Introduction
This document is about the Cloud Phase RGB, a new product for European users of GEO satellite data, which can be constructed using data from the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) on the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellite system. It uses one of the new FCI channels, not available with the SEVIRI instrument. This document is an extended guide discussing its characteristics in detail; a quick guide is also available on the EUMeTrain webpage. In this guide, the imagers of Japanese and American geostationary satellites (Himawari/AHI and GOES/ABI) and polar satellites (NPP and NOAA-20/VIIRS) are used to provide proxy data for the FCI.
The Cloud Phase RGB was invented by Jochen Kerkmann (EUMETSAT). It is a daytime RGB and can be used in low-, mid- and high-latitude regions. The aim of this RGB is to provide improved microphysical information on cloud tops, in particular discrimination between thick water clouds and thick ice clouds, and cloud top particle size. Microphysical RGBs can be created using data from the imager (SEVIRI) on the Meteosat Second Generation satellite system. However, the new RGB separates thick water clouds from thick ice clouds more reliably than the SEVIRI-based RGBs.
The main application areas of the Cloud Phase RGB are in cloud analysis: convective clouds, fog and low clouds, snow-covered land and aerosol-cloud interaction.
About the channel names:
The channel names consist of characters and numbers. VIS stands for visible, NIR for near-infrared and IR for infrared, while the number indicates the central wavelength in µm.