International Journal of Remote

This article was downloaded by:[Ecole Polytechnique]
[Ecole Polytechnique]
On: 14 February 2007
Access Details: [subscription number 731975950]
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954
Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
International Journal of Remote

Sensing
Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713722504
A method for the construction of cloud trajectories from
series of satellite images
A. Szantai; F. Desalmand; M. Desbois
To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/01431160110075541

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431160110075541
Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

This article maybe used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction,
re-distribution, re-selling, loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly
forbidden.
The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be
complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be
independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings,
demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or
arising out of the use of this material.
Taylor and Francis 2007
int. j. remote sensing, 2002, vol. 23, no. 8, 1699 1732
A method for the construction of cloud trajectories from series of

satellite images
A. SZANTAI*, F. DESALMAND and M. DESBOIS

Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique, Ecole Polytechnique,
91128 Palaiseau, France
Downloaded By: [Ecole Polytechnique] At: 14:34 14 February 2007
(Received 18 October 1999; in nal form 26 March 2001)
Abstract. Knowledge of the trajectories of atmospheric structures is useful in

meteorology, in particular for the study of the persistence of clouds at mesoscale
and for studies of the large-scale atmospheric circulation. For this purpose, a
method for the construction of cloud trajectories has been developed and is
presented in this article. This method extends traditional techniques used to
calculate cloud motion vectors from satellite images, representing the wind at a
single instant and the motion over a short time interval (typically h), to the
measurement of the motion of the same clouds over a long duration, up to 60 h.
Trajectories of clouds have been constructed from series of Meteosat images in
the thermal IR, the WV (water vapour) and the VISible channels. Similarly, pure
WV structures have been tracked in the WV channel. The duration of a trajectory
is mainly related to the lifetime of the tracked structure, but also dependent on
its spatial scale. A lesser image quality or a larger time interval between images
reduces this duration. The use of severe quality tests enables reliable tracking of
a limited number of clouds or WV structures, whereas more tolerant tests lead
to larger groups of less precise trajectories nevertheless suitable for the study of
large-scale motions.
1. Introduction
The structure and evolution of large synoptic systems, such as atmospheric lows
of temperate latitudes, and their main climatic characteristics (areas of formation
and motion, lifetime) have been studied for several decades. The physical processes
involved in these systems are also quite well understood. A practical application of
these properties is the weather forecast, which nowadays gives reliable results over
a period of ve days. The mechanisms involved in the formation of various cloud
types must also be reproduced as closely as possible to reality in climate models,
because the interaction between clouds and radiation plays an essential role in the
retroactions and equilibria of the climate.
Forecast models are nevertheless unable to reconstruct correctly specic, fast
evolving, meteorological situations. For example, some winter storms observed over
*e-mail: szantai@lmd.polytechnique.fr
Internationa l Journal of Remote Sensing

ISSN 0143-116 1 print/ISSN 1366-590 1 online 2002 Taylor & Francis Ltd
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/01431160110075541
1700 A. Szantai et al.
Western Europe result from the evolution of fronts associated to a primary extra-
tropical low. In such situations, it is possible that small-scale processes have an
inuence on larger scale processes. From an observational point of view, the life
cycle of meteorological structures, i.e. their formation, their evolution and their
disappearance, is not well known; only snapshots are available at specic instants.
In the case of cyclogenesis, the rst images, necessary for a reliable forecast, are
missing. In practice, it is easier to obtain individual images than to track these
meteorological objects during their whole lifetime. These images are reconstructed
from synoptic measurements made from meteorological stations on land or on the
sea (from ships or buoys), from aeroplanes, radiosondes and satellites (which in turn
send real images).
The observation of the temporal evolution of clouds at diVerent space and time
scales could improve our understanding of the physical processes involved in their
formation, their persistence and their dissipation. Our method for the calculation
of trajectories from satellite images was developed for this purpose. Its use could
help to characterize clouds more realistically and thus be of benet to general
(meteorological and climatic) circulation models.
The Lagrangian approach of motion, which is implicit in the determination of
trajectories, is currently used in several elds of atmospheric sciences. Trajectories
of cyclones and hurricanes over the North Atlantic have been reconstructed since
1871 (Neumann et al. 1978). Trajectories of pollutants have also been determined.
These can be of natural origin: dust storms originating from the Sahara desert have
been observed over the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean (Carlson and Prospero
1972, Bertrand et al. 1975); or the result of chemical or radioactive pollution: the
fallout of the radioactive cloud emitted by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
1986 had a strong ecological impact. Its trajectories (there have been several emis-
sions) have been reconstructed from analysed data and a circulation model, and
conrmed by ground samplings of radioactive dust (containing 137Cs) (Strauss and
Gros 1986, Albergel et al. 1988). Balloons have also been used to investigate the
atmospheric circulation. Their trajectories were rst constructed at lower levels of
the troposphere (Angell and Pack 1960). During large-scale experiments like EOLE
(Morel and Bandeen 1973, Desbois 1976) and TWERLE (TWERLE team 1977),
trajectories at high level were also determined in selected regions.
Geostationary satellites have the advantag e to provide images at short time inter-
vals. The evolution of clouds can be observed on them with a far better temporal
resolution (h for Meteosat images) than the resolution provided by classical measure-
ments (generally 6 h or 12 h). The spatial resolution of these images is also well
adapted for a precise study of meteorological objects at synoptic scale such as
extratropical lows, or at mesoscale such as tropical convective systems. In the rst
studies, squall lines in tropical regions were identied and tracked visually on a
series of images (Aspliden et al. 1976, Desbois et al. 1988). Automatic methods were
also developed: convective cloud clusters are extracted with the use of a threshold
on the brightness temperature deduced from thermal infrared images. Basically, a
convective cluster can be tracked if the areas it covers on two consecutive images
overlap. With this type of method, the motion of convective clusters over North
America (Maddox 1980), in the region of Borneo (Williams and Houze 1989) and
over Africa (Arnaud et al. 1992, Laing and Fritsch 1993) has been reconstructed.
The motion of extratropical cyclones can also be reconstructed from a series of
images. A recently developed method reconstructs the motion of a singularity, in
Construction of cloud trajectories f rom satellite images 1701
this case the centre of a spiral, and its neighbouring points can be represented with
a two-dimensional linear model. The parameters dening the position of the centre
of rotation and characterizing its motion are estimated by a statistical method
(Maurizot et al. 1997 ).
Another recent development from satellite images is the determination of large-
scale atmospheric motions: water vapour transport (which can also be determined
from three-dimensional analyses (Pierrehumbert and Roca 1998)) has been recon-
structed from groups of trajectories. Such groups show the circulation of upper
tropospheric water vapour from the intertropical convergence zone and South Pacic
convergence zone to subtropical subsidence zones (Soden 1998).
This article is focused on the principle, possible applications and limits of a
method for the construction of cloud trajectories from a series of images taken by a
geostationary satellite. No scientic result will be presented, but possible applications
of this method will be proposed. Its aim is the tracking of small cloud structures, at
a scale about or smaller than 200 km. In 2, the method used for the determination
of cloud motion vectors from two images will be briey reviewed. In 3, this method
will be extended in a simple way to construct cloud trajectories and the quality of
the latter will be estimated. Section 4 will describe necessary improvements for the
construction of representative trajectories. In 5, a variation on this improved method
will enable the tracking of cold cloud elements, selected by a threshold on brightness
temperatures (BT). Several trajectory elds of structures tracked in the thermal
infrared (IR) and water vapour absorption (WV) channels will be presented, the
possible but limited use of trajectories in the visible (VIS) will also be mentioned.
The complete trajectory of a cloud, from its birth to its dissipation, can be constructed
with an extension of the method presented in 6. The representativeness and
signicance of the trajectories in the diVerent channels will also be discussed.
2. Computation of cloud motion winds

The motion of the clouds can be measured on satellite images, and thus the
velocity of the clouds, depending on the time interval between consecutive images,
can be deduced. From an image-processing point of view, the automatic measure of
the motion of moving elements, in our case clouds and pure (non-cloud) water
vapour structures, on images can be classied into three main categories.
1. Region based tracking methods. Methods in this category were among the
rst to be developed (Endlich et al. 1971). Groups of (contiguous) pixels with specic
characteristics are identied on a pair of images and matched, the motion of each
group can then be deduced. Such pixel groups include convective cloud clusters,
individual clouds and synoptic scale structures such as extratropical lows, already
mentioned in 1. The tracking of cloud edges (characterized by their curvature) (Cote
and Tatnall 1995) is also relevant to this category.
2. Pixel-based tracking methods started to be investigated later (Horn and
Schunck 1981 ). Basically the motion of each individual pixel is measured and a
dense eld of vectors is obtained. For practical reasons, the computation may be
limited to a sampling grid or to a limited area. This category includes, in large part,
optical ow methods (see for example Stiller and Konrad 1999 for a review). Although
such dense vector elds are of potential interest for meteorologists, few developments
have been made in order to apply such methods beyond a few cases (Eriksson 1988,
Bannehr et al. 1996). Among the limiting reasons are:
the highly variable nature of clouds and atmospheric structures at the

timescale used (generally h between consecutive images) reduces the reliab-
ility of the measured vectors. An attempt to use a high temporal resolution
(down to 1 min between images), with the help of a massively parallel
supercomputer, showed the potential of using dense vector elds to improve
our comprehension of the dynamics and evolution of cyclones (Hasler
et al. 1998 );
the diYculty in validating the calculated motion elds with other meteorolo-
gical data: wind measurements and analyses generally do not have suYcient
spatial resolution to be compared with dense motion vector elds.
Most pixel-based tracking methods are particularly sensitive to problems limiting
all measurements of motion on any type of images such as:

the aperture problem: measurements are more reliable in a direction perpen-
dicular to the edge of an object (a cloud in our case) than in a direction
parallel to it;
the occlusion problem: on the second image of a pair, a moving object
(cloud) masks some pixels on its frontal edge and unmasks other pixels on
its rear edge. The motion of these masked/unmasked pixels cannot be
reconstructed directly;
the semi-transparency problem: the motion of an object (cloud at a low
altitude) may be viewed through another semi-transparent object (thin cloud
(cirrus) above, at a higher altitude), possibly moving in another direction.
The simultaneous measurement of both motions is impossible for a vast
majority of methods.
3. Block-based matching methods. The rst methods of this category were
developed and applied at the same time as region-based tracking methods (Leese
et al. 1971). Basically, a block of pixels (generally a square of pixels centred on a
grid point) on the rst image of a pair is matched with a similar block on the second
image. From the distance between the positions of this block (or its centre) on both
images, the motion of the clouds can be deduced and thus their velocity, which
corresponds generally to the velocity of the wind. In the following subsections, a
method used to compute cloud motion winds (CMWs) or, in an extended sense,
atmospheric motion winds measured by satellites will be detailed. This includes the
measurement of the motion of pure water vapour structures in the WV channel,
which is possible in cloudless areas. The characteristics of these winds and some
problems related to their determination will also be discussed. This description of
the CMW calculation method is necessary because it is the primary tool for the
construction of trajectories.
2.1. Measurement of the motion of clouds

