MISR: a new way to look at clouds

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) on-board EOS-Terra is the first high-resolution imager to make global, near-simultaneous, multispectral, multi-angle radiometric measurements of the Earth (Diner et al. 1998). Its unique ability to retrieve combined spectral and angular signatures allows the authors to exploit both the spectral and angular information content of the upwelling radiation field in order to remotely sense properties of the Earth-atmosphere system. This paper highlights two of MISR's unique ways of studying clouds: (1) a stereoscopic capability to derive cloud-top heights and to detect cloud, and (2) the first application of band-differenced angular signatures to detect thin cirrus clouds.