users of this document are those interested in understanding the physical basis of the fog algorithm. This document also provides information useful to anyone maintaining or modifying the original algorithm. 1.3 Inside Each Section This document is broken down into the following main sections. System Overview: Provides relevant details of the ABI and provides a brief description of the products generated by the algorithm. Algorithm Description: Provides all the detailed description of the algorithm including its physical basis, its input and its output. Test Data Sets and Outputs: Provides a detailed description of the data sets used to develop and test the GOES-R ABI algorithm and describes the algorithm output. Practical Considerations: Provides a description of algorithm programming and quality control considerations. 11

12 Assumptions and Limitations: Provides an overview of the current limitations of the approach and gives the plan for overcoming these limitations with further algorithm development. 1.4 Related Documents GOES-R Functional & Performance Specification Document (F&PS) GOES-R ABI Fog/Low Cloud Detection Validation Plan Document Algorithm Interface and Ancillary Data Description (AIADD) Document 1.5 Revision History 9/30/ Version 0.1 of this document was created by Corey Calvert (UW- CIMSS). Version 0.1 represents the first draft of this document. 7/31/2010 Version 1.0 of this document was created by Corey Calvert (UW- CIMSS) and Michael Pavolonis (NOAA/NESDIS). In this revision, Version 0.1 was revised to meet 80% delivery standards. 9/15/2010 Version 1.0 of this document was revised by Corey Calvert (UW- CIMSS) and Michael J Pavolonis (NOAA/NESDIS/STAR). In this revision, Version 1.0 was revised based on reviewer comments. 12

13 OBSERVING SYSTEM OVERVIEW This section describes the products generated by the ABI fog algorithm and the requirements it places on the sensor. 1.6 Products Generated The fog algorithm is responsible for detecting fog/low clouds (those that produce Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) Conditions) and estimating its geometric thickness. The fog product requirements state that a binary mask indicating the presence or absence of fog be produced, along with an estimate of the geometric thickness of the fog (fog depth) Product Requirements The F&PS requirements for fog/low cloud are listed in Table 1. Table 1: F&PS requirements for GOES-R fog/low cloud products. Name Low Cloud and Fog User & Priority Geographic Coverage Temporal Coverage Qualifiers Product Extent Qualifier Cloud Cover Conditions Qualifier Product Statistics Qualifier GOES-R FD (full disk) Day and Night Quantitative out to at least 70 degrees LZA and qualitative beyond Clear conditions down to feature of interest (no high clouds obscuring fog) associated with threshold accuracy Over low cloud and fog cases with at least 42% occurrence in the region Vertical Resolution Horizontal Resolution Mapping Accuracy Measurement Range 0.5 km (Depth) 2 km 1 km Fog/No Fog 13

14 Measurement Accuracy Refresh Rate/Coverage Time Option (Mode 3) Refresh Rate Option (Mode 4) Data Latency Long-Term Stability Product Measurement Precision 70% Correct Detection 15 min 5 min 159 sec TBD Undefined for binary mask 1.7 Instrument Characteristics The fog algorithm will be applied to each earth located ABI pixel with valid L1b data. Table 2 summarizes the channels used by the fog algorithm. Even though the fog algorithm directly utilizes only a few channels, it indirectly utilizes many more ABI channels through its dependence on the ABI cloud mask, cloud phase, and daytime optical properties products. Channel Number Wavelength (µm) Used in Fog Detection Table 2: Channel numbers and wavelengths for the ABI. The fog algorithm relies on spectral tests and is therefore sensitive to any imagery artifacts or instrument noise. Due to the use of other cloud algorithms, any instrument- 14

15 related artifacts, which impact the cloud mask, cloud phase or cloud optical properties may impact the fog algorithm. The channel specifications are given in the F&PS section We are assuming the performance outlined in the F&PS during our development efforts. 15

16 ALGORITHM DESCRIPTION This section offers a complete description of the fog algorithm at its current level of maturity (which will improve with each revision). 1.8 Algorithm Overview The GOES-R fog/low cloud algorithm is designed to quantitatively identify clouds that produce Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions, defined as having a cloud ceiling between 500 ft (152 m) and 1000 ft (305 m) above ground level (AGL), or Low Instrument Flight Rules (LIFR) conditions, defined as having a cloud ceiling below 500 ft (152 m) AGL. The GOES-R fog product does not differentiate between IFR and LIFR conditions, but rather returns a probability that the cloud ceiling is below 1000 ft (305 m) AGL. There are visibility requirements included in the IFR and LIFR definitions; however, surface visibility is not available for the GOES-R algorithm (the GOES-R surface visibility algorithm relies on the fog product described herein) and is therefore not used for the GOES-R fog/low cloud algorithm. At night, the algorithm utilizes the 3.9 and 11 µm channels to detect IFR conditions. Fog detection during the day is determined using the 0.65, 3.9, and 11 µm channels. The fog detection algorithm utilizes textural and spectral information, as well as the difference between the cloud radiative temperature and surface temperature. The fog detection scheme is probabilistic in nature and utilizes advanced spatial analysis (cloud object analysis) to minimize false positive results. At night, the fog geometric thickness (fog depth) is estimated using a 3.9 µm based empirical relationship. During the day, fog depth is calculated using the ABI cloud Liquid Water Path (LWP) product and an assumption regarding the vertical distribution of cloud water. The ABI fog detection algorithm derives the following products listed in the F&PS Fog detection (a yes/no binary mask) Fog depth (the geometric thickness of the fog layer) Both of these products are derived at the pixel level. In addition, the fog detection algorithm derives the following products that are not included in the F&PS. Quality Flags (defined in section ) Product Quality Information (defined in section ) Metadata (defined in section ) 1.9 Processing Outline As discussed earlier, the fog algorithm is dependent on several cloud products. Thus, prior to calling the fog algorithm, the ABI cloud mask, cloud phase, and daytime cloud 16