Cloud motion winds are one of the most useful products derived from geostation-
ary satellites. They are produced operationally (see for example Schmetz et al. 1993,
Nieman et al. 1997) and are currently assimilated in forecast models. CMWs are
generated automaticall y nowadays from a pair of images and computed with a cross-
correlation method (Leese et al. 1971). For each computation of a CMW, the
correlation between a square of pixels extracted on the rst image of a pair (the
target window) and a square of pixels of the same size extracted on the second image
inside a larger window (the search window) is computed for all possible displacements
(which are determined by the size of both target and search windows). The displace-
ment in pixels of the tracked structure(s) is determined by the relative position of
the target and search window that corresponds to the maximal value of the correla-
tion. If the geographical position corresponding to the position of the vector on the
image disc is known, the velocity of the tracked structure(s) can be deduced from
the displacement in pixels and from the time interval between images. The determina-
tion of the maximal cross-correlation is a maximum likelihood estimator (Wu 1995).
Another method can be used to compute CMWs: the Euclidean distance (or sum
of squared diVerences) method. The same denitions of pixel sets (target and search
windows) are used, but in this case the displacement vector in pixels (DL , DC) at
location (L , C ) is determined from the minimal value of the sum of squared

0 0
diVerences of the pixel values (numerical counts) associated to each pixel:
A
LT/2 1 CT/2 1
SSD(L , C , DL , DC)= W (L , C , l, c)
0 0 0 0
l= LT/2 c= CT/2
.{i (L +l+DL , C +c+DC)i {L +l, C +c)}2

2 0 0 1 0 0 B (1)
where i is the pixel value on rst image (target window); i is the pixel value on
1 2
second image; LT , CT are the number of lines and columns of the target window;
and W is the weighting function, equal to 1 for most applications.
Instead of the maximum of the correlation. Both methods have been considered
as giving similar results (Sitbon et al. 1974), but recent studies have shown that
diVerent results can be expected in a minority of cases (Wu et al. 1996, Dew and
Holmlund 2000). The Euclidean distance method is computationally a little faster
and we have chosen it for the measurement of cloud motion and thus for the
construction of their trajectories.
A series of quality tests eliminates inconsistent CMWs, which do not correspond
to a realistic motion of clouds. Commonly used tests include:
Comparison to the maximal possible displacement: If the maximal possible displace-
ment (determined by the size of the target and search windows) is reached, the CMW
is rejected.
A temporal symmetry check (Bowen et al. 1979): For this test, three images (taken
at instants tDt, t and t+Dt) are used. Each vector, computed from the central and
last images (at t and t+Dt) is compared to the collocated vector, computed from
the rst and central images, and is eliminated if both vectors show too great a
diVerence. The comparison can be realized on the vector diVerence, on the diVerence
or ratio between their speed, or on the diVerence between their direction, with the
use of selected thresholds.
A spatial consistency check (Green et al. 1975): Each CMW is compared with its
closest neighbours. If it shows large diVerences in velocity, speed and/or direction
with one or several of its neighbours (or with their average, according to the test
used), the vector is rejected.
A comparison with a forecast wind from a general circulation model: The height
of a CMW can be estimated from satellite images (see 2.2). If the CMW at this
estimated level shows large diVerences from the forecast wind at the same (or closest)
level, it is rejected.
Another test can suppress very small or zero CMWs: the absence of displacement
can correspond to the tracking of terrain features (which do not move) or to the
tracking of orographic clouds; in this case, clouds appear to be blocked by mountains,
although local measurements can show strong winds. The value of the correlation
coeYcient can also be used as a selection criterion: if it is too small, the corresponding
CMW is refused.
The manual elimination of inconsistent CMWs, i.e. by a human operator, tends
to be abandoned nowadays or at least reduced, as automatic quality tests have
improved and as the number of CMWs can be very large, especially in operational
applications (Holmlund 1996, Nieman et al. 1997 ).
2.2. Height assignment

The measured CMW is representative of the motion of the air masses at a
particular level, generally at the level of (a part of ) the tracked cloud. Exceptions
are orographic clouds and stationary wave clouds, which appear motionless, and
some cirrus clouds which move slower than the surrounding air in regions of strong
winds ( jet streams) (Schmetz and Holmlund 1992). The height of the tracked clouds
can be estimated from satellite data by several methods. The most commonly used
methods are:
T he measurement of the thermal infrared brightness temperature: The brightness
temperature (BT) of the cold pixels inside the target window is measured in the
thermal infrared channel (between 10 and 13 mm). It generally corresponds to the
cloud tops and represents their physical temperature, assuming a blackbody emission
of the cloud. Exceptions are semi-transparen t clouds (the measured radiance comes
from these clouds and from the surface or clouds located below) and small clouds
covering only a portion of a pixel (the measured radiance originates partly from
these clouds and partly from the surface). The BT will be reduced due to the
absorption of CO and WV molecules located above the observed cloud. Water
2
vapour aVects especially the BT of low-level clouds in the tropics and clouds located
close to the edges of the Earth disk. In the case of aged high convective clouds, their
top temperature can be lowered by radiative cooling and appear to be colder than
the surrounding air.
The real brightness temperature of a cloud can be expressed as:
T=T +DT (2)
B cloud B measured B
The atmospheric correction DT can take values from 2 K or less for high-level
B
clouds at temperate latitudes (Saunders 1988) to 12 K or more in some tropical
regions (such extreme values have been observed for sea surface temperature
measurements).
When the brightness temperature is identied with the physical temperature of
the tracked cloud, its pressure level can be deduced from a temperature prole
(provided by a radiosonde if available, or from a model analysis or forecast) in the
vicinity. The height of the tracked cloud is then deduced from the hydrostatic
equation by the relation:
R ln(Pcloud)
z
cloud
=
g
a
ln(Psurface)
P T (P)d(ln(P))
v
(3)
where R =287 J K 1 kg 1: gas constant for dry air; g=9.81 m s 2: magnitude of

a
gravity; and T is the virtual temperature of air at pressure P (can be deduced from
v
a temperature and relative humidity prole.
T he estimation of the height of low-level clouds from the IR brightness temperature:
CMWs are close to the wind measured at the base of low-level clouds (Hasler et al.
1979). Thus, the previously described method which estimates the cloud top temper-
ature is inappropriate because it leads to an underestimated pressure level (or an
overestimated height) of the cloud. In recent methods, the IR histogram of the pixels
of the target window is tted by Hermite polynomials (Le Marshall et al. 1994 ) or
by Gaussian curves (Ottenbacher et al. 1997). From these functions, the temperature
of the cloud base can be estimated. With the help of a temperature prole (from
other types of measures), a more realistic pressure level can then be deduced.
Bi- or multispectral methods based on transmitted radiation: These methods are

able to correct the eVects of semi-transparenc y and partial coverage of pixels by
cloud elements on the brightness temperature. The measured radiance at wavelength
l can be expressed as:
R(l)=(1ne(l))R (l)+ne(l)R (l) (4)
cs cl
where n is the cloud coverage of the pixel (0 n 1); e(l) is the emissivity of the
cloud (0 e(l) 1); R (l) is the clear sky radiance; and R (l) is the radiance of the
cs cl
cloud. If the radiance is measured at two or more wavelengths and for two pixels in
closely located areas of diVerent cloud coverage, the emissivity is almost constant
(independent of wavelength). From these measurements and from a collocated tem-
perature and humidity prole (used to determine the transmission of the atmosphere
at diVerent pressure levels), the real radiance of the cloud, R , can be calculated
cl
and thus its blackbody temperature and pressure level can be determined. This
method was rst and successfully applied with three CO absorption channels at
2
13.3, 14 and 14.2 mm, thus its name CO slicing method (Smith and Platt 1978,
2
Menzel et al. 1983, Wylie and Menzel 1989). Results of similar quality have been
obtained from the thermal IR and one CO channel (at 13.2 mm) (Nieman et al.
2
1993). Unfortunately, this method cannot be used nowadays owing to the absence
of CO absorption channels on all operating geostationar y satellites. (One of these
2
channels, around 14 mm, will be available on future Meteosat Second Generation
satellites.)
A similar method based on measurements in WV absorption channel (around
6.3 mm) and the thermal IR channel has been proposed to estimate the height of
cirrus clouds (Cayla and Tomassini 1978, Szejwach 1982). Compared to other
measurements, this method tends to overestimate the pressure, except in dry areas
where the pressure is underestimated (Menzel et al. 1993, Nieman et al. 1993). This
method is used operationally by EUMETSAT and NOAA agencies (Schmetz et al.
1993, Nieman et al. 1997 ).
The stereographic method consists in observing simultaneously the same point
on a cloud from two satellites. If the distance between the satellites is known, the
height of the cloud can be calculated (Ondrejka and Conover 1966, Hasler 1981,
Hasler et al. 1991). This method necessitates two satellites with an overlapping
area of observation and works best if they are well synchronized. It is not used
operationally today.
As this article is focused on the tracking of cloud and atmospheric (pure WV)
structures on satellite images, no precise height assignment will be attempted. The
(uncorrected ) BT of the tracked structures will be the only parameter directly related
to height computed along the trajectory. And although this parameter may be
insuYcient for a precise height estimation, it may nevertheless be useful to show the
evolution of clouds and structures with time.
2.3. Problems related to the computation of cloud motion winds

Several parameters have an inuence on the number and quality of consistent
CMWs: the size of the target and search windows; the time interval between
consecutive images; the position of the vector on the Earth disk on the images; and
the presence of rotational motion.
2.3.1. Size of the windows

