UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO www c ...... ... RAR c ccc . . . WWWWW ..... ............ ........ . .... ...... . ... WWW PURIFWWW.SARA . . . . .. w ...... ww ..... wwwwwwww .......... ... ..... w 3 1822 04429 0799 ATMOSPHERIC OPTICAL SYSTEMS TECHNICAL NOTE NO. 210 NOV 1988 Offsite (Annex-Joi mnals) QC 974.5 . T43 no. 210 . A MULTI-STATION SET OF WHOLE SKY IMAGERS AND A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE EMERGING DATABASE FYN M R. W. Johnson T. L. Koehler J. E. Shields UNIVERSITY OF . . ....... . .. CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO The material contained in this note is to be considered proprietary in nature and is not authorized for distribution without the prior consent of the Marine Physical Laboratory and the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory 1 Contract Monitor, Dr.J. W. Snow Atmospheric Sciences Division 1 . 19 (FOR • TH Prepared for Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, Air Force Systems Command United States Air Force, Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts 01731 under contract No. F19628-88-K-0005. SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY MARINE PHYSICAL LAB San Diego, CA 92152-6400 .. .: w ww .ZIP UC SAN DIEGO LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO ......... www . . .. ... wowwwww wWwW.MA.. RESEP www.... S .. W .. .. . www ......... . ... www. WW225.0 .. ... 3 1822 04429 0799 TECHNICAL NOTE NO. 210 A MULTI-STATION SET OF WHOLE SKY IMAGERS AND A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE EMERGING DATABASE This Technical Note contains the annotated vu-graph representations, and extended summary which were presented to the Cloud Impacts on DOD Operations and Systems 1988 Workshop, CIDOS-88, which was held at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, White Oak, Silver Spring, Maryland on 18—20 October 1988. w ww. A MULTI-STATION SET OF WHOLE SKY I MAGERS, & PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE EMERGING DATA BASE R. W. Johnson, T. L. Koehler, J. E. Shields University of California, San Diego, Marine Physical Laboratory San Diego, California 92152-6400, USA ABSTRACT The Optical Systems Group of the Marine Physical Laboratory, in support of several DoD sponsored programs has developed a visible-spectrum, computer controlled, imaging system for the automatic assessment of the optical state of the atmosphere. A six-station network of these systems, oriented specifically toward cloud cover assessments has been deployed throughout portions of the western United States. Approximately 1.8 Gigabytes of whole sky image data is collected automatically each week from each of these stations. Current algorithm development for the exploitation of this new data base is slanted toward the determination of the spatial (1-1000 mi) and temporal (1 min - 12 hours) variability of cloud free lines of sight and cloud free intervals. The operational status of the network is reviewed, as is the status of the rapidly growing raw data base. Results from a first generation software routine for automatic cloud/no cloud discriminations, and follow-on statistical analysis procedures are demonstrated. 1. INTRODUCTION The development, testing and deployment of a family of compact, solid state imaging systems for the automatic measurement of atmospheric optical and meteorological properties is an expanding activity of the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The basic operating characteristics of these video based devices have been outlined previously at the Fifth Tri-Service Modeling Workshop held at the U. S. Naval Academy in June 1987. This report summarized our progress on the deployment of a multi-station set of these Whole Sky Imagers, and an introduction to their rapidly accumulating data base. 2. OPERATIONAL STATUS OF DATA COLLECTION The as-built configuration of the hardware comprising the Whole Sky Imager system of each field site is illustrated in Fig 1. The more important features associated with the external sensor installation are the camera and the optical filter assembly. The camera is a solid state CID class black and white camera which outputs standard RS-170 composite video. It runs at full video rate and in fixed gain configuration. The optical filter changer enables both blue and red spectral bands to be selected for image acquisition, as well as