Cloud climatology of northwestern Mexico based on MODIS data

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe geographical regions of northwestern Mexico consisting of the Pacific Ocean, the Baja California Peninsula with its mountain range along it, the Gulf of California, and the coastal zone with its Western Sierra Madre Mountain range, configure an alternation of water, land, water, land, all interacting with the atmosphere. It suggests investigating the cloud patterns, what clouds are most relevant in controlling radiation and the climate, and what type of cloud is associated with observed precipitation patterns in the region. The principal aim was to carry out a climatology of five types of clouds: cumulonimbus, cumulus, altostratus, stratocumulus and nimbostratus. The data set was obtained from the MODIS sensor, placed on the Aqua and Terra satellites, covering the period from 2001 to 2020. The results revealed that the precipitation distribution predominantly relates to the deep convective cloud pattern. A minor fraction of rain is associated with the nimbostratus cloud pattern. The pattern of the fraction of total coverage of the five types of clouds coincides very well with lower radiation values, demonstrating the regulatory role of clouds in the area’s climatology.

Keywords

• MODIS data
• clouds climatology
• precipitation
• radiation
• NW Mexico