Investigate Cloud and Convection Processes in Scs-Mc by Using Satellite Data

The South China Sea - Maritime Continent (SCS-MC) area is at the western Pacific warm pool. Due to its unique location, the convection is not only active but also with significant diurnal cycle, and has the characteristics of multiple scales of weather and climate regimes. On the other hand, Japanese Himawari-8 was launched in October 2014 and in operational mode since July 2015. It is the most advanced satellite in the geostationary orbit as of now, and with high quality 16-channels reflectance/radiances data at every 10 minutes temporal resolution. Therefore, this research is designed to use Himwari-8 data to investigate the clouds and convections and the associated variability in SCS-MC. Due to the lack of Himawari-8 optimal cloud products in the target region, the first year will investigate the estimation of cloud microphysical parameters from the synergistic use of NASA EOS A-Train Aqua’s MODIS, AIRS, CALIPSO and CloudSat data. The second year will focus on the validation and verification of retrieved cloud parameters. The preliminary analysis of cloud’s diurnal variability will be conducted as well. The third will consolidate the diurnal variability of clouds, and link to the convection system. It is anticipated to improve the knowledge and understanding to the clouds and convections in SCS-MC through the optimal use of meteorological satellite observation.