neutral density range shifting. The major features within the interior control console are built in to the AT class micro-computer. They are the video frame grabber which accommodates a 1024X1024 image memory, and the 8mm cartridge tape system which provides 2.2 Gigabytes of on-board archival memory. The field systems are deployed as illustrated in Fig 2. The geographical distribution is currently biased toward the southwestern desert areas, however the sites in Missouri and Florida will be operational by the end of calendar 1988 generating a better balance between several different geographical and meteorlogical regimes. Fig 1. Image Acquisition & Analysis System Hardware Block Diagram E/O System 5 Fig 2. WHOLE SKY IMAGER DATA SITES " ... SONY PVM 12710 MONITOR GE 2710 SOLID STATE VIDEO CAMERA IM COMPUTEA (IBM AT CLONE) NE AUTOMATIC EQUATORIAL SOLAR OCCULTOA ASSY. VIDEO IMAGE PAOCESSING SUB-SYSTEM (ITI FG 1001 AACHIVAL 110 SUB-SYSTEM SEAGATE 65 M byte HO.) REMOTE CONTROLLED TRIS ASSY, EXABYTE EX8 - 8200 22 G byle 8mm CAATRIOGE TAPE SYSTEM ANALOG ACCESSORY CONTAOL PANEL CONTAES PANEL REMOTE CONTROLLED OPTICAL FILTER ASSY. STOWED KEYBOARD STOWED KEYBOARO • WSMAC • OPERATIONAL O PENOING • CLIC • MAFB O COLUMBIA KAFB MALABAA EXTERIOA SENSOR INSTALLATON INTERIOR CONTROLLER INSTALLATION • WSMRH The WSI system acquired multispectral imagery at every minute during the twelve hour day bounded by Local Apparent Noon 6 hours. During the first eight seconds of each minute a set of four images, Aach each similar to that illustrated in Fig 3 are grabbed, digitized and archived on tape. From each one I Strated are IC From e ne minute set, only the radiances along the 33 rows and columns shown in the Fig 3 screen overlay are archived resulting in 2880 screen images per day. At each ten minute interval, the entire 512X512 images are archived resulting in an additional 288 images. This composite 173 megabyte archive US represents the basic daily data set. Post archival data processing is organized to follow the general procedure illustrated in Fig 4. In this processing sequence, the intent is to impose strict quality and calibration controls upon the raw data, while simultaneously reducing the number of images required for insertion into the optimized cloud/no cloud decision processes. Preliminary test sequences run in fully automatic mode illustrate reasonable processing times at the case study levels described herein, and should provide the necessary insights for further optimization. 10: M. MM ,10'" MAS MAGERI CORRECTER MAGERI COST AD x . . aaaaoo CALIBRATION FUNCTIONS RAOLANCE CONVERSIONS CALO BLUE BLUE MAGE 512 512.0 | AADIOMETAK UNCAAITY BUT AD IONEVO BIL RADIOMETRK SENSIINITY ? MAGE $12=5121. * MAGE PATIO COMPUTATIONS OPICAL DISTORTIONS 100 TL парфарини AULAD MO . ime : NO.1 FELD OVEW ONTON Jogo 1 NO CAO X $175176 SON FILL UCTOR -- ALGSTRAIO ALIMENTS 8 AD.NO MAGE $12:$171. - @30 . AU CONTRO ITALSKUS L . . Fig 3. WSI Ten Minute Image Fig 4. WSI BASIC IMAGE PROCESSING FLOW CHART 3. PRELIMINARY DATA ANALYSIS To illustrate the types of products that will become available from the WSI system in the near future, a limited case study from one site (C-station) was prepared. Ten minute images from 19 days in late July and early August (14-18 July, 20-26 July and 5-11 August, 1988) were processed using prototype versions of our calibration and cloud-no cloud decision algorithms. This yielded a total of 1319 images representing a wide range of sky cover conditions. Meteorological observations of total and opaque cloud cover were also available at C-station on an hourly basis. We decided to concentrate on thick opaque cloud cover in preparing this case study. A particular point was designated as either clear or cloudy based solely on a single threshold in the blue to red ratios. This threshold was selected manually from a selected subsample of the cases. Most of the cirrus cloud cover was not included in this classification. While several approximations were used in preliminary processing of the blue to red ratios and the resulting cloud images, the quality of the results was reasonable for illustrative purposes. Selected statistical evaluations of the resultant cloud-no cloud images were then performed, a sample of which follows. The modeling of the downtime duration for a multiple site GBL system due to the effects of clouds is dependent upon many statistical