Best Practice Protocol for the validation of Aerosol, Cloud, and Precipitation Profiles (ACPPV)

Validation activities are critical to ensure the quality, credibility, and integrity of Earth observation data. With the deployment of advanced active remote sensors in space, a clear need arises for establishing best practices in the field of cloud, aerosol and precipitation profile validation. This publication fulfills this need, by proposing common practices, capturing lessons learned from earlier missions. The ACPPV publication is a result of an international collaboration of 97 scientists from 58 Institutions and Space Agencies, reviewed and accepted by the CEOS Working Group for Calibration and Validation (action item CV-22-01). The approaches and recommendations included, cover a range of issues, including correlative site and instrument selection, data processing and quality control, campaign criteria, configurations, scenarios, collocation methods, suggestions on issues concerning scene representativeness, and intercomparison methodologies. Moreover, guidance on the statistical validation through intercomparison between satellite-based remote sensing observations, and on the near-real time validation through monitoring in an NWP data assimilation system are included. To this end, the scientific communities involved in past missions have reviewed lessons learned and identified areas where convergence on similar approaches is beneficial. Finally, existing gaps in our Cal/Val knowledge are summarized. Given the complexity and diversity of geophysical scenarios and retrievals of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation regimes, the ACPPV document is aimed at knowledge exchange and conveying lessons learned, rather than definitions on single and strict protocols that have been agreed upon in some other domains with fewer degrees of freedom.

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2025-03-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15025626
Primary Topic
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Best Practice Protocol for the validation of Aerosol, Cloud, and Precipitation Profiles (ACPPV)

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
article

Best Practice Protocol for the validation of Aerosol, Cloud, and Precipitation Profiles (ACPPV)

article en

Abstract

Validation activities are critical to ensure the quality, credibility, and integrity of Earth observation data. With the deployment of advanced active remote sensors in space, a clear need arises for establishing best practices in the field of cloud, aerosol and precipitation profile validation. This publication fulfills this need, by proposing common practices, capturing lessons learned from earlier missions. The ACPPV publication is a result of an international collaboration of 97 scientists from 58 Institutions and Space Agencies, reviewed and accepted by the CEOS Working Group for Calibration and Validation (action item CV-22-01). The approaches and recommendations included, cover a range of issues, including correlative site and instrument selection, data processing and quality control, campaign criteria, configurations, scenarios, collocation methods, suggestions on issues concerning scene representativeness, and intercomparison methodologies. Moreover, guidance on the statistical validation through intercomparison between satellite-based remote sensing observations, and on the near-real time validation through monitoring in an NWP data assimilation system are included. To this end, the scientific communities involved in past missions have reviewed lessons learned and identified areas where convergence on similar approaches is beneficial. Finally, existing gaps in our Cal/Val knowledge are summarized. Given the complexity and diversity of geophysical scenarios and retrievals of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation regimes, the ACPPV document is aimed at knowledge exchange and conveying lessons learned, rather than definitions on single and strict protocols that have been agreed upon in some other domains with fewer degrees of freedom.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (BE), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI), United States Naval Research Laboratory (US), Marshall Space Flight Center (US), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (NL), Tokai University (JP), Langley Research Center (US), University of Helsinki (FI), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), Kyushu University (JP), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US), University of Crete (GR), Cyprus Institute (CY), University of Leicester (GB), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (GB), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), National University of Singapore (SG), University of Cologne (DE), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (US), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR), Brookhaven National Laboratory (US), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR), Asser Institute (NL), University of Utah (US), University of North Dakota (US), Barcelona Supercomputing Center (ES), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JP), European Space Agency (FR), Japan Meteorological Agency (JP), Wallops Flight Facility (US), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (DE), Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (FR), NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory (US), Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate (IT), Universidade Cidade de São Paulo (BR), Kai Research (United States) (US), Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (BR), CNR-IMIOT – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto di Metodologie Integrate per l’Osservazione della Terra (IT), Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (DE), National Observatory of Athens (GR), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US), Association for Language Learning (GB), National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (JP), Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (US), Meteorological Research Institute (JP), European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL), Stony Brook University (US), Nagoya University (JP), NILU (NO), University of Reading (GB), The University of Tokyo (JP), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE), University of Oklahoma (US), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (JP), University of Westminster (GB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.