Can someone explain to me what Cloud Fraction is? It is addon for Google earth from NASA.?

Question

Included on the download site is sea temperature, chlorophyll, snow cover and then cloud fraction. I downloaded it but I don't know how to use it. Not exacttly sure what chlorophyll is either, does that have some thing to do with global warming??

Answer 1

Cloud fraction measures the amount of cloud cover in the sky at any particular time. Since clouds affect how much sunlight and heat reach the earth, as well as how much daytime heat radiates back into space at night, it's important in understanding how this affects global warming.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Observatory/Datasets/cldfrc.isccp_c2.html

http://www.cloud-net.org/data/interpretation_cloud-fraction-model-grid-stats.html

Chlorophyll concentrations are generally restricted to algae and other vegetation growth in water (oceans, lakes, etc.) Again, this is useful in determining how water temperature, vegetation, currents, etc. affect marine life as well as humans.

http://www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems/coastal/chlorophyll.shtml

You might find this blog helpful:

http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2007/02/nasa_releases_more_e.html

plrr