relationships that define the temporal and spatial variability of cloud cover, and the interrelationships between point, line and area probabilities. To illustrate some of these relationships, a two line sample of data from the northern half of the sky was extracted from the full images, with the east-west oriented lines centered on the north-south axis at zenith angles of approximately 15° and 65º. We now have the capability to compute many of the important statistical relationships mentioned above for the two lines in the current sample. The dependence of these parameters on the total sky cover is a crucial factor. For the C-station sample, three types of total sky cover information can be employed: the meteorological observations of total and opaque sky cover provided on an hourly basis, and an estimate of total opaque sky cover from the WSI available from each ten minute cloud-no cloud image. In using the meteorological observations, the sky cover for the beginning of the hour is applied to all six ten minute images taken during that hour. Obviously, the WSI sky cover will be more sensitive to rapid changes in sky cover, but much of the CFLOS and CFARC modeling depends on site parameterizations .based on the observed sky cover climatologies. Also, since the computed WSI sky cover is fairly sensitive to the approximations made in the preliminary processing, observed opaque cloud cover was used in these initial comparisons.. W. WWW.Mw Wwwww .goud i Some of the parameters that were produced for the case study include CFLOS frequencies for the center points on the two lines, the frequency distributions of line cloud coverage when the center point is either cloudy or clear, correlation between the two center points, point to line correlations, clear and cloudy recurrence frequencies for the two center points, and the time autocorrelations of the center point cloudiness. All of these statistics can be broken into subsets based on the whole sky cover As an example of our computations, time autocorrelations for the center point cloudiness are shown in Fig 5 for the complete sample 10 to 10 tenths sky cover), and for mostly clear (0 to 5 tenths) and mostly cloudy (6 to 10 tenths ) subsamples. The autocorrelations were computed using a tetrachoric correlation approximation. A binary contingency table is produced at each ten minute time lag, with the table being updated for a given time pair only if the sky cover at the earlier time falls between the specified thresholds. For example, if the cloud cover at 10 am LST were 7 tenths, the matches between that time and each subsequent time would be included in the tables for the complete sample and the mostly cloudy subsample, over the time lags up to 480 minutes (8 hours remaining to 6 pm), but not in the mostly clear subset. Note, that for both zenith angles, the autocorrelation for the mostly cloudy subset drops off more rapidly with time than does the mostly clear subset, but both curves cross at a lag of approximately 180 minutes (3 hours), with the mostly clear cases : exhibiting smaller minimum correlations than the mostly cloudy cases. These sample autocorrelations illustrate the type of statistical evaluation procedures that have been developed by our group. Considering the limited 19 day sample and the preliminary calibration and cloud decision algorithms applied, great care should be exercised in interpreting these figures. 15 DEGREES 65 DEGREES 1.00 1.00 0.75 0.75 10 AUTOCORRELATION AUTOCORRELATION ......... - 1.-2.3 see 0.00 .... .... ..... .... .. ht. 0.25 0.25 400 100 o 400 600 500 100 500 600 200 300 TIME LAG (MIN) 200 300 TIME LAG (MIN) Fig 5. Time autocorrelations for the 15° and 65° arc centerpoints -_ OPTICAL SYSTEMS GROUP uu FIGURE 1 The Marine Physical Laboratory is a 100 person multi-disciplined research organization within the University of California system. It is located in San Diego, Calif. and is administratively within the jurisdiction of Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Optical Systems Group is one of several inter-related research teams devoted to a variety of optical and acoustical studies of the marine environment. MPL MARINE PHYSICAL LABORATORY FIGURE 2 The Optical Systems Group of the Marine Physical Laboratory, in support of several DoD sponsored programs, is developing a visible spectrum, computer controlled imaging system for the automatic as- sessment