Collaborative Research: Global Distribution of Diurnal Cycles and Long-term Changes in Cloud Amounts from Surface Observations

该项目将根据气象站收集的数据集汇编一份云的目录，包括陆地（1971年以后）和海洋（1952年以后）。要使用的基本海洋数据集很容易从COADS（由国家大气研究中心和国家海洋和大气管理局联合存档的综合海洋大气数据集）中获得。该地图集的编制将特别强调对气候研究有用的日周期、年际变率和长期趋势。天文台会提供有关总云量、低云量、三级云型（层云、层积云和雾）、高层云和高积云类型、观测时的天气情况（例如降水、雾）和云底高度等资料。白天和夜间的观测将分开。基于卫星的数据集将用于补充与形态上确定的云类型有关的光学特性。该项目产生的云目录预计将对科学界的气候变化研究非常有用；例如，改进对地球辐射收支的估计。

This project will result in a catalogue of clouds compiled from data sets gathered from weather stations, both land (from 1971 onward) and ocean (from 1952 onward). The basic ocean data set to be used is readily available from COADS (the Comprehensive Ocean Atmosphere Data Set jointly archived by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).The atlas will be compiled with special emphasis on diurnal cycles, interannual variability and long-term trends useful for climate studies. Information on total cloud cover, low cloud amount, cloud types at three levels (stratus, stratocumulus and fog), types altostratus and altocumulus, and present weather conditions at the time of observation (e.g., precipitation, fog), and cloud base height will be provided. Day and night-time observations will be separated. Satellite-based data sets will be used to supplement the catalogue with optical properties associated with morphologically defined types of cloud.The cloud catalogue arising from this project is expected to prove highly useful to the scientific community for climate change studies; for example, in improving estimates of the Earth's radiation budget.