17 optical properties must be generated. While the fog algorithm does not directly utilize output from the ABI cloud height algorithm, the daytime optical properties algorithm does depend on the cloud height output. As such, the algorithm processing precedence required to generate the fog products is as follows: ABI cloud mask ABI cloud phase/type ABI cloud height ABI daytime microphysical properties ABI fog detection. The fog detection algorithm requires at least 3 scan lines of ABI data due to the spatial analysis that is utilized in the algorithm. The processing outline of the fog detection algorithm is summarized in Figure 1. 17

18 Figure 1 - High-level flowchart of the fog algorithm illustrating the main processing sections. 18

19 1.10 Algorithm Input This section describes the input needed to process the fog algorithm. While the fog products are derived for each pixel, the use of spatial information requires knowledge of the surrounding pixels. In its current operation, the fog algorithm runs on segments of 200 scan-lines, but a minimum of 3 scan lines are required by the spatial analysis routines Primary Sensor Data The lists below contain the primary and derived sensor data used by the fog algorithm. By primary sensor data, we mean information that is derived solely from the ABI observations and geolocation information. Calibrated reflectances for ABI channels 2 (0.65 µm) and 7 (3.9 µm) Calibrated radiances for ABI channels 7 (3.9 µm) and 14 (11 µm) Calibrated brightness temperature for ABI channel 14 (11 µm) L1b quality information from calibration for ABI channels 2, 7, and 14 Space mask (is the pixel geolocated on the surface of the Earth?) Solar zenith angle Derived Data The following upstream ABI derived products are needed by the fog algorithm. ABI cloud mask output (product developed by cloud team) ABI cloud phase output (product developed by cloud team) ABI cloud Liquid Water Path (LWP) (product developed by the cloud team) Ancillary Data The following data lists and briefly describes the ancillary data required to run the fog algorithm. By ancillary data, we mean data that requires information not included in the ABI observations or geolocation data. Surface emissivity of ABI channels 7 (3.9 µm) and 14 (11 µm) A global database of monthly mean infrared land surface emissivity is required for ABI channels 7 and 14. The fog algorithm utilizes surface emissivity derived using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Emissivity is available globally at ten wavelengths (3.6, 4.3, 5.0, 5.8, 7.6, 8.3, 9.3, 10.8, 12.1, and 14.3 microns) with 0.05 degree spatial resolution (Seemann et al. 2008). The 19

20 ten wavelengths serve as anchor points in the linear interpolation to any wavelength between 3.6 and 14.3 microns. The monthly emissivities have been integrated over the ABI spectral response functions to match the ABI channels. This data set and the procedure for spectrally and spatially mapping it to the ABI are described in detail in Seemann et al. (2008) and the AIADD Document. Surface temperature Relative to other cloud types, fog has a very similar temperature as the surface. In order to identify clouds that have a similar temperature as the surface, surface temperature information from a Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model is required. While six-hour forecasts were used in the development of the fog detection algorithm, and, as such, are recommended, any forecast in the 0 to 24 hour range is acceptable. Details concerning the NWP data can be found in the AIADD Document Radiative Transfer Models The following lists and briefly describes the data that must be calculated by a radiative transfer model and derived prior to running the fog detection algorithm. See the AIADD Document for a more detailed description. Clear sky transmittance profiles for channels 7 and 14 The fog detection algorithm requires a profile of clear sky transmittance, where the transmittance at a given level in the profile is the upwelling clear sky transmittance integrated from that level to the top of the atmosphere. Clear sky radiance profiles for channels 7 and 14 The fog detection algorithm requires a profile of clear sky radiance, where the radiance at a given level in the profile is the upwelling clear sky radiance integrated from that level to the top of the atmosphere Theoretical Description Fog and low stratus detection is the process of determining which pixels contain clouds with bases below 305 m (1000 ft), where aviation Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) are in effect. The thickness of the fog/cloud is the vertical distance between the cloud base and the cloud top. The channel combination used to detect fog depends on the solar zenith angle. At night, the ABI fog detection algorithm directly utilizes the 3.9 (ABI channel 7) and 11 µm (ABI channel 14) channels. During the day, the fog detection algorithm directly utilizes the 0.65 (ABI channel 2), 3.9 (ABI channel 7), and 11 µm (ABI channel 14) channels. The central wavelength of each ABI channel will be used throughout this document in lieu of ABI channel numbers. 20