of the optical state of the atmosphere. The following annotated illustrations describe the current ver- sion of the whole sky imager (WSI) and its emerging database. WHOLE SKY IMAGING NETWORK DISCUSSION OUTLINE 1. OPERATIONAL STATUS OF NETWORK 2. RAW DATABASE STATUS 3. FIRST GENERATION CLD / NO CLD SOFTWARE 4. INITIAL STATISTICAL APPLICATIONS DEMONSTRATION Image Acquisition & Analysis System Hardware Block Diagram E/O System 5 FIGURE 3 SONY PVM 12710 MONITOR The major E/O System 5 sub-assemblies are physically inter- related as illustrated in this block diagram. The as-built configurations of the exterior sensor housing is illustrated in the figures which follow. GE 2710 SOLID STATE VIDEO CAMERA TMI COMPUTER (IBM/AT CLONE) ARCHIVAL AUTOMATIC EQUATORIAL SOLAR OCCULTOR ASSY. This block diagram illustrates the system used for automatic cloud cover archival and analysis. It is somewhat more powerful than its sister system which is used for automatic visibility determinations. 110 VIDEO IMAGE PROCESSING SUB-SYSTEM (ITI FG 100) SUB-SYSTEM (SEAGATE 65 M bytel H.D.) REMOTE CONTROLLED IRIS ASSY. EXABYTE EXB - 8200 2.2 G byle 8mm CARTRIDGE TAPE SYSTEM ANALOG ACCESSORY CONTROL PANEL REMOTE CONTROLLED OPTICAL FILTER ASSY. The key hardware items are the 2710 camera which provides an RS-170 composite video output, the FG-100 Image Processing Board which provides the digitized 512 x 512 x 8 imagery, and the EXB-8200 cartridge tape sub system which provides 2.2 Gigabytes of data storage capacity. STOWED KEYBOARD EXTERIOR SENSOR INSTALLATION INTERIOR CONTROLLER INSTALLATION FIGURE 4 The as-built exterior sensor assembly is illustrated in the adja- cent photograph. This relatively weatherproof housing contains the fisheye lens adapter, its related relay optics and the necessary peripheral items outlined in the preceeding block diagram. The device runs in fully automatic, unattended mode under the control of its associated computer system to provide multi-spectral imagery customized for automatic cloud discrimination studies. WHOLE SKY IMAGER DATA SITES ME WA ND MT NH MN WI NY OR SD ID FIGURE 5 MU RU WY PA +NJ CT TA NE OH X IN WU NV VA UT СО KY НО KS NC CA TN As of October, 1988 there are five Whole Sky Imager Systems installed and operational as illustrated in the adjacent figure. The geographical distribution is currently biased toward the southwestern desert areas, however the sites in Missouri and Florida will be operational by the end of calendar 1988 generating a better balance between several different geographical and meterological regimes. SC AZ OK NM AR MS AL GA TX LA FL In addition to the fixed base sites illustrated herein, a portable package is being developed to enable more convenient quick response case study applications. • OPERATIONAL O PENDING • WSMR/C (KAFB O MALABAR • CLNWC O COLUMBIA WSMR/H .MAFB FIGURE 6 The exterior sensor installation at the White Sands Missile Range Weather Observation Station (WSMR/C) is shown in the adjacent photograph. Note the WSI sensor is mounted in an auxilliary support pedestal which provides both heating and cooling to the housing as required to cope with the high summer temperatures and the colder winters associ- ated with the various test sites. FIGURE 7 A similar installation at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR/ H) using an auxilliary trailer van rather than a building rooftop is shown in this photo. KITA At all WSI field sites, the interior and exterior installations are essentially identical except for the support structure provided by the host agency. WSI DATA TAPE STATUS - 30 SEPT '88 TOTAL DAYS IN FIELD DAYS QC COMPLETED FIGURE 8 BACKLOG NO DATA DATA DAYS The accumulation of the WSI imagery began in February 1988 and has continued as illustrated in the accompanying bar chart. The installation dates for each site are noted along the horizontal axis. 69 " D " 106 100 The “F” and “P” designators within the "QC completed " bars indicate “Full” or “Partial” data days, where a Full day contains 12 hours of imagery centered around Local Apparent Noon. 79 F63 E 32 22 16 16 2 C-STA 30 MAR HELSTE 29 MAR KIRTLAND CHINA LAKE MALMSTROM 17 MAY 23 JUN 29 AUG WSI DATA SITES COLUMBIA ОСТ MALABAR NOV WSI DATA ACQUISITION & ARCHIVAL SCHEDULE TYPICAL HOURLY DATA SET - FIGURE 9 20 40 50 30 MINUTES The WSI system acquires imagery in accordance with the schedule illustrated on the adjacent time line. A