ESA Cloud Climate Change Initiative (Cloud_cci): AVHRR-PM monthly gridded cloud properties, version 3.0

The Cloud_cci AVHRR-PMv3 dataset (covering 1982-2016) was generated within the Cloud_cci project, which was funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the ESA Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme (Contract No.: 4000109870/13/I-NB). This dataset is one of the 6 datasets generated in Cloud_cci; all of them being based on passive-imager satellite measurements.This dataset is based on measurements from AVHRR (onboard the NOAA-7, NOAA-9, NOAA-11, NOAA-14, NOAA-16, NOAA-18, NOAA-19 satellites) and contains a variety of cloud properties which were derived employing the Community Cloud retrieval for Climate (CC4CL; Sus et al., 2018; McGarragh et al., 2018) retrieval framework. The core cloud properties contained in the Cloud_cci AVHRR-PMv3 dataset are cloud mask/fraction, cloud phase, cloud top pressure/height/temperature, cloud optical thickness, cloud effective radius and cloud liquid/ice water path. Spectral cloud albedo is also included as experimental product. The cloud properties are available at different processing levels: This particular dataset contains Level-3C (monthly averages and histograms) data, while Level-3U (globally gridded, unaveraged data fields) is also available as a separate dataset. Pixel-based uncertainty estimates come along with all properties and have been propagated into the Level-3C data. The data in this dataset are a subset of the AVHRR-PM L3C / L3U cloud products version 3.0 dataset produced by the ESA Cloud_cci project available from https://dx.doi.org/10.5676/DWD/ESA_Cloud_cci/AVHRR-PM/V003. To cite the full dataset, please use the following citation: Stengel, Martin; Sus, Oliver; Stapelberg, Stefan; Finkensieper, Stephan; Würzler, Benjamin; Philipp, Daniel; Hollmann, Rainer; Poulsen, Caroline (2019): ESA Cloud Climate Change Initiative (ESA Cloud_cci) data: Cloud_cci AVHRR-PM L3C/L3U CLD_PRODUCTS v3.0, Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), DOI:10.5676/DWD/ESA_Cloud_cci/AVHRR-PM/V003.