Seasonal and Interannual Changes in Cloud Amount over the Western Pacific

Variation in the Atmospheric Circulation over Asia and the Western Pacific Associated with the 40-day Oscillation of the Indian Summer Monsoon

“…The existence of a 30-60 day oscillation over this area can also be confirmed in the power spectra of OLR by Nakazawa (1986). Takeda and Ikeyama (1985) and Ikeyama and Takeda (1988) found that a period of about 30 days is dominant in the cloudiness field over this area (around 30*N and 150*E) during the summers of 1978 through 1984. Relatively high ratios (>30 %) are also found over the area between 140*E and 150*E, along 40*N and in the area north of the Tibetan Plateau (50-60*N and 70-80*E).…”

Air truth validation of cloud albedo estimated from NOAA advanced very high resolution radiometer data

“…The observation area is located in the vicinity of Amami-Ohshima Islands (28ø23'N, 129ø30'E), which is the southern part of Japan off the coast of the Asian continent. In this area, stratiform clouds are frequently formed at the top of the planetary boundary layer in winter seasons, resulting from outbreaks of cold air mass over the warm sea [Asai and Nakamura, 1978;Nakamura and Asai, 1985;Ikeyama and Takeda, 1988]. These clouds are generally single-layer optically thick clouds, and a strong inversion produces flat cloud top structure at about 2 km or less in height.…”