basic set of four images is captured during the first eight seconds of each minute. These four images, two red and two blue, are digitized by an 8 bit A/D converter and subsequently stored at either 512 x 512 resolution or in a low resolution subset of 33 rows and 33 columns. ARCHIVAL KEYS: Assume 12 hr day (LAN + 6 hrs) B Once each 10 min : 2 red + 2 blue Images @ 512 X 512 :: 288 images/day @ 262k ea = 75.5 MB/day © Once each 1 min : 2 red + 2 blue Images @ 512 x 66 :: 2880 images/day @ 33.8k ea = 97.3 MB/day DAILY TOTAL: 3168 images/day 172.8 MB/day (264 images/hr) (14.4 MB/hr) NEO MOCCA FIGURE 10 An example of the digitized resolutions appearing in the raw imagery is shown in the adjacent photograph. This image displays both the full 512 x 512 resolution initially captured, and as an overlay, the 33 rows and columns that comprise the one minute subsets. As noted in the Archival Schedule, full resolution 512 x 512 imagery is archived every ten minutes, and low resolution, 33 x 33 imagery is archived every minute JAN FEB AY SUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV WAME W . WEEK OF C-STA INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY DOWN HELSTF INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY DOWN FIGURE 11 KIRTLAND INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY DOWN CHINA LAKE INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY The adjacent chart illustrates the overall performance of each fieldinstallation. Computerized quality control procedures examine each data tape as it is returned to the Laboratory, and assess the data's completeness, stability and suitability for subsequent automatic process- ing. DOWN MALMSTROM INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY AUG DOWN COLUMBIA INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY Hardware down times are also indicated. DOWN MALABAR INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE DATA QUALITY DOWN TOTAL • GOOD DATA SPECIAL HANDLING REQUIRED = SYSTEM DOWN • INSTALLATION MAINTENANCE BASIC IMAGERY CORRECTED IMAGERY COMPOSITE RATIO DELIVERABLE DATABASE CALIBRATION FUNCTIONS RADIANCE CONVERSIONS BLUE IMAGE 512x512x8 FIGURE 12 CLOUD/NO-CLOUD DECISION ALGORITHMS CALIB. BLUE IMAGE RADIOMETRIC LINEARITY BLUE/RED RATIOS RADIOMETRIC SENSITIVITY UP-SUN RED IMAGE 512x512 x 8 CALIB. RED IMAGE DERIVED PRODUCTS IMAGE RATIO COMPUTATIONS DOWN-SUN Post archival data processing is organized to follow the general procedures illustrated in the adjacent chart. The intent is to impose strict quality and calibration controls upon the raw data, while simultaneously reducing the number of images required for insertion into the optimized cloud/ no cloud decision processes. OPTICAL DISTORTIONS NEAR HORIZON SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS COMPOSITE BLUE/RED RATIO IMAGE OPTIMUM CLOUD/NO-CLOUD IMAGE FIELD OF VIEW DEFINITION TWILIGHT TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTIONS DAWN SENSOR CHIP UNIFORMITY STATISTICAL PARAMETERS AS REQ'D PIXEL SELECTIONS FOR OPTIMUMIZED COMPOSITE It should be noted that the functions indicated within the dashed areas of the chart represent a necessary but not exclusive set of technical operations. (BLUE)/(RED) RATIOS REGISTRATION ADJUSTMENTS RED - ND IMAGE 512 X 512 x 8 CALIB. (RED) IMAGE FLUX CONTROL THRESHOLDS L- WSI BASIC IMAGE PROCESSING FLOW CHART 38EUXS. st: TUINE: IKI: 2 TOT 1 Bium IN NOK DUN/10 TIHK. 16:wii IRIXON CI-TIS NIM FIGURE 13 The adjacent photograph illustrates a red image acquired by the WSI during its normal operational cycle. It is one of the four "basic imagery" images archived every ten minutes. This high contrast, whole sky image can be usefully employed as the bogey "sky truth” image against which the automatic determination of cloud/no cloud can be judged. FIGURE 14 This false colored image represents the results of a computer- ized, bit by bit discrimination of whole sky cloudiness. It was derived in automatic mode by exercising the sequence illustrated in the preceeding image processing flow chart. IAT 12UKL THINN TIHK-1M:11: IRIS-MH ULTI-MG FIGURE 15 This photo illustrates a red image acquired under different cloud conditions than the preceeding example. The accurate discrimination of cirrus clouds is one of increasing interest, and also difficulty as the cloud thinness approaches the sub-visual regime. FIGURE 16 This false colored image illustrates