The sizes of the target and search windows (LT lines, CT columns and LS lines,
CS columns respectively) have an inuence on the existence of signicant CMWs.
With a very small target window, small cloud elements, which are more likely to
travel with the same (small-scale) velocity as the surrounding air, are tracked. But
this measurement is sensitive to the noise on the numerical counts and the risk of
tracking the wrong element is increased. Using a large target window reduces this
noise. But in this case, the measured CMW will be representative of the wind only
if all elements inside the window move at the same velocities. If several elements
move with diVerent velocities, the CMW will represent the motion of one of them,
or a kind of averaged motion. The use of a large target window also increases the
computation time.
Target windows of various sizes have been used in several studies. For an
experiment over the North Atlantic (FRONTS 87), Lunnon and Lowe (1992) used
square target windows of 88, 1616 and 3232 pixels and rectangular ones
(816 and 1632 pixels). They found that 1616 windows enabled a better tracking
of low-level clouds in this area. Another study (Lunnon et al. 1992) about cirrus
clouds (during the International Cirrus Experiment in September/October 1989) was
realized with images in the WV channel and validated with aircraft measurements.
The best results were obtained with a 1632 pixels target window. Wade et al.
(1992) calculated vectors with square target windows with sides between 4 and 32
pixels in a region between latitudes 40 and 61 N. They found an optimal size of
24 pixels. For cloud-free areas on Meteosat images in the WV channel, Buche et al.
(1990) found that WV structures are better tracked with a 4848 pixels target
window. For the computation of trajectories, we will use mainly a 3232 pixels
target window; this is also the size used operationally by EUMETSAT.
The size of the search window is determined by the maximal desired displacement.
In practice, winds measured in the troposphere rarely exceed 200 km h 1. The
maximal possible displacement is dened by the relations:
DL =(L SL T )/2 (in lines) (5)

max
DC =(CSCT )/2 (in columns) (6)
max
As an example, for window widths of CT=32 and CS=80 pixels, the maximal
displacement is 24 pixels. With the pixel size of Meteosat of 4.5 km (close to the
centre of the Earth disk)*, this corresponds to a motion of 108 km and thus to a
velocity of 216 km h 1 if the two images used are h apart.
2.3.2. T ime interval between images

The time interval between the two images used for the computation of CMWs
is h on currently operating geostationar y satellites. A consequence is that short-
lived clouds, with a lifetime of less than h, cannot be tracked. In special operating
conditions, this time interval can be reduced to 5 min on Meteosat (e.g. for the
Mesoscale Alpine Project experiment) or even down to 30 s over a limited area on
the last GOES satellites (Purdom 1996). On the other hand, CMWs have been
determined from ISCCP B2 images (Meteosat images with a sampling of every sixth
line and every sixth column of pixels) with a 3-h time interval for climatological
studies (Desbois et al. 1988 ).
2.3.3. Position of the vector on the Earth disk

The side of a pixel on the Earths surface increases from the centre to the edge
of the Earth disk. This aVects the area covered by the target and search windows,
and also the quality of the CMW. For example, for two Meteosat images h apart,
an error of one pixel in one direction leads to an error of 9 km h 1 close to the
subsatellite point (0 N, 0 Eone pixel has a side of 4.5 km), an error of approxi-
mately 14 km h 1 over Western Europe (50 N one pixel equals approximately
8 km in the north/south direction) up to more than 100 km h 1 close to the edge of
the Earth disk. To minimize these eVects, the starting points for the computation of
trajectories will not exceed 60 N in latitude.
2.3.4. Rotational motion

Rotational motion has been determined from satellite images for oceanic currents
(Kamachi 1989), but is not part of the CMW computation for two main reasons:
1. if the time interval between consecutive images is small (this is generally the
case for h), rotation can be neglected in comparison with translatory motion
in most regions;
2. the determination of the rotation angle increases greatly the computation time.
For each possible rotation angle, all the pixel values of the search window
have to be interpolated to the same grid as the target window before computing
the (translational) displacement vector.
2.3.5. DiVerences between measured winds and cloud motion winds

To summarize, the diVerences between winds measured with classical instru-
ments, for example rawinsondes, and CMWs, deduced from the motion of clouds
or atmospheric features observed on satellite images, can have diVerent origins
(Hubert 1979):
physical causes: the tracked cloud moves at a diVerent (generally slower) velocity
than the surrounding air masses; this is the case for motionless orographic clouds
or lee wave clouds (formed only in the presence of wind) and for cirrus clouds slower
than the associated strong high-level winds (in jet streams), already mentioned;
*In fact this corresponds to the distance between the centre of two neighbouring pixels.
The real size of a pixel is 5 km, but a small part of the surface it covers is overlapping with
its neighbours.
limitations of the tracking algorithm: the principle of most block matching algo-
rithms is to recognize a similar structure on two images according to a statistical
criterion: the minimization of the Euclidean distance or the maximization of the
correlation. Thus changes of this structure with time may not be recognized. An
inconsistent motion can be measured when clouds appear, evolve fast or disappear,
when two or several clouds of similar aspect are in the vicinity (the algorithm may
track the wrong cloud ), when several cloud elements inside the target window move
diVerently (the algorithm will measure some kind of averaged motion, or the motion
of one of these cloud elements), or when (a part of ) a large featureless cloud is tracked.
The temporal and spatial scales of the tracked clouds can also inuence the
values of the measured CMW. A CMW measured with a large target window may
reect the motion of a large cloud structure, respectively of a group of smaller clouds,
whereas a small target window will produce a vector representing the motion of a
part of this structure, respectively of one (or several) cloud(s) of this group. This can
be the case for an expanding cloud.
2.4. Conclusion about cloud motion winds

This section describes the methods used to compute CMWs and some related
problems, such as the height estimation of these winds. A more complete description
can be found in a thesis work (Szantai 1996).
Other methods have been developed recently to improve the selection of CMWs,
but they use the same basic tests including the height assignment (see 2.2) for an
estimation of the quality. In the method used at EUMETSAT, after a preliminary
elimination of too small and too large vectors, a single quality indicator (QI) is
calculated for each CMW; it takes into account the diVerences between one vector
and its closest neighbours (for spatial consistency) , its collocated predecessor (for
temporal consistency) and the forecast wind at the estimated height (Holmlund 1998):
N
wW
i i
QI= i= 1 (7)
N
w
i
i= 1
where w is a test-dependent weight, W a normalization (tanh-based) function and
i i
N the number of tests. In the method used operationally by NOAA/NESDIS, a
recursive lter is used. CMWs are selected with similar quality tests and a BT-based
height assignment. During an iterative process, they are compared to short-range
analysed (rst guess) winds and temperatures at diVerent pressure levels, and a
quality ag (recursive lter ag (RFF)) is dened. If the ag is above a chosen
threshold, the corresponding CMW is rejected (Hayden and Purser 1995, Menzel
et al. 1996 ).
In the following sections we used the basic tests described in 2.1 (without
comparison with forecast data and without a precise height assignment ) because it
reinforces and isolates the inuence of each individual test and because this article
focuses on the tracking aspects. However, all the methods previously described
constitute a toolbox useful for a precise description of the evolution of clouds.
3. Basic method for the computation of trajectories

3.1. Data
The trajectory computation method has been tested rst on a series of half-
hourly Meteosat IR images of 18 October 1989, between 0:00 and 23:00 UTC. These
images cover Europe, the central and western Mediterranean Sea and a part of the
north-eastern Atlantic Ocean (gure 1). The 16:00 image has a small defect, a shift
of a few lines and columns of pixels above 40 approximately. The trajectory compu-
tation starts on a regular grid, one starting point every 5 in latitude (between 40
and 60 N ) and longitude. No preliminary selection of the elements to track is
undertaken prior to the trajectory computation. Four synoptic meteorological
elements can be observed on these images:
1. clouds related to an extratropical low, located south of Greenland and Iceland,
moving westwards;
2. a large band of clouds oriented in a south-west/north-east direction oV the
west European coast, which bends in a west/east direction over Scandinavia
and then in a north-west/south-east direction over Eastern Europe; a part of

this band composed mainly of high-level clouds is associated with a jet stream,
according to synoptic charts;
3. a large cloudless area over Central and Eastern Europe associated with an
anticyclone;
4. and an area over the Iberian peninsula, France and the western Mediterranean
Sea, covered with various (mainly convective) clouds which move eastwards.
3.2. T rajectory computation

The calculation of trajectories is an extension of the computation of CMWs to
a series of images (Szantai and Desbois 1994). The Euclidean distance (or sum of
squared diVerences) method is used to calculate cloud motion vectors (CMV ). The
term cloud motion vector emphasizes the displacement aspect in the motion of the
cloud, whereas the term cloud motion wind emphasizes the velocity aspect. As
described in the previous section, for each position, the CMV is obtained for the
minimal value of the sum of squared diVerences computed between a target window
(or template, of 3232 pixels) taken on the rst image and a portion of a larger
window (search window, of 8080 pixels) taken on the second image. The position
pointed by the end of each vector denes the starting position for the computation
of the next vector of the trajectory, obtained from the second and third images of
the series. This process is iterated up to the end of the series of images. No quality
test is performed on the vectors along the trajectories. For each trajectory, there is
always one vector less than the number of images, except in the case where the
moving clouds get too close to the sides of the image or to the Earth disk; in this
case the trajectory computation is prematurely interrupted.
Besides the position of the centre of the target window, several parameters are
determined along the trajectories: the speed and direction, the brightness temperature
of cold pixels, i.e. the average BT of the pixels (inside the target window) which have
a pixel value below the [average of all the pixels of the target window minus the
standard deviation of all these pixels]. For selected trajectories, consecutive target
windows containing the tracked clouds can also be extracted and displayed for
visual check.
3.3. T rajectories in the inf rared channel (18 October 1989)

Figure 2 shows the 54 trajectories with colours corresponding to the BT of cold
clouds previously dened. Most trajectories show a regular motion. The anticlockwise
rotation of the extratropical low over the Atlantic Ocean and the north-east/east/
Figure 1. Initial situation of the study area, 18 October 1989, 0:00 UTC, IR channel. (High
brightness temperatures are dark, low ones are light.)
Figure 2. Trajectories in the IR channel, 18 October 1989, between 0:00 and 23:00 UTC.
The target and search window, and the maximal displacement vector (24 pixels)
are drawn in the lower right corner. BT colours: black, BT <40C; dark blue,
40 BT <30C; light blue, 30 BT <20C; green, 20 BT <10C; red,
10 BT<0C; pink, BT>0C.
south-eastward motion of the band of clouds associated to the jet stream can be
clearly identied. But several trajectories (nos 19, 23, 31, 43, 44, 51, 53 and 54)
contain vectors with a large variation in direction (more than 90). Some trajectories
(nos 23, 31, 46, 53 and 54) include vectors with unrealistic speeds of more than
70 m s 1, which are rarely observed (i.e. in the core of jet streams or close to the
centre of tropical cyclones). Vectors with a large variation of speed and/or direction
are probably not associated to a physical motion of the tracked cloud elements.
Some trajectories ( beginning of 31, trajectory 41) contain no displacement
vectors. These vectors correspond to cloudless areas: the corresponding brightness

temperatures are high (above 0 C).
3.4. Qualitative study of inconsistent vectors

