The Clouds from AVHRR Extended (CLAVR-x) is NOAA's operational cloud processing system for the AVHRR on the NOAA-POES and EUMETSAT-METOP series of polar orbiting satellites. The data set is comprised of the relevant cloud parameters, such as cloud height, cloud cover, optical depth, particle size and water content. The Pathfinder Atmospheres-extended (PATMOS-x) is a climate data record (CDR) based on CLAVR-x algorithms and includes the Essential Climate Variables (ECV) of cloud properties. The global PATMOS-x v5 data set is part of the National Climate Data Center of NOAA. CLAVR-x is designed to operate on several other current sensors, such as MODIS, GOES, AATSR, SEVIRI and, recently launched, VIIRS on NPP.

The Daytime Cloud Microphysical Properties (DCOMP) retrieval is one module of CLAVR-x, which derives cloud optical thickness, cloud transmission and cloud effective radius. This talk will focus on information content and uncertainty propagation of DCOMP. We will show results for MODIS and VIIRS observations under daytime conditions.

DCOMP is also intended to use the Day/Night band of VIIRS to derive cloud properties from backscattered moonlight. I will outline the potential and challenges of this approach.