WMO OSCAR | Details for Variable: Cloud top height

Variable: Cloud top height

Definition

Full name	Cloud top height
Definition	Height of the top of the cloud (highest cloud in case of multi-layer clouds)
Measuring Units	km	Uncertainty Units	km
Horizontal Res Units	km	Vertical Res Units
Stability Units	km (Stability /decade)

Comment:
Last modified:	2024-11-07
Applied in OSCAR/Space Gap Analysis:	Yes

Classification

Domain: Atmosphere
- Sub-domain: Clouds and precipitations
  - Variable: Cloud top height
    - Measured in Layers:
      - n/a (2D)

Cross-cutting themes:

Earth System Application Categories and its related Application Areas:
- 2. Atmospheric Applications
- 2. Atmospheric Applications
- 2. Atmospheric Applications
- 2. Atmospheric Applications
- 2. Atmospheric Applications
Unknown:

Requirements defined for Cloud top height (8)

This tables shows all related requirements. For more operations/filtering, please consult the full list of Requirements
Note: In reading the values, goal is marked blue, breakthrough green, threshold orange
Application-dependent Technical Priority (ATP) Magenta and Relative priority of the attributes Red

Id	Variable	Layer	App Area	ATP	Uncertainty	Stability / decade	Hor Res	Obs Cyc	Timeliness	Coverage	Conf Level	Val Date	Source	General Comment
4	Cloud top height	n/a (2D)	CLIC (deprecated)		0.5 km 0.7 km 1 km		100 km 200 km 500 km	12 h 15 h 24 h	24 h 30 h 2 d	Global	reasonable	1998-10-29	WCRP
85	Cloud top height	n/a (2D)	Climate-AOPC (deprecated)		0.5 km 1 km 2 km		100 km 200 km 500 km	3 h 4 h 6 h	3 h 6 h 12 h	Global	firm	2007-07-19	AOPC	Accuracy should be 5hPa (10hPa - Min). Hansen et al. (1995) in T.R. Karl (Ed.) 1995 Long term climate monitoring by the Global Climate Observing System. Kluwer. Also, Climatic Change 31, Nos. 2-4.
270	Cloud top height	n/a (2D)	2.1 Global Numerical Weather Prediction and Real-time Monitoring		0.2 km 0.5 km 1 km		5 km 15 km 50 km	60 min 3 h 12 h	6 min 30 min 6 h	Global	firm	2009-02-10	John Eyre
354	Cloud top height	n/a (2D)	2.2 High-Resolution Numerical Weather Prediction		0.2 km 0.5 km 1 km		0.5 km 2 km 10 km	15 min 30 min 3 h	15 min 30 min 2 h	Global	firm	2011-08-04	T Montmerle
431	Cloud top height	n/a (2D)	2.3 Nowcasting / Very Short-Range Forecasting		0.1 km 0.3 km 1 km		1 km 5 km 15 km	5 min 15 min 60 min	5 min 10 min 30 min	Global	reasonable	2013-04-08	P. Ambrosetti
979	Cloud top height		Forecasting Atmospheric Composition		0.2 km 1 km			3 h 30 d	3 h 12 h	Global	firm	2022-07-26	GAW Expert Team on Atmospheric Composition Network Design and Evolution
980	Cloud top height		2.6 Atmospheric Composition Forecasting and Monitoring		0.2 km 1 km			3 h 30 d	3 h 12 h	Global	firm	2022-07-27	GAW Expert Team on Atmospheric Composition Network Design and Evolution
1002	Cloud top height		2.5 Atmospheric Climate Monitoring	0.5	0.3 km 0.6 km 1.2 km 0.5	0.03 km 0.06 km 0.12 km 0.5	25 km 100 km 500 km 0.5	60 min 24 h 30 d 0.5	60 min 3 h 12 h 0.5	Global	firm	2023-04-27	GCOS-245: The 2022 ECVs Requirements (GCOS-245)	Requirements for uncertainty are specified at 2-sigma.