To estimate the quality of CMVs along all the trajectories, each vector undergoes
a series of tests and is thereafter classied:
1. vectors reaching a side of the image or the limit of the Earth disk (this stops
the trajectory computation) ;
2. vectors with the maximal displacement in at least one direction (in this case
24 pixels);
3. no displacement vectors;
(At this stage, an unclassied vector undergoes comparisons with the previous vector.
These tests cannot be applied to the rst vector of a trajectory, which has no
predecessor.)
4. small vectors: in a pair of consecutive vectors, if one of them corresponds to
a small speed, below a chosen threshold (arbitrarily set to 3 m s 1), it does
not undergo the following tests;
5. vectors with a large change in speed: if the ratio between the smallest and the
largest vector of a pair is below a chosen threshold R (set to 0.5):
s
V
0< min <R (8)
V s
max
6. vectors with a large change in direction: when the two vectors are at an angle
larger than a chosen threshold DDIR set to 45:
max
|direction(v (t), v (t+Dt)|>DDIR (on trajectory i) (9)
i i max
7. vectors that satisfy both previous conditions (5 and 6) can be grouped together;
8. All the remaining vectors, which can be classied as vectors without problems.
Table 1 shows the results for the 18 October 1989 trajectories in the IR channel.
It appears that three quarters of the vectors are classied as without problems
(80% of the vectors, if the less severe thresholds of 0.33 for the speed ratio and 60
for the direction change are used). Computations of trajectories at other dates, in
other climatic regions or with other channels (in particular WV ) have shown that
this class remains the largest one. Noisy images can lower the percentage of this class.
3.5. Causes of inconsistent vectors

In the following paragraphs, a vector will be qualied as inconsistent if it shows
a large change in direction or speed with its predecessor (classes 5, 6 and 7), or if it
has the maximal displacement (class 2).
Before trying to correct trajectories, it is necessary to check that large uctuations
in speed or direction are accidental and do not correspond to real variations aVecting
the velocity of the tracked clouds. For this purpose, inconsistent vectors are articially
corrected. A duplicate of the previous vector, assumed to be correct, replaces an
inconsistent vector. The end of this vector becomes the origin of a new trajectory.
This type of articial correction has been applied to three trajectories with inconsist-
ent vectors (nos 23, 31 and 51 in gure 3). The direction of the corrected trajectories
appears to be the same as the direction of the original trajectory, before the
Table 1. Percentages of correct and inconsistent vectors on IR trajectories of 18 October

1989, for R =0.5 and DDIR =45 (in parentheses, for R =0.33 and DDIR =60).
s max s max
Vector classes 1 2 3 4
Maximal No
Total number of Vectors close to displacement displacement Small
vectors side of image vectors vectors vectors
2353 0.3% 0.1% 6.2% 5.3%
Vector classes 5 6 7 8
Vectors with
Vectors with Vectors with large variation Vectors

large speed large change of speed and without
variation of direction direction problems
5.4% 5.4% 3.3% 73.9%

(1.9%) (4.8%) (1.1%) (80.2%)
Figure 3. Three IR trajectories containing inconsistent vectors and their extension.
inconsistent vector. But at the end of the rst extension of trajectory 23, two
consecutive correction attempts cannot extend this trajectory any more: this is the
physical end of the trajectory. Movie loops on a computer monitor show that the
cloud is dissipating at that time. The extension of trajectory 51 has the same direction
as the rst seven vectors of the original, but the vectors of the extension have a
smaller speed. A possible explanation is that new clouds tracked along the extension
are located at a lower level, where the wind is weaker.
We have identied on movie loops several causes that explain abrupt changes of
speed and direction along trajectories:
T he tracking of a similar structure (gure 4). On trajectory 31, the large inconsist-
ent vector is due to the tracking of the wrong cloud, whose aspect has become closer
to the aspect of the original cloud, which has evolved in the meantime.
T he dissipation and formation of clouds. In some cases, when the cloud dissipates,
the trajectory catches a cloud of similar aspect in the vicinity (extensions of trajectory
23). For a part of the trajectories, the formation of clouds cannot be detected because
the clouds already exist when the tracking starts. The formation of a cloud is
observed when non-zero vectors appear on a previously motionless trajectory
( beginning of trajectory 31 ).
Figure 4. Principle of the tracking of the wrong cloud.
T he tracking of a cloudless region. Trajectory 51 starts with the tracking of a

small cold cloud surrounded by a large warm area (the Mediterranean Sea, associated
with high BTs). The dissipation of this cloud is followed by an abrupt change of the
trajectory: the seventh vector is three times faster than its predecessor and in an
almost opposite direction. This is caused by the presence of the islands of Corsica
and Sardinia, which are colder than the surrounding sea at this time (3:00 UTC)
and season. The tracking algorithm nds a minimal Euclidean distance oV the coast
of these islands, in a cloudless region. Along the rest of the trajectory, the target
window without any cloud threads its way through the surrounding clouds: this is
a non-physical trajectory of a cloudless area.
Orographic eVect. The presence of mountains can modify the ow of the sur-
rounding air and induce the formation and persistence of clouds above or near their
summit. This eVect inuences the end of trajectory 33: the Fagarasul mountains in
the Romanian Carpathians slow down and deect the end of this trajectory to the
west (gure 5).
Inuence of spatial and temporal scales. Trajectories have been computed with
modied sizes of the target and search windows (gure 6) and with a larger time
interval between images (1 h). Table 2 shows that the use of a smaller target window
or a larger time interval increases the percentage of inconsistent vectors. The large-
scale motions (cyclonic rotation, motion along the band of high-level clouds, eastward
motion of convective clouds over Spain and the western Mediterranean Sea) are
nevertheless visible on portions of a large number of trajectories.
All these causes generating inconsistent vectors have already been observed on
CMWs and were mentioned in the previous section. However, trajectories reveal
them better than CMWs because an inconsistent vector is generally preceded by a
series of correct vectors.
4. Improved method: construction of corrected trajectories

The previously computed trajectories are not representative of the motion of one
cloud (or group of clouds) over the whole period of the study. In addition, the end
of the trajectories is not determined by the disappearanc e of the tracked cloud(s)
but by the end of the series of images. To obtain trajectories representing the real
Figure 5. EVect of the Fagarasul mountains (around 4537 N, 2449 E) on trajectory 33

( low altitudes are dark, high ones are white).
Figure 6. Trajectories in the IR channel, computed with a target window of 1616 pixels,
with target window, search window and maximal displacement vector (at lower right)
(cf. gure 2).
motion of clouds, the method has been improved. The determination of each CMV
is now divided in four steps:
1. the computation of the Euclidean distance surface and its minimal values;
2. a series of quality tests;
3. the correction of the vector if it is inconsistent;
4. stopping tests, to end the trajectory if necessary.
Table 2. Computation of trajectories at diVerent spatial and temporal scales. Percentage of

the main classes of vectors.
Target Search Time interval Maximal

window window between displacement
(lines, ( lines, consecutive ( lines and
columns) columns) images ( h) columns)
Original scale 3232 8080 1/2 24 pixels

Reduced window 1632 6480 1/2 24 pixels
sizes 1616 6464 1/2 24 pixels
Larger time interval 3232 8080 1 24 pixels
Vectors
Total without Small Inconsistent
number problem vectors vectors
of vectors (8) (%) (4) (%) (2, 5, 6, 7) (%)
Original scale 2353 73.9 5.3 14.2

Reduced window 2315 68.1 5.8 20.6
sizes 2347 54.8 7.4 32.3
Larger time interval 1188 59.2 8.3 27.9
In a nal step, each corrected trajectory as a whole undergoes some complementary

tests. Very short trajectories are removed as well as some questionable ones.
4.1. Preliminary step: computation of the Euclidean distance surface

For the computation of each CMV, the Euclidean distances corresponding to all
the possible displacements can be stored in a matrix, whose size (2 DL +1 lines,
max
2 DP +1 columns) depends on the maximal possible displacement in pixels. This
max
matrix can be represented in three dimensions as a surface (Euclidean distance
surface). Very few authors used other information than the position of the minimal
value for the determination of a motion vector. Anandan (1989) also computed the
curvature of the Euclidean distance surface along the two principal axes at the local
minimum positions as complementary quality indicators. In this study, we extract
all the local minima of the Euclidean distance matrix. In the rst place, the CMV is
determined by the lowest value of these minima, as described in the previous section.
4.2. Quality tests

One of the basic assumptions in the construction and correction of trajectories
is that two measurements of a meteorological parameter (in this case the motion of
the cloud related to the wind ) show only a small diVerence in most cases if they are
made simultaneously in a small neighbourhood , or at the same location but within
a short time interval. More precisely, these measurements have a correlation close
to one, which decreases with distance and time (Durst 1955, Gandin 1965). For this
reason, each CMV undergoes the series of quality tests before being corrected if
necessary. With the classication dened in the previous section, we will attempt to
correct inconsistent vectors of classes 2 (extreme speed), 5 (important speed variation) ,
6 (important change in direction) and 7. The chosen threshold values on speed (R )
s
and direction (DDIR ) have been optimized after several trials to render realistic
max
motions. An R value of 0.5 may seem large (the speed can be halved or doubled),
s
but it can save some trajectories when non-translationa l motion is also present (for
example, the expansion of a convective cloud). A DDIR value of 45 allows the
max
tracking of a cloud in a region of rotational motion (for example close to the centre
of rotation of extratropical lows). Similar smoothness constraints have been used
by Hodges to construct the trajectories of specic features (in particular maximal
values of relative vorticity) in meteorological analyses (Hodges 1994).
4.3. Correction of inconsistent vectors

To correct an inconsistent CMV, we extract all the local minima of the Euclidean
distance matrix and use the vector determined during the previous step. The
Euclidean distance matrix can be used if at least two local minima (including the
one used for the initial, non-corrected vector computation) exist and if they are not
too numerous. (The maximum number of local minima has been set to 32 and is
rarely reached. A larger number indicates that at least one image of a pair has been
degraded by random noise or has a marked texturefor example a eld of clouds
with a regular pattern.) The corrected CMV is given by the position of the local
minimum that is closest to the end of the vector obtained during the previous
iteration (gure 7). If this corrected vector is of better quality (i.e. it matches quality
tests on velocity and direction), the computation of the trajectory can be continued,
otherwise it is stopped. The rst two vectors of a trajectory undergo a modied
version of these tests: if the rst vector is small (below 5 m s 1), the test on speed
variation is not applied. This enables the saving of some trajectories, which start at
or closely after the formation instant of the tracked cloud(s).
Figure 7. Correction of an inconsistent cloud motion vector ( jth vector, at instant t on

trajectory i). The corresponding target and search windows (right) and the Euclidean
distance surface ( left) are represented with the original and corrected vectors. Low
values of the Euclidean distance are white, high values are dark grey.
4.4. T ermination of trajectories

