SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY JOURNAL

Volume 12, No. 02, Month MAY, Year 2018, Pages 69 - 76

Mapping of cloud cover from satellite data over thailand

Doojdao Charuchittipan, Serm Janjai, Noppamas Pretummasoot, Sumaman Buntoung, Sahussa Peengam

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In this study, an empirical model for estimating cloud cover from satellite data was developed. The Skyview instruments were installed at four stations located in Chiang Mai (18.78°N, 98.98°E), Ubon Ratchathani (15.25°N, 104.87°E), Nakhon Pathom (13.82°N, 100.04°E) and Songkhla (7.20°N, 100.60°E) in order to record the images of the sky. A five-year period (2009-2013) of the cloud cover derived from the sky images and cloud index derived from MTSAT–1R satellite data were acquired. Based on these data, a model relating the cloud cover to the cloud index was formulated. To validate its performance, the model was used to calculate cloud cover at the four stations during a two-year period (2014-2015). It was found that the measured and calculated cloud cover data were in reasonable agreement with root mean square differences (RMSD) and mean bias difference (MBD) of 12.9% and 3.5%, respectively. Finally, the model was used to calculate cloud cover over Thailand and the results were shown as maps.

Keywords

cloud cover, model, satellite data, skyview

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