TROPOMI Cloud Properties

Clouds significantly influence the global hydrological cycle and play a crucial role in the Earth's climate system by impacting radiation processes. Their interaction with sunlight poses challenges for satellite remote sensing due to the spatial complexity of real clouds and the prevalence of multiple scattering in radiation transport. In addition, note that the retrieval of trace gas products from TROPOMI/S5P is notably influenced by clouds. TROPOMI Cloud Properties product, is available in Near Real Time (NRTI), Offline (OFFL), and Reprocessed (RPRO) timeliness, provides cloud parameters using two models: CAL (Clouds-As-Layers) and CRB (Clouds-as-Reflecting-Boundaries). Key variables include cloud fraction, cloud top height, cloud optical thickness, and others. For reliable data interpretation the recommended threshold of quality assurance value (qa_value) is 0.5.