The computation of trajectories will automaticall y be interrupted in the following
cases:
1. the current vector is too close to a side of the image or to the limit of the
Earth disk;
2. the vector is inconsistent and cannot be corrected;
3. no displacement vector. This is generally associated with the dissipation of
the tracked clouds, and the (motionless) surface below is thereafter observed.
The whole set of trajectories is then re-examined. On some corrected trajectories, we
noticed that several consecutive vectors (in some cases a majority of vectors) had
been corrected, owing to an incorrect start of the trajectory (the rst vector cannot
be completely checked) or to the dissipation of the tracked clouds simultaneously
followed by the tracking of clouds of similar aspect. To avoid this, when three
consecutive corrected vectors are found, we interrupt the trajectory on the rst of
them. Finally, very short trajectories of three vectors or less are of little interest and
can easily be corrupted due to an inconsistent rst vector; these trajectories are
therefore removed.
The complete procedure has been applied to the 47 IR images and a new set of
trajectories has been computed. A rst attempt showed that all the trajectories but
one still remaining at 15:00 UTC are stopped at 16:00. This is caused by a shift of
several pixels on the 16:00 UTC image, conrmed by a visual examination of this
image and the surrounding ones. (The study of other cases has shown that the
simultaneous termination of several trajectories should draw ones attention in the
rst place onto a problem concerning the quality of at least one image. A meteorolo-
gical phenomenon of short duration (e.g. the outburst of a convective cloud system)
does not aVect trajectories on such a large scale.) After the removal of the 16:00
faulty image, trajectories have been computed again (gure 8); this time, several
trajectories persisted along the whole series of images. When compared to the
Figure 8. Corrected trajectories in the IR channel, 18 October 1989, between 0:00 and
23:00 UTC (cf. gure 2).
uncorrected trajectory eld (gure 2), the new trajectories appear to be less numerous,
more regular and of shorter duration. Trajectories starting in initially cloudless areas
have disappeared. Trajectories 12 and 34 are (almost) identical to their originals.
The tracking has been improved for trajectories which had an inconsistent vector
shortly after their beginning (no. 46 ).
5. Computation of trajectories for diVerent channels

5.1. Water vapour trajectories
The WV absorption channel (5.77.1 mm), available on most geostationar y met-
eorological satellites, detects WV structures at medium and high levels ( between 600
and 300 hPa) and high-level clouds. Trajectories of these structures and clouds can
also be constructed. Figure 9 shows the extended trajectories, starting on 18 October

1989 at 0:00 UTC, computed on a series of images covering 60 h (the images with
major defaults, like the 16:00 UTC images which also had a large line shift, have
been removed. In such cases, consecutive images used for CMV computation are
separated by 1 h or more). Trajectories are mainly located in areas where high-level
clouds are present (in the area of the low over the Atlantic Ocean, along the band
of high-level clouds associated with the jet stream and in the convective area over
the western Mediterranean Sea). The limited number of trajectories in pure WV
regions (trajectories 52 and 54) can be explained by the lesser quality of the images
(which were degraded by instrumental noise) and the lack of contrast on WV
structures in these areas (anticyclonic region over central Europe and Italy). Similar
observations have been made in the WV channel on CMWs, which are more likely
to be found in areas with high clouds (Laurent 1993). The duration of the trajectories
is also reduced by the image quality: the longest trajectory (37 ) lasts 23 h, although
some clouds are still present after the trajectory termination, according to the
corresponding IR trajectory, which is very close, and to observations of movie loops.
A detailed comparison of trajectories in both IR and WV channels (gures 8 and 9)
indicates that a majority of common trajectories show the same motion. In some
Figure 9. Trajectories in the WV channel, 18 October 1989, between 0:00 and 23:00 UTC,
superimposed onto the 0:00 UTC WV image. The longest living trajectory is 37.
cases, the trajectories are even identical. The use of the correction method and
interruption tests explains that the WV trajectory chart shows a more regular and
more realistic motion than the trajectory charts constructed with a simpler method
in the tropics by Soden (Soden 1998). In the latter method, each vector has only
undergone a self-symmetry test (see also 6.2), and non-self-symmetri c vectors have
been replaced by their predecessor. Only trajectories with less than 10% corrected
vectors were retained.
5.2. Specic tracking of high-level clouds

In the method described in the previous sections, all the pixels of the target
window are used for the computation of the displacement vector. It can be adapted
to a more selective tracking of cold, high-level clouds by selecting only the pixels
above a chosen BT threshold for the Euclidean distance computation and the
deduced cloud CMV (Schmetz and Nuret 1987). (This is realized in practice by
setting the weighting function W of equation (1) to 1 for the pixels of the target
window with a pixel count corresponding to a BT below the threshold value, and
by setting W to 0 for the pixel values above this threshold.) This selection reduces
the inuence of low-level clouds and the Earth surface, which in some cases slow
down CMVs, and in some cases enables the tracking of high-level clouds in situations
where the trajectory computation using all the pixels was not successful. Besides the
selection of cold pixels, the only diVerence is the introduction of a complementary
termination test on trajectories: when the number of cold pixels becomes too small,
below a chosen threshold (set in this study to 6.25% of all the possible pixels of the
target window); this corresponds generally to the dissipation of the cloud.
In gure 10, WV trajectories of high-level clouds, with a BT below 40 C are
represented. They are less numerous than trajectories computed without temperature
Figure 10. Trajectories of high-level clouds in the WV channel, after a selection of the pixels
with a BT below 40C; starting on 18 October 1989 at 0:00 UTC, with the end of
the longest living trajectory (46) on 19 October 1989 at 21:30 UTC.
selection (18 and 22 trajectories respectively). Whereas some trajectories are identical
with and without cold pixel selection (possibly due to a large proportion of high-
level clouds inside the target windowfor example trajectory 37), in other cases the
tracked elements along trajectories with a cold pixel selection can move in a slightly
diVerent direction (trajectory 47) and with a diVerent, generally higher speed (traject-
ory 36). DiVerences between trajectories with the same origin can be related to
motions at diVerent levels. Trajectories with a cold pixel selection appear to be more
representative of the motion of active areas (for example convective areas).
5.3. T rajectories in the visible channel

Trajectories have also been constructed from Meteosat images in the visible
channel (VIS) (0.41.1 mm), which is better adapted for the tracking of low-level
clouds and has a better spatial resolution (the side of a VIS pixel is 2.5 km). The
main limitation is that these images are in practice available only during daytime
(between 8:30 and 17:30 UTC for the studied area). The use of a solar correction
(dividing the pixel value associated to the albedo by a factor of cos h , where h is
0 0
the solar zenithal angle) enables better tracking, especially at the beginning of
trajectories.
6. Construction of complete trajectories

6.1. Meaning of trajectories
The trajectory elds described in the previous sections have a variable duration,
limited mainly by the quality tests and the number of images: for the IR trajectory
eld shown in gure 8, among the 35 trajectories, seven of them (20%) have a
duration of 23.5 h. Nevertheless, the motion of identied cloud structures along
trajectories has to be checked. Movie loops conrm that such structures remain and
evolve inside the target window during the tracking (gure 11 for trajectory 50). For
a precise determination of the evolution of the clouds, specic parameters, in particu-
lar the BT of the cold pixels* or the BT of the coldest pixel inside the target window,
can give indications about the life cycle of diVerent clouds. For example, the life
cycle of several cloud structures along trajectory 50 has been identied on the BT
curves (gure 12). In particular, the growth of a high-level cloud can be recognized
in the upper left part of the target windows between 7:00 and 10:00 UTC; its
progressive dissipation can be observed between 13:00 and 15:00 UTC. Such observa-
tions show that trajectories do not represent the motion of a single isolated cloud
in most cases, but rather the motion of several small clouds or portions of large
clouds (or pure WV structures, in the WV channel ), embedded in the atmospheric
ow at a specic (not precisely known) level. Inside the target window, some clouds
may dissipate or merge, while other cloud elements appear. But the main condition
is that the content of the target window does not change too strongly in the interval
between two consecutive images (h in most cases).
*Various methods can be used to determine the brightness temperature of the cold pixels.
In this article, for each target window, this brightness temperature is derived from the average
numerical count of all the pixels that have a value below a threshold. This threshold is
determined by the average of the numerical count of all the pixels of the target window minus
the standard deviation of these numerical counts. Therefore the value of this threshold varies
with each correlation window.
Figure 11. Consecutive target windows (inside squares) and their immediate surroundings
along trajectory 50, IR channel. (The 16:00 UTC image has not been used for the
construction of this trajectory.)
Figure 12. Brightness temperature of the coldest pixel (T ) and average BT of the cold
min
pixels (T ) along trajectory 50, and identied cloud structures. 1, cloud in lower left
cold
corner (dissipating); 2, at left centre; 3, high-level cloud at top, left and centre; 4, small
bright cloud just above centre; 5, several small cloud structures; 6, growing cloud
along lower edge, at left.
6.2. Computation of the opposite vector

Basically, the uncertainty on the measurement of each vector is 0.5 pixel in each
direction. But complementary tests are necessary to check the quality of the previ-
ously constructed trajectories; these tests may give an indication of tracking errors.
For this purpose, a self-symmetry test, based on the computation of the opposite
vector, has been added. For each vector computed between two images ( between
image number n and n+1), we compute the opposite vector ( between image n+1
and n). The end of the direct vector gives the position of the centre of the target
window for the computation of the opposite vector. The search windows of both
vectors have the same centre, the origin of the direct vector. We have an excellent
tracking if the opposite vector has exactly the same magnitude and the opposite
direction of the direct vector.
Figure 13 shows the diVerence between both vectors in the IR channel. Isolated
non-self-symmetric vectors (with a pixel diVerence of more than two pixels in either
directionlines or columns between the direct and opposite vectors) can be
observed along several trajectories (nos 10, 11, 13, 14, 20, 22, 30, 37 and 50). More
than 20% of non-self-symmetric vectors are scattered along some trajectories (nos
3, 5, 8 and 15 ) or concentrated along the nal part of other trajectories (nos 26
and 46). An important diVerence between the direct and opposite vectors can be
explained by the presence of several features of similar aspect in the search window
or may be due to changes in shape or size of the tracked features. Therefore
interrupting the trajectory computation as soon as a non-self-symmetric vector is
found is a good way to improve the quality of trajectory elds, but at the cost of
having shorter trajectories. A vector diVerence of two pixels between direct and
opposite vector should be tolerated for this rather severe quality test, thus allowing
small deformations of the tracked features.
Table 3 presents the proportion of self-symmetric vectors represented in gure 13
and for two other situations (one in the IR channel, the other one in the WV channel)
during one day with a large number of trajectories covering the whole Meteosat
disk north of 35 S. The results for the 18 October 1989 IR trajectories validate
the use of a vector correction and trajectory interruption tests; the proportion of
non-self-symmetric vectors has been reduced thereafter.
The interruption of trajectories on a non-satisfactor y self-symmetry test leads to
a further reduction in the number of vectors by less than a half of the corrected set
Figure 13. DiVerence in pixels between direct and opposite vectors, coded in colour: black,
direct and return vector identical; blue, diVerence of one line or/and one column of
pixels; green, diVerence of two lines or/and two columns of pixels; red, diVerence of
more than two lines or two columns of pixels.
Table 3. Number of trajectories and vectors, and diVerence in pixels between direct and opposite vectors (absolute value of the largest diVerence
between lines or columns of the sum of the two vectors) for three situations (18 October 1989, IR channel; 18 February 1996, IR and WV channels).
DiVerence in pixels Number of

