Deep Convective Cloud System Monitoring Database - CACATOES v1.04 Africa

The CACATOES database is a level-3 product derived from the TOOCAN database derived from METEOSAT First and Second Generation MVIRI and SEVIRI measurements. Due to the large volume of TOOCAN data, a data reduction step is first performed by projecting the raw cloud systems data onto a regular 1°x1° grid, where all information about the systems is retained (see the Methods section of Roca and Fiolleau 2020 for more details). Statistics are then built from this reduced dataset, also known as CACATOES. CACATOES allows to analyse the Deep Convective Cloud Systems (DCS) over the tropical belt by an Eulerian approach. The integrated morphological parameters of each DCS have been projected into a 1°x1°/1day grid. The characteristics of all the DCSs occurring in a given grid box have been sorted according to the DCS area occupied within this grid box. Thus, the most representative cloud system can then be easily identified for a given 1°x1°/1day grid box. The data are available for region with boundaries 40° S to 40° N and 55° W to 55° E for the 1981-2023 period. The data has been used to reveal changes in convective organisation over tropical Africa and Atlantic Ocean (Rocal et al., 2024). The CATATOES data are available as 1°x1°/1day monthly files in NETCDF.CACATOES数据库是源自TOOCAN数据库的三级产品，而TOOCAN数据库则基于第一代和第二代气象卫星（METEOSAT）搭载的多通道可见红外成像仪（MVIRI）与旋转增强型可见红外成像仪（SEVIRI）的观测数据构建。鉴于TOOCAN数据集数据量庞大，首先需对原始云系数据开展数据降维处理：将原始云系数据投影至规则的1°×1°网格，且全程保留云系的全部信息（详细流程参见Roca与Fiolleau 2020年的研究方法章节）。基于该降维后的数据集即可构建统计指标，该数据集亦被称为CACATOES。 CACATOES支持通过欧拉方法（Eulerian approach）对热带区域的深对流云系（Deep Convective Cloud Systems, DCS）开展分析。研究人员将每个深对流云系的综合形态学参数投影至1°×1°/1日的网格中；针对特定网格单元内出现的所有深对流云系，会依据其在该网格单元内占据的面积进行排序，由此可快速识别出对应1°×1°/1日网格单元中最具代表性的云系。 该数据集的覆盖范围为南纬40°至北纬40°、西经55°至东经55°，时间跨度为1981年至2023年。该数据集已被用于揭示热带非洲与大西洋上空对流组织的变化特征（Rocal等，2024）。 CACATOES数据集以NETCDF格式存储，以1°×1°/1日的月度文件形式提供。