GOES Sounder Day/Night Albedo

The GOES visible albedo product effectively enhances the visible channel images, creating a product that brightens up darker areas of the image due to low sun angle. The solar zenith angle at every image pixel is used to generate an isotropic albedo, independent of sun angle. At night, or for the night portion of images containing the terminator, the shortwave IR albedo product (see this product for an explanation) is substituted in place of darkness. This creates a continuous display of cloud features day and night. Low-level water clouds appear white both day and night. Higher-level ice clouds, such as cirrus, appear dark at night, white during the day.