Time Number of Number (between direct and vectors
Date (UTC) Channel trajectories of vectors opposite vectors) (% of total ) Selection tests Comment
18 October 1989 0:0023:30 IR 54 2345 0 pixel 1573 (67.1) No selection Uncorrected

12 pixels 522 (22.3) No correction trajectories (gure 3)
>2 pixels 250 (10.6)
18 October 1989 0:0023:30 IR 35 864 0 pixel 632 (73.1) Speed and direction Trajectories after mild
12 pixels 177 (20.5) tests+trajectories of tests (gure 11)
>2 pixels 55 (6.3) >3 vectors
18 October 1989 0:0023:30 IR 26 502 0 pixel 411 (81.9) Speed and direction Trajectories after
12 pixels 91 (18.1) tests+trajectories of severe tests
>2 pixels 0 (0) >3 vectors+self-
symmetry test
1819 February 17:3017:30 IR 857 21 060 0 pixel 16 883 (80.2) Speed and direction Whole disk
1996 12 pixels 3214 (15.2) tests+trajectories of trajectories after
>2 pixels 963 (4.6) >3 vectors mild tests
1819 February 17:3017:30 IR 722 16 169 0 pixel 13 749 (85.0) Speed and direction Trajectories after
1996 12 pixels 2420 (15.0) tests+trajectories of severe tests
symmetry test
1819 February 17:3017:30 WV 774 13 982 0 pixel 10 189 (72.9) Speed and direction Whole disk
1996 12 pixels 2911 (20.8) tests+trajectories of trajectories after
Construction of cloud trajectories f rom satellite images
>2 pixels 882 (6.3) >3 vectors mild tests

1819 February 17:3017:30 WV 611 10 046 0 pixel 8016 (79.8) Speed and direction Trajectories after
1996 12 pixels 2030 (20.2) tests+trajectories of severe tests
symmetry test
1723
of trajectories (23% less vectors for the 18 February 1996 IR case, 42% less vectors
for the 18 October 1989 IR case) and to a reduction of the number of trajectories
by less than a quarter (16% less trajectories for the 18 February 1996 IR case, 25%
less trajectories for the 18 October 1989 IR case), with the benet of having more
consistent results. This supplementary process is needed for the computation of
reliable trajectories representing the motion of clouds during their whole lifetime.
6.3. Construction of all complete trajectories at a given time

In the previous sections, all trajectories started at the same instant, which corre-
sponds to various moments of the life cycle of the tracked elements. This led us to
adapt the method previously described to enable the construction of the complete
trajectory of a cloud or cloud ensemble, from its birth or apparition to its dissipation.
For this purpose, complete trajectories are computed in four steps.
1. The direct trajectories, starting from selected positions (for example on a
regular grid) at a chosen time (t ), are computed (forward computation, from present
0
to future). All the previous quality tests and corrections, including the interruption
of trajectories on non-self-symmetric vectors, are applied except the suppression of
short trajectories (less than four vectors). The nal instant of a trajectory is t +Dt ,
0 1
where Dt is the duration of this trajectory.
1
2. The backward trajectories, starting at the same time from the same positions,
are computed backwards in time (from the present back to the past), with the same
conditions as the direct trajectories. The instant of termination of the corresponding
backward trajectory is t Dt , with a duration Dt .
0 2 2
3. Complementary quality tests are applied on the rst vector of the direct
and the corresponding backward trajectory: both vectors must have close speeds
and directions close to opposite. The same threshold values on speed (R =0.5) and
s
direction (DDIR =45) are used to compare the rst vector of a direct trajectory
max
and the opposite of the rst vector of the corresponding backward trajectory. If the
vectors pass the tests successfully, the direct and backward trajectories are joined to
form the complete, reconstructed trajectory (named b+d hereafter). This trajectory
is retained for the next step. When at least one of these complementary tests is not
satised, this can be caused: (a) by the dissipation of a cloud or cloud system ( long
backward trajectory with no, or a very short, non-signicant, direct trajectoryin
this case, only the backward trajectory is kept for the next step); ( b) by its formation
(long direct trajectory without backward trajectory) ; or (c) by the presence of two
clouds or cloud systems with a diVerent but consistent motion (long direct and
backward trajectory) .
4. The goal of the last step is to conrm that the trajectories previously con-
structed are of good quality. For each of them, the end position and the instant of
termination of the backward trajectory (t Dt ) determine the starting position and
0 2
instant of a new, recalculated trajectory, computed forward over the whole series of
images used for the direct and backward trajectory computation. In practice, two
favourable cases for comparisons can be distinguished:
the recalculated trajectory has a longer or the same duration (i.e. more
vectors or the same number of vectors) as the b+d trajectory;
the recalculated trajectory has a shorter duration than the b+d trajectory,
but still exists at the instant used as time reference (t ).
0
In both cases, if the recalculated trajectory is identical or stays very close to a portion
or the totality of the original b+d trajectory, then we can assume that the cloud
has been tracked correctly. This can be checked by comparing the distance in pixels
(d ) between the end position of the recalculated and the b+d trajectories to the
e
average length of both trajectories (l ), computed over their common duration. For
c
this purpose, the quality ratio R has been dened:
d
R=100 e (in %) (10)
l
c
A ratio of 10% has been set as a threshold for the identication of good trajectories
whereas a 5% ratio selects high quality trajectories.
6.4. Results and interpretation

Three sets of complete trajectories have been constructed as examples: one centred
on 18 October 1989, 00:00 UTC, in the IR channel, and two cases centred on
18 February 1996, 17:30 UTC, covering the whole Meteosat disk above 35 S, in
the IR and WV channels respectively (these cases are extensions of the previous
examples).
Figure 14 represents the recalculated IR trajectories over a period between
17 February, 17:30 UTC and 19 February 1996, 17:30 UTC. The original direct and
backward trajectories were started at 17:30 UTC on 18 February. All recalculated
trajectories suitable for a comparison with the b+d originals are represented; they
correspond to clouds located preferentially in a limited number of areas:
clouds at all levels around the extratropical low around 30 N, 30 W;
high-level clouds associated to jet streams: over the North Atlantic Ocean/
Northern Europe (between 50 and 60 N), the South Atlantic Ocean
(3035 S) and north-west Africa (African jet);
high-level clouds at the top of convective cloud clusters in the intertropical
convergence zone (across the equator, and over East Africa around 5 S,
25 E);
marine stratocumulus clouds in the south-eastern Atlantic;
and at a lesser extent, low-level clouds around an anticyclone at 45 N,
2040 W;
Figure 14 also reveals that the trajectories of good quality (red: R 5%; green:
5<R 10%), i.e. where the recalculated trajectory is close to the original b+d
trajectory, represent about 50% of the original set, although they are surrounded by
trajectories of lesser quality, which show a similar motion (blue). Some clouds appear
to be easier to track, probably because they have a unique, clearly identiable and
stable shape, and because no other structures clouds or land featuresdisturb the
tracking. This may also indicate that some cloud elements of a large cloud ensemble
have a longer lifetime than others located in their vicinity. Similar results are observed
for the two other examples (table 4). Trajectories in the WV channel mainly track
high-level clouds rather than pure WV structures, as had already been observed in
the cases described in 5.1 and 5.2.
7. Conclusions and prospects

The method presented in this article allows the automatic tracking of clouds
from series of satellite images in the VIS, IR and WV channels, and pure WV
Figure 14. Recalculated IR trajectories between 17 February, 17:30 UTC and 19 February
1996, 17:30 UTC, superimposed onto the IR image of 18 February, 17:30 UTC. Red,
quality ratio R 5%; green, 5<R 10%; blue, R>10%.
structures from images in the WV channel. It is an extension of existing techniques

used to compute cloud motion winds and is adapted for the tracking of mesoscale
structures, with dimensions about 75 to 200 km.
Atmospheric structures, i.e. clouds in the IR, WV and VIS channels and pure
WV structures in the WV channel, have been successfully tracked over various
durations ranging from 1 h to several days. This study shows that diVerent factors
have an inuence on the quality and representativeness of the tracking and should
be taken into account for studies about the motion and evolution of clouds.
1. The lifetime of the tracked structure is the ultimate limiting factor.
2. The aspect of the structure in comparison to its environment: clouds which
show a high contrast with their surroundings (surface or lower clouds) and without
any other cloud of similar aspect in the neighbourhood will be more easily tracked.
3. The quality of numerical images: a high level of noise will make the tracking
more diYcult. Navigation errors between consecutive images (shifts in lines or
columns) can interrupt the tracking, as has been observed in one of the cases
presented, and thus articially reduce the measured lifetime of the structure(s).
4. A short time interval between images favours the tracking (a h interval has
Table 4. Comparison of b+d and recalculated trajectories and vectors for three situations.
Values for recalculated trajectories are indicated for three quality ratios (R<2 ,
R 10% and R 5%). Percentages refer to recalculated trajectories and vectors.
Number of trajectories
Recalculated Recalculated
Recalculated trajectories trajectories
trajectories R 10% R 5%
18 October 1989, IR 26 14 13
(100%) (53.8%) (50.0%)
18 February 1996, IR 1042 579 473
(100%) (55.6%) (45.4%)

18 February 1996, WV 1173 575 482
(100%) (49.0%) (41.0%)
Number of vectors
Recalculated Recalculated
b+d Recalculated trajectories trajectories
trajectories trajectories R 10% R 5%
18 October 1989, IR 1116 612 445 416

(182.4%) (100%) (72.7%) (68.0%)
18 February 1996, IR 35 956 27 870 22 464 18 706
(129.0%) (100%) (80.6%) (67.1%)
18 February 1996, WV 24 808 18 299 13 874 11 540
(135.6%) (100%) (75.5%) (63.1%)
been used in this study). During a long time interval, it is more likely that a cloud
will change its size or aspect, and in the case of extreme evolutions make the tracking
impossible.
5. A practical limitation is the large amount of data (satellite images) needed to
obtain long sequences and thus long trajectories, although this problem tends to be
reduced nowadays with the increasing storage capacities of recent computers (for
example, a half-hourly sequence over 48 h of full resolution Meteosat IR or WV
images represents a volume of approximately 600 Mb).
6. The presence of clouds at diVerent levels probably limits the tracking, but this
eVect has not been investigated yet. Basically, when clouds at two diVerent levels
have converging trajectories and one layer masks at least partly the second one, the
trajectory following the most outstanding cloud features is continued. Theoretically,
the motion of two cloud layers moving with a diVerent motion should lead to the
presence of several minima in the Euclidean distance surface, and potentially enable
the determination of two CMVs (although the measurement of each Euclidean
distance minimumi.e. each vector associated to one cloud layermight be slightly
modied by the presence of clouds from the other layer). Another way to extend the
trajectory with less visible features may consist of calculating CMVs using images
of another channel, where these features are prominent. For example, low-level clouds
and semi-transparen t thin cirrus (at a high level) can be tracked in the IR channel.
In cases of overlap of clouds from both types, thin cirrus may be tracked more easily
in the WV channel, whereas low-level clouds (undetectable in the latter channel)

may be tracked correctly in the VIS channel.
For the construction of trajectories, new or little used quality or interruption
tests have been successfully introduced. Besides the tests between the speed and
direction of consecutive vectors, which are commonly used for the operational
computation of cloud motion winds, a self-symmetry test concerning each vector
taken alone has been introduced. The correction of inconsistent vectors, although
concerning only a limited proportion of vectors, is close in its principle to the use
of a Kalman lter: an inconsistent vector is compared to a predicted vector, derived
from its predecessor and corrected if possible. The comparison of trajectories com-
puted in both directions (backwards and forwards) has also been introduced and
appears to be an eYcient quality test.

This study has also revealed two types of tracking. In the rst case, robust
reversible trajectories have been constructed with the use of severe quality tests
including the interruption of trajectories on non-symmetric vectors and the rejection
of non-reversible trajectories. These high quality trajectories allow a reliable tracking
of a limited number of atmospheric structures. In the second case, more trajectories
are retained, often with a longer duration but with a lesser quality; they include the
set of high-quality trajectories but also trajectories that contain non-reversible vectors
and non-reversible trajectories. All these trajectories are not suitable for a precise
tracking of atmospheric structures, but groups of trajectories give a qualitative but
realistic picture of large-scale atmospheric motions. Such trajectories can potentially
be used for statistical studies. The lack of robustness of this method without severe
quality tests can be explained by ambiguities in the tracking due to the presence of
structures with similar aspect in the vicinity (which may introduce an incorrect
tracking), to an important deformation of the structure between two consecutive
images or to structures located at diVerent levels and moving with a diVerent motion.
A second explanation is the turbulent and chaotic nature of atmospheric motions; a
small diVerence between the motion of two neighbouring atmospheric structures can
increase rapidly with time. The uncertainty of 0.5 pixel on the measurement of the
motion may also contribute to these diVerences.
In the standard method, no selection of pixels has been undertaken during the
construction of the trajectories. A variation of the method, which consists in selecting
cold pixels, leads in some cases to a specic tracking of high-level clouds. The
corresponding trajectories complete those calculated with the standard method. The
diVerences observed in the few cases where trajectories were computed with both
methods can be explained by the presence of structures at diVerent levels. A derived
method is suggested: it consists of using a mask provided by a cloud classication
and corresponding to a particular type of clouds (thus excluding clouds of other
types) before computing the vectors of a trajectory. Another adaptation of the
standard method for case studies or for the tracking of specic types of clouds
consists in making a preliminary selection or construction of the starting points
instead of using a regular grid, as has been shown in the examples given. The
(uncorrected ) brightness temperature appears to be an imprecise indicator about
the height of the tracked clouds or their motion vector: the same, relatively high
BT may correspond to a low-level warm cloud or to a high-level cold thin cloud.
Nevertheless, it appears that the changes in BT are small between consecutive vectors,
excluding rapid changes in the height or nature of the clouds. The visual aspect of
the evolving clouds (in line, patchy, etc.) along a trajectory (e.g. gure 12) also
indicates that these clouds are more likely located at a single level and that there is
no jump between clouds at diVerent heights. These observations could be conrmed
with the use of a precise height estimation method. Besides, such a method would
provide a description of the tracked structures as complete as possible.
The trajectory construction method is based on cloud motion wind calculation
techniques that have been validated for a long time. The comparison of trajectories
derived from satellite images with three-dimensional meteorological analyses should
provide a complementary validation, although the temporal resolution of analyses
(6 or 12 h) is not the same, and help for a height attribution of the tracked atmospheric
structures. Comparisons with the trajectories of balloons can also be undertaken
for case studies. A comparison of balloon trajectories launched for the INDOEX
experiment during the winter of 199899 with trajectories derived from Meteosat
5 images is under way at the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique.
The trajectory construction method described in this article can be applied for
meteorological and climatic studies. Possible applications include the study of the
evolution of large scale atmospheric structures, especially convergence (subsidence)
zones and divergence zones (in particular the intertropical convergence zone), and
at mesoscale the divergent motion of clouds generated on top of tropical convective
cloud clusters, or the motion of small cloud elements inside cyclones.
Acknowledgment
The Meteosat images were provided by the European Space Agency and by
EUMETSAT.
References
Albergel, A., Martin, D., Strauss, B., and Gros, J.-M., 1988, The Chernobyl accident:
modelling of dispersion over Europe of the radioactive plume and comparison with
air activity measurements. Atmospheric Environment, 22, 24312444.
Anandan, P., 1989, A computational framework and an algorithm for the measurement of
visual motion. International Journal of Computer V ision, 2, 283310.
Angell, J. K., and Pack, D. H., 1960, Analysis of some preliminary low-level constant level
balloon (tetroon) ights. Monthly Weather Review, 88, 235248.
Arnaud, Y., Desbois, M., and Maizi, J., 1992, Automatic tracking and characterization of
African convective systems on Meteosat pictures. Journal of Applied Meteorology,
31, 443453.
Aspliden, C. I., Tourre, Y., and Sabine, J. B., 1976, Some climatological aspects of west
African disturbance lines during GATE. Monthly Weather Review, 104, 10291035.
Bannehr, L., Rohn, M., and Warnecke, G., 1996, A functional analytic method to derive
displacement vector elds from satellite image sequences. International Journal of
Remote Sensing, 17, 383392.
Bertrand, J., Baudet, J., and Drochon, A., 1975, Importance des aerosols naturels en Afrique
de louest. Journal de Recherches Atmospheriques, 8, 845860.
Bowen, R. A., Fusco, L., Morgan, J., and Roska, K. O., 1979, Operational production
of cloud motion vectors (satellite winds) from Meteosat image data. Proceedings of
T echnical Conference on Use of Data f rom Meteorological Satellites, L annion, France,
1721 September 1979 (Noordwijk: ESA c/o ESTEC), pp. 6575.
Buche, G., Ottenbacher, A., and Fischer, H., 1990, Wind vectors evaluated from structures
within consecutive Meteosat Water vapour images. Proceedings of 8th MET EOSAT
Scientic Users Meeting, Norrkoping, Sweden, 2831 August 1990 (Darmstadt:
EUMETSAT), pp. 8796.
Carlson, T. N., and Prospero, J. M., 1972, The large-scale movement of Saharan air outbreaks
over the northern equatorial Atlantic. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 11, 283297.
Cayla, F. R., and Tomassini, C., 1978, Determination de la temperature des cirrus semi-
transparents. L a Meteorologie, 15, 6367.
Cote, S., and Tatnall, A. R. L., 1995, A neural network-based method for tracking features
from satellite sensor images. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 16, 36953701.
Desbois, M., 1976, Les resultats de lexperience EOLE. L a Meteorologie, 6eme serie, 5168.
Desbois, M., Kayiranga, T., Gnamien, B., Guessous, S., and Picon, L., 1988, Characterization
of some elements of the Sahelian climate and their interannual variations for July
1983, 1984 and 1985 from the analysis of METEOSAT ISCCP data. Journal of Climate,
1, 867904.
Dew, G., and Holmlund, K., 2000, Investigations of cross-correlation and Euclidean distance
target matching techniques in the MPEF environment. Proceedings of Fifth Interna-
tional W inds Workshop, 28 February 3 March 2000, L orne, Australia (Darmstadt:
EUMETSAT), pp. 235243.
Durst, C. S., 1955, Variation of wind with time and distance. Geophysical Memoires, 12, 331.
Endlich, R. M., Wolf, D. E., Hall, D. J., and Brain, A. E., 1971, Use of a pattern recognition
technique for determining cloud motions from sequences of satellites photographs.
Journal of Applied Meteorology, 10, 105 117.
Eriksson, A., 1988, A new method of wind vector computation from METEOSAT water
vapor imagery. Proceedings of 7th MET EOSAT Scientic Users Meeting, Madrid,
2730 September 1988 (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 321328.
Gandin, L. S., 1965, Objective Analysis of Meteorological Fields (Jerusalem: Israel Program
for Scientic Translation).
Green, R., Hughes, G., Novak, C., and Schreitz, R., 1975, The automatic extraction of
wind estimates from VISSR data. Technical Memorandum NESS 164, US Department
of Commerce, Washington, DC, pp. 94110.
Hasler, A. F., 1981, Stereographic observations from geosynchronous satellites: an important
new tool for the atmospheric sciences. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,
62, 194212.
Hasler, A. F., Palaniappan, K., Kambhammetu, C., Black, P., Uhlhorn, E., and Chesters,
D., 1998, High resolution wind elds within the inner core and eye of a mature tropical
cyclone from GOES 1-min images. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society,
79, 24832495.
Hasler, A. F., Skillman, W. C., Shenk, W. E., and Steranka, J., 1979, In situ aircraft
verication of the quality of satellite cloud winds over oceanic regions. Journal of
Applied Meteorology, 18, 14811489.
Hasler, A. F., Strong, J., Woodward, R. H., and Pierce, H., 1991, Automatic analysis of
stereoscopic satellite image pairs for determination of cloud-top height and structure.
Journal of Applied Meteorology, 30, 257 281.
Hayden, C. M., and Purser, R. J., 1995, Recursive lter objective analysis of meteorological
elds: application to NESDIS operational processing. Journal of Applied Meteorology,
34, 315.
Hodges, K. I., 1994, A general method for tracking analysis and its application for meteorolo-
gical data. Monthly Weather Review, 122, 25732586.
Holmlund, K., 1996, Normalised quality indicators for EUMETSAT cloud motion winds.
Proceedings of T hird International W inds Workshop, 1012 June 1996, Ascona,
Switzerland (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 155164.
Holmlund, K., 1998, The utilization of statistical properties of satellite-derived atmospheric
motion vectors to derive quality indicators. Weather and Forecasting, 13, 10931104.
Horn, B. K. P., and Schunck, B. G., 1981, Determining optical ow. Articial Intelligence,
17, 185203.
Hubert, L. F., 1979, Wind derivation of geostationary satellites. WMO T echnical Note,
166, 3359.
Kamachi, M., 1989, Advective surface velocities derived from sequential images for rotational
ow eld: limitations and applications of maximum cross-correlation method with
rotational registration. Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans), 94, 18 22718 233.
Laing, A. G., and Fritsch, J. M., 1993, Mesoscale convective complexes in Africa. Monthly
Weather Review, 121, 22542263.
Laurent, H., 1993, Wind extraction from METEOSAT water vapor channel image data.
Journal of Applied Meteorology, 32, 11241133.
Leese, J. A., Novak, C. S., and Clark, B. B., 1971, An automated technique for obtaining
cloud motion from geosynchronous satellite data using cross correlation. Journal of
Applied Meteorology, 10, 118132.
Le Marshall, J. F., Pescod, N. R., Seaman, B., Mills, G., and Stewart, P., 1994, An
operational system for generating cloud drift winds in the Australian region and their
impact on numerical weather prediction. Weather and Forecasting, 9, 361370.
Lunnon, R. W., and Lowe, D. A., 1992, Spatial scale dependency of errors in satellite cloud
track winds. Advanced Space Research, 12, 127131.
Lunnon, R. W., Lowe, D. A., Barnes, J. A., and Dharssi, I., 1992, Study of cirrus cloud
winds. Technical Report 35, Forecasting Research Division, Meteorological OYce,
Bracknell, Berkshire, UK.
Maddox, R. A., 1980, Mesoscale convective complexes. Bulletin of American Meteorological
Society, 61, 13741387.
Maurizot, M., Bouthemy, P., and Delyon, B., 1997, Direct localization, motion characteriza-
tion and tracking of centers of atmospheric disturbances in Meteosat image sequences.
Proceedings of 1997 Meteorological Satellite Data Users Conference, Brussels, Belgium,
29 September3 October 1997 (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 347354.
Menzel, W. P., Hayden, C. M., Nieman, S. J., Velden, C. S., and Wanzong, S., 1996,
Improvements in the quality assessment of automated satellite-derived cloud and water
vapor motion vectors. Proceedings of T hird International W inds Workshop, Ascona,
Switzerland, 1012 June 1996 (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 197205.
Menzel, W. P., Smith, W. L., and Stewart, T. R., 1983, Improved cloud motion wind vector
and altitude assignment using VAS. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology,
22, 377384.
Menzel, W. P., Wanzong, S., Nieman, S., and Schmetz, J., 1993, Assigning heights to cloud
motion winds. Proceedings of Second International W ind Workshop, T okyo, Japan,
1315 December 1993 (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 105115.
Morel, P., and Bandeen, W., 1973, The EOLE experiment: early results and current objectives.
Bulletin of American Meteorological Society, 54, 298306.
Neumann, C. J., Cry, G. W., Caso, E. L., and Jarvinen, B. R., 1978, Tropical cyclones of
the North Atlantic Ocean, 18711977. National Climatic Center, Asheville, NC and
National Hurricane Center, Coral Gables, FL.
Nieman, S. J., Menzel, W. P., Hayden, C. M., Gray, D., Wanzong, S. T., Velden, C. S.,
and Daniels, J., 1997, Fully automated cloud drift winds in NESDIS operations.
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 78, 11211133.
Nieman, S. J., Schmetz, J., and Menzel, W. P., 1993, A comparison of several techniques to
assign heights to cloud tracers. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 32, 15591568.
Ondrejka, R. J., and Conover, J. H., 1966, Note on the stereo interpretation of Nimbus II
APT photography. Monthly Weather Review, 94, 611614.
Ottenbacher, A., Tomassini, M., Holmlund, K., and Schmetz, J., 1997, Low-level cloud
motion winds from Meteosat high-resolution visible imagery. Weather and Forecasting,
12, 175184.
Pierrehumbert, R. T., and Roca, R., 1998, Evidence for control of Atlantic subtropical
humidity by large scale advection. Geophysical Research L etters, 25, 45374540.
Purdom, J. F., 1996, Detailed cloud motions from satellite imagery taken at thirty second,
one and three minutes intervals. Proceedings of T hird International W inds Workshop,
1012 June 1996, Ascona, Switzerland (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT), pp. 137146.
Saunders, R. W., 1988, Cloud top temperature/height: a high-resolution imagery product
from AVHRR data. Meteorological Magazine, 117, 211221.
Schmetz, J., and Holmlund, K., 1992, Operational cloud motion winds from Meteosat and
the use of cirrus clouds as tracers. Advanced Space Research, 12, 95104.
Schmetz, J., Holmlund, K., Hoffmann, J., Strauss, B., Mason, B., Gaertner, V., Koch,
A., and Van de Berg, L., 1993, Operational cloud motion winds from Meteosat
infrared images. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 32, 12061225.
Schmetz, J., and Nuret, M., 1987, Automatic tracking of high-level clouds in METEOSAT
infrared images with a radiance windowing technique. ESA Journal, 11, 275286.
Sitbon, P., Berroir, A., and Chaume, D., 1974, Determination des champs de vents a partir
des photographies de satellites geostationnaires. 2eme partie: examen de procedes
1732 Construction of cloud trajectories f rom satellite images
numeriques autres que la correlation. Note interne, Laboratoire de Meteorologie

Dynamique (CNRS), Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France.
Smith, W. L., and Platt, C. M. R., 1978, Comparison of satellite-deduced cloud height with
indications from radiosonde and ground-based laser measurements. Journal of Applied
Meteorology, 17, 17961802.
Soden, B., 1998, Tracking upper tropospheric water vapor radiances: a satellite perspective.
Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres), 103, 17 06917 081.
Stiller, C., and Konrad, J., 1999, Estimating motion in image sequences. IEEE Signal
Processing Magazine, 14, 7091.
Strauss, B., and Gros, J. M., 1986, Information sur laccident de Tchernobyl. L a Meteorologie,
7eme serie, 1415.
Szantai, A., 1996, Construction de trajectoires a partir dimages de satellites: etude de systemes
nuageux. These de lUniversite Paris 6 (P. et M. Curie), France.
Szantai, A., and Desbois, M., 1994, Construction of cloud trajectories to study the cloud life
cycle. Advanced Space Research, 14, 115118.

Szejwach, G., 1982, Determination of semi-transparent cirrus cloud temperature from infrared
radiances: application to METEOSAT. Journal of Applied Meteorology, 21, 384393.
TWERLE team, 1977, The TWERL experiment. Bulletin of American Meteorological Society,
58, 936948.
Wade, G., Lau, K. S., and Wood, N. L. H., 1992, Clustering applied to cloud wind
determination. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 13, 31353155.
Williams, M., and Houze, R. A., 1989, Satellite-observed characteristics of winter monsoon
cloud clusters. Monthly Weather Review, 115, 505519.
Wu, Q. X., 1995, A correlation-relaxation-labeling framework for computing optical ow
Template matching from a new perspective. IEEE T ransactions on Pattern Analysis
and Machine Intelligence, 17, 843 852.
Wu, Q. X., Neill, S. J. M., and Pairman, D., 1996, Correlation and relaxation labellingAn
experimental investigation on fast algorithms. Proceedings of T hird International W inds
Workshop, 1012 June 1996, Ascona, Switzerland (Darmstadt: EUMETSAT),
pp. 265 272.
Wylie, D. P., and Menzel, W. P., 1989, Two years of cloud cover statistics using VAS. Journal
of Climate, 2, 380392.

International Journal of Remote

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

International Journal of Remote

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

This article was downloaded by:[Ecole Polytechnique]

International Journal of Remote

To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/01431160110075541

Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.informaworld.com/terms-and-conditions-of-access.pdf

A method for the construction of cloud trajectories from series of

A. SZANTAI*, F. DESALMAND and M. DESBOIS

(Received 18 October 1999; in nal form 26 March 2001)

Abstract. Knowledge of the trajectories of atmospheric structures is useful in

Internationa l Journal of Remote Sensing

2. Computation of cloud motion winds

the highly variable nature of clouds and atmospheric structures at the

all measurements of motion on any type of images such as:

2.1. Measurement of the motion of clouds

location (L , C ) is determined from the minimal value of the sum of squared

.{i (L +l+DL , C +c+DC)i {L +l, C +c)}2

2.2. Height assignment

where R =287 J K 1 kg 1: gas constant for dry air; g=9.81 m s 2: magnitude of

Bi- or multispectral methods based on transmitted radiation: These methods are

2.3. Problems related to the computation of cloud motion winds

2.3.1. Size of the windows

DL =(L SL T )/2 (in lines) (5)

2.3.2. T ime interval between images

studies (Desbois et al. 1988 ).

2.3.3. Position of the vector on the Earth disk

2.3.4. Rotational motion

2.3.5. DiVerences between measured winds and cloud motion winds

2.4. Conclusion about cloud motion winds

3. Basic method for the computation of trajectories

and then in a north-west/south-east direction over Eastern Europe; a part of

3.2. T rajectory computation

3.3. T rajectories in the inf rared channel (18 October 1989)

vectors. These vectors correspond to cloudless areas: the corresponding brightness

3.4. Qualitative study of inconsistent vectors

3.5. Causes of inconsistent vectors

Table 1. Percentages of correct and inconsistent vectors on IR trajectories of 18 October

2353 0.3% 0.1% 6.2% 5.3%

Vectors with Vectors with large variation Vectors

5.4% 5.4% 3.3% 73.9%

Figure 3. Three IR trajectories containing inconsistent vectors and their extension.

Figure 4. Principle of the tracking of the wrong cloud.

T he tracking of a cloudless region. Trajectory 51 starts with the tracking of a

4. Improved method: construction of corrected trajectories

Figure 5. EVect of the Fagarasul mountains (around 4537 N, 2449 E) on trajectory 33

Table 2. Computation of trajectories at diVerent spatial and temporal scales. Percentage of

Target Search Time interval Maximal

Original scale 3232 8080 1/2 24 pixels

Original scale 2353 73.9 5.3 14.2

In a nal step, each corrected trajectory as a whole undergoes some complementary

4.1. Preliminary step: computation of the Euclidean distance surface

4.2. Quality tests

4.3. Correction of inconsistent vectors

Figure 7. Correction of an inconsistent cloud motion vector ( jth vector, at instant t on

4.4. T ermination of trajectories

5. Computation of trajectories for diVerent channels

also be constructed. Figure 9 shows the extended trajectories, starting on 18 October

5.2. Specic tracking of high-level clouds

5.3. T rajectories in the visible channel

6. Construction of complete trajectories

6.2. Computation of the opposite vector

DiVerence in pixels Number of

18 October 1989 0:0023:30 IR 54 2345 0 pixel 1573 (67.1) No selection Uncorrected

>2 pixels 882 (6.3) >3 vectors mild tests

6.3. Construction of all complete trajectories at a given time

6.4. Results and interpretation