Image-based retrieval of all-day cloud physical parameters for FY4A/AGRI and its application over the Tibetan Plateau

TL;DR

This study developed a transfer learning model using satellite thermal infrared data to accurately and efficiently retrieve cloud physical parameters all day over the Tibetan Plateau, surpassing existing products in precision and speed.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel image-based transfer learning approach that combines geostationary and polar satellite data for high-precision, all-day cloud parameter retrieval, with applications over complex terrains.

Findings

Achieved nearly 80% accuracy in cloud phase identification.

Outperformed official AGRI and AHI products in retrieval precision.

Enabled detailed analysis of cloud variations over the Tibetan Plateau.

Abstract

Satellite remote sensing serves as a crucial means to acquire cloud physical parameters. However, existing official cloud products derived from the advanced geostationary radiation imager (AGRI) onboard the Fengyun-4A geostationary satellite suffer from limitations in computational precision and efficiency. In this study, an image-based transfer learning model (ITLM) was developed to realize all-day and high-precision retrieval of cloud physical parameters using AGRI thermal infrared measurements and auxiliary data. Combining the observation advantages of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, ITLM was pre-trained and transfer-trained with official cloud products from advanced Himawari imager (AHI) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), respectively. Taking official MODIS products as the benchmarks, ITLM achieved an overall accuracy of 79.93% for identifying cloud phase and root mean squared errors of 1.85 km, 6.72 um, and 12.79 for estimating cloud top height, cloud effective radius, and cloud optical thickness, outperforming the precision of official AGRI and AHI products. Compared to the pixel-based random forest model, ITLM utilized the spatial information of clouds to significantly improve the retrieval performance and achieve more than a 6-fold increase in speed for a single full-disk retrieval. Moreover, the AGRI ITLM products with spatiotemporal continuity and high precision were used to accurately describe the spatial distribution characteristics of cloud fractions and cloud properties over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during both daytime and nighttime, and for the first time provide insights into the diurnal variation of cloud cover and cloud properties for total clouds and deep convective clouds across different seasons.