Himawari-8 GeoCat 1.0.3 Australian Domain Level 2

This dataset contains derived satellite observations of cloud properties over the Australian region at hourly temporal resolution and 2 km spatial resolution. The Himawari-8 CSPPGeo Geocat collection Level-2 (L2) grid is on 2 km of horizontal resolution that includes Australia and the Maritime Continent. The L2 product include full output variables from CSPP-Geo Geocat and Advance Himawari Imagery on Himawari-8, 25, and 41 variables, respectively, with hourly temporal resolution for Austral summer months (Nov-March) from 01 November 2015 to 31 March 2020.

This dataset is produced using the Geostationary Cloud Algorithm Testbed (Geocat) together with pre-processed ancillary data. The tool used to apply Geocat is described here: http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/csppgeo/geocat.html.

The input data are Himawari-8 AHI retrievals v1.3, freely available from the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Meteorological Satellite Centre of JMA: https://www.data.jma.go.jp/mscweb/en/himawari89/space_segment/sample_hisd.html

Information on the ancillary data is available in the readme file.

L2 product includes the following variables:

• Cloud albedo
• Cloud Optical Depth
• Cloud Phase
• Cloud Type
• Low Cloud and Fog
• Cloud Particle Size Distribution
• Cloud Top Height
• Cloud Top Pressure
• Cloud Top Temperature
• Cloud Liquid Water Path
• Cloud Ice Water Path
• Clear Sky Masks

These variables are derived using the following algorithms:

• ACHA - ABI Cloud Height Algorithm
• DCOMP - Daytime Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties
• NCOMP - Nighttime Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties

This dataset is a product of the Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes Extreme rainfall research program.