the automatic system's discrimination of thin cloud conditions. The ability of these early automatic decision algorithms to function accurately in this more difficult discrimination task encourages one to press forward even further with this technique. NO ADVANTAGES OF THE WSI DATABASE FIGURE 17 • HIGH TEMPORAL FREQUENCY • GOOD SPATIAL RESOLUTION The WSI image data provide many advantages over previous data sets in determining the spatial and temporal variability of cloud cover parameters such as CFLOS. Some of the items listed improve cloud detection, while others will enhance the statistical descriptions of cloud cover variability. · CALIBRATED DIGITAL RADIANCES • BOTH RED AND BLUE IMAGES • MULTIPLE SITES AND SEASONS ! ! ! ! ! . W WW * . IMPORTANT STATISTICAL RELATIONSHIPS . * ........ • Frequency of CFLOS reflecting zenith angle and sky cover dependence FIGURE 18 • Change in autocorrelation coefficient as a function of time lag (relaxation time) • Site to site correlation as a function of separation distance (relaxation distance) Models of down time duration for multiple site configurations require parameterizations of many important statistical relationships, including those listed here. The WSI data will provide the ground truth needed to validate these models. • Point, Line and Area interrelationships • Recurrence vs. Persistence probabilities • Combined multi-site probabilities Bil . . . , .. .... .... .. . . .. ... ... ... . WSI IMAGE OBSTRUCTION LIMITS FIGURE 19 NORTHERN LIMIT OF OCCULTOR This figure illustrates the orientation of the WSI images. The curved line traces the path followed by a corner on the northernmost edge of the occultor during a summer day. ZENITH W 150 H ity Cloud cover information was extracted during late June and early August at C-station along the two line segments shown. The center points of these lines are at the zenith angles indicated. Subset lines of increasing length centered on the north axis were also examined. Tic marks indicate the end points of the second, fourth and sixth subsets. 65°Hetty N SAMPLED SEGMENTS AT 15 & 65 DEGREE ZENITH ANGLES O TO 10 TENTHS CLOUD COVER 1.00 FIGURE 20 0.75 - Time autocorrelations of cloud cover at the center points of the line samples at 15°(solid) and 65°(dashed) for all the ten minute images in the 19 day case study period. These were computed using a tetrachoric approximation described in: - - wanna - - - - - AUTOCORRELATION -- Panofsky, H. A. and G. W. Brier, 1968: Some Applications of Statistics to Meteorology. Penn State Univ., University, PA, 224 pp. 0.00 . -0.25 0 100 200 400 500 300 TIME LAG (MIN) 600 15 DEGREES 1.00 .. . . .. . 2 ........ C . . FIGURE 21 ...................... 0.75 6 - 10 AUTOCORRELATION Time autocorrelations of cloud cover at the 150 sample point categorized by total sky cover. The 0-10 line (solid) corresponds to the total sample and is identical to the 150 line in Fig. 20. The 0-5 line (dashed) is for the subset of cases with clear or scattered total opaque sky cover at the earlier of the paired times. Broken and overcast cases (6-10) are represented by the dashed-dot line. Note the crossover of the latter two lines at roughly 3 hours (180 min.) I 0.00 . -0.254 0 100 400 500 600 200 300 TIME LAG (MIN) .. . O TO 5 TENTHS CLOUD COVER . .. FIGURE 22 650 AUTOCORRELATION Similar to Fig. 20, only for the clear and scattered initial sky cover cases. The rapid decrease at both zenith angles out to 4 hours and the return to higher values after seven hours are driven by the strong diurnal cloudiness cycle at C-station in July and August. 150 .. . ............ ... ... .. www. 0 100 400 200 300 TIME LAG (MIN) 500 600 6 TO 10 TENTHS CLOUD COVER 1.00 0.75 FIGURE 23 one 030 AUTOCORRELATION Similar to Figs. 20 and 22, only for the broken and overcast initial sky cover cases. Note the less rapid decrease in the autocorrelations at 650 zenith than at 150 during the earlier lags, and a larger difference between the two lines at the longer lags than in the previous diagram. SO . 0.00 -0.25 100 400 500 600 200 300 TIME LAG (MIN) .. . . ............ ... ..... . . 65 DEGREES 1.00 . ....... . 0-10 FIGURE 24 6 - 10 AUTOCORRELATION Same as Fig. 21, except for the 650 zenith angle sample. Note the lines for the mostly clear and mostly cloudy samples cross at roughly 3 hours, just as they did for the 150 sample. .. -0.25 0 100 200 300 TIME LAG (MIN) 400 500 600