Brief description
This product is part of the daytime cloud mask and properties collection, which was generated for daytime Himawari-8/9 imagery using the Qin et al. (2019) algorithm for the Australian continent and surrounding waters. The product is provided here in a regular latitude/longitude grid. It is also available in the original Himawari (geostationary) projection (WGS84, sub-satellite longitude = 140.7°E and satellite altitude = 35785863 meters). Please contact the authors for accessing the data, which is located on the Australian National Computational Infrastructure (NCI). Currently, a near-real-time algorithm/processor is being developed to improve data availability, and to extend production to Himawari-10 (2028-2045).
Lineage
As part of the cloud mask and properties collection, this product was generated using an algorithm independently developed by CSIRO based on a time-series analysis approach. Discussion of the algorithm can be found in Qin et al. (2019).
Notes
CreditWe at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
We at the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
This work was funded by TERN, an Australian Government NCRIS (National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy) enabled project, and is supported using TERN infrastructure. The research was undertaken at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) collaboratively among research units (Environment, Energy, Agriculture and Food). The authors acknowledge the resources and services received from NCI and CSIRO HPC (High Performance Computing). We appreciate the support by Japan Meteorology Agency (JMA) and Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) in providing Himawari data.
The Himawari satellite series offers a unique opportunity to monitor sub-daily processes on Earth and in its atmosphere over Asia and Oceania, due to its unprecedented 10-minute temporal resolution as well as improved spatial and spectral resolutions compared to the previous generations of Japanese geostationary satellites and sensors (i.e., MTSAT series) which Australian researchers are kindly provided access through a JMA-BoM agreement.
This product provides an estimation of the cloud optical depth on a pixel (~2 km) level. When there is no cloud the estimation of aerosol optical depth (0.55 𝜇m) is provided. This product may be used together with the cloud / aerosol type product (HIM_CLD_Day_Type).
Data Quality Assessment Scope
local :
dataset
<p>Assessment of data quality was conducted by comparing with ground measured incoming surface solar radiation data including the global (total) downward irradiance and the directly and diffusely transmitted components. </p>
Cloud cover in the Australian region: Development and validation of a cloud masking, classification and optical depth retrieval algorithm for the Advanced Himawari Imager.
doi :
https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2019.00020
Data Quality Assessment Result
local :
Quality Result
<p>By comparing measured downward directly transmitted irradiance with that calculated using the retrieved optical depth and cloud / aerosol type, it shows a mean positive bias of about 7%, i.e., an overestimation of about 7%. By correcting this bias, the mean relative error in diffusely transmitted irradiance is reduced from ~50% to ~20%, and the mean relative error in directly transmitted irradiance is reduced from ~32% to ~22%.</p>
Created: 2025-11-24
Issued: 2026-03-11
Modified: 2026-03-23
Data time period: 2015-07-01
text: Australia
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Point-of-truth metadata URL
Qin, Y., Steven, A.D.L., Schroeder, T., McVicar, T.R., Huang, J., Cope, M. and Zhou, S.Z. (2019) Cloud cover in the Australian region: Development and validation of a cloud masking, classification and optical depth retrieval algorithm for the Advanced Himawari Imager. Frontiers in Environmental Science. 7(20) doi:10.3389/fenvs.2019.00020
- global : 15853159-5ac1-4d3c-b928-514691c15fca
- URI : geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/15853159-5ac1-4d3c-b928-514691c15fca
