Computer Tracking of Temperature-Selected Cloud Patterns.

摘要

Cloud-tracking experiments were performed with Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) infrared picture sequences after the images had been modified by deleting various threshold temperatures. The purpose was to assess the effectiveness of this type of image manipulation for segregating cloud layers for computer tracking. The temperature-threshold technique was found to be effective in a restricted range of situations where a single temperature threshold could be applied to isolate either a high-level or a low-level cloud pattern. These experiments showed that temperature thresholding is not applicable to routine use for all cloud layers. Rather it is an auxiliary tool more useful for diagnosis and development. An incidental result was the finding that all tracking algorithms appeared to underestimate speed of cloud patterns.