Clouds over the Pacific Coast of Guatemala as viewed by Astronauts in Space Shuttle (STS103)
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The satellite derived cloud climatology product quantifies how often clouds are observed over a particular location at a specified time of observation. Frequency of occurrence of clouds (FOC), defined as the percentage of observations for which clouds are observed to be present over a particular location, is computed for monthly and decadal (10-day) periods. For a monthly time period FOC of 50% means clouds were observed over a particular location 15 out of 30 days, while for a decadal time period it means clouds were observed for 5 out of 10 days.

Since cloud cover impacts the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface, cloud climatology has several environmental management applications. Cloud climatology is useful for land management planners, for example, wanting to identify farming areas that require shade such as shade coffee. FOC along with terrain information can also be used to identify potential cloud forest areas. Click here for a detailed technical description of the cloud climatology product. Click on the SERVIR Data Portal icon and type the in keyword "Weather" to view all related weather data products. Click on the links below for other related products.

Mesoamerican Cloud Climatology Products
• Click on the Realtime Image Viewer icon to
view and animate Cloud Climatology products
• Click on the SERVIR-VIZ icon to download and
install a 3D earthviewer to view, animate, and
compare these products with other datasets
• Click on the SERVIR Data Portal icon and
type the in keyword "Weather" to view all related weather data products.
• Nair U. S., J. A. Rushing, R. Ramachandran, K. S. Kuo, R. M. Welch and S. J. Graves,
Detection of cumulus cloud fields in satellite imagery. Earth Observing Systems IV,
William L. Barnes, Editor, Proceedings of SPIE, 3750, 345-355, 1999.
• International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP)