ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the interpretation of satellite-viewed cloudiness, since upon analyses of the cloud fields depicted by photographs and infra-red displays were based some of the earliest routine operational usages of the new data in atmospheric science. Moisture in liquid form lends itself particularly well to investigation from satellite altitudes. Aggregates of liquid water droplets organized into different forms of clouds comprise the only regularly visible natural phenomena within the atmosphere affording clear indications of such patterns and organizations as atmospheric pressure, temperature, and air circulation, as well as the distribution of moisture itself. Many meteorological characteristics of a cloudy air mass can be inferred from the nature and form of its included cloud. The brightness of cloud areas portrayed by meteorological satellite photographs has been shown to be affected by several meteorological factors in addition to various technical aspects of the satellite/ground system hardware complexes.
