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Cloud Fraction Retrieval Utilizing Whole Sky Imagers

Tooman, T.P., Sandia National Laboratories; Moore, S., and Sowle, D., Mission Research Corporation; Shields, J., Marine Physical Laboratory
Eighth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Science Team Meeting

Long-term statistics on cloud cover and cloud thickness are desirable for understanding how clouds affect climate. We are attempting to use images collected by the Whole Sky Imager (WSI) to extract this information. For nighttime retrieval, we intend to develop algorithms and software to detect star occultations due to clouds. For daytime retrievals, we intend to develop an appoach based on sky radiance variations. We have implemented software to detect star locations, to map image pixel space to celestial coordinates, and to predict the location of celestial objects at the time of image acquisition.