[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-271247-105":59,"doc-detail-271247-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","tropical-cloud-classification-with-a-clustering-analysis-applied-to-cloudsat-and-calipso-observations-research-findings","Tropical Cloud Classification With a Clustering Analysis Applied to CloudSat and CALIPSO Observations - Research findings","","Tropical cloud fraction profiles derived from combined CALIPSO and CloudSat observations are classified using a K-means clustering analysis. Cloud profiling radar and cloud–aerosol lidar provide detailed vertical cloud structure, enabling an objective decomposition into distinct tropical cloud regimes. The resulting regimes are generally robust, but increasing the number of clusters beyond five generates redundant high-cloud groups. The four-cluster configuration best matches objective evaluation, while a five-cluster option remains reasonable when including congestus clouds.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/tropical-cloud-classification-with-a-clustering-analysis-applied-to-cloudsat-and-calipso-observations-research-findings/271247/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/tropical-cloud-classification-with-a-clustering-analysis-applied-to-cloudsat-and-calipso-observations-research-findings/271247.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Terk","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-09-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":56},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How are tropical cloud profiles classified in this study?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study applies K-means cluster analysis to tropical cloud fraction profiles derived from combined CALIPSO and CloudSat observations.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does increasing the number of clusters beyond five create problems?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"More clusters produce redundant high-cloud groups because geometrically thin clouds with slightly different altitudes can be separated mathematically despite similar morphology.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which cluster numbers are considered most appropriate?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Objective evaluation indicates four clusters are most appropriate, while five clusters are also reasonable when adding a congestus regime that is practically equivalent to the four-cluster solution.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},271247,1789460122,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":56,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":36,"preview_page_count":4},1099525198933,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","RESEARCH ARTICLE  \n10.1029/2024JD043098  \nKey Points:  \n• Cluster analysis provides a robust cloud classification based on the CALIPSO and Cloudsat measurements  \n• Increasing the number of clusters beyond five only causes redundant high‐cloud clusters  \n• Meteorological interpretation is crucial when assessing the clustering solution without fully relying on statistical evaluations  \nSupporting Information:  \nSupporting Information may be found in the online version of this article.  \nCorrespondence to:  \nD. T. Octarina, [dea.tania.octarina.f3@s.mail.nagoya-u](dea.tania.octarina.f3@s.mail.nagoya-u). [ac.jp](ac.jp)  \nCitation:  \nOctarina, D. T., & Masunaga, H. (2025) . Tropical cloud classification with a clustering analysis applied to CloudSat and CALIPSO observations. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 130, e2024JD043098. [https://doi.org/10.1029/](https://doi.org/10.1029/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.1029/)2024JD043098  \nReceived 4 DEC 2024 Accepted 9 JUL 2025  \nAuthor Contributions:  \nConceptualization: Dea T. Octarina, Hirohiko Masunaga  \nFormal analysis: Dea T. Octarina  \nInvestigation: Dea T. Octarina  \nMethodology: Dea T. Octarina, Hirohiko Masunaga Resources: Hirohiko Masunaga  \nSupervision: Hirohiko Masunaga  \nVisualization: Dea T. Octarina  \nWriting – original draft: Dea T. Octarina Writing – review & editing:  \nHirohiko Masunaga  \n© 2025 The Author(s) .  \nThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.  \nTropical Cloud Classification With a Clustering Analysis Applied to CloudSat and CALIPSO Observations  \nDea T. Octarina1  and Hirohiko Masunaga2   \n1Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan, 2Institute for Space‐Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan  \nAbstract Tropical cloud fraction profiles from combined CALIPSO and CloudSat observations are classified based on a K‐means cluster analysis. The Cloud Profiling Radar and Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization carried by these satellites together retrieve detailed vertical structure of clouds, allowing for an objective decomposition of tropical clouds into distinct regimes. The identified cloud regimes are overall robust except that an increasing number of redundant high‐cloud clusters are produced as the specified number of clusters is increased. This redundancy arises because geometrically thin clouds with slightly different altitudes can be mathematically distant from one another in the clustering procedure despite their morphological similarity, suggesting that an excessive number of clusters only generates unrealistic subclasses of high clouds. Objective evaluation metrics indicate that the most appropriate number of clusters is four, where the clusters may be labeled as sparse multilayer clouds, low cloud, high cloud, and deep convective regimes. A five‐cluster classification is also deemed as reasonable, where a fifth regime of congestus clouds joins the other four regimes, practically equivalent to the four‐cluster solution.  \nPlain Language Summary Clouds have essential radiative impacts on Earth's climate system. Tropical anvil clouds are especially a vital element of climate feedback in response to a temperature perturbation to the climate system. To this end, recognizing the roles of various cloud types and their impact on the future environment is essential. The vertical structure of tropical clouds observed by satellites is classified into groups based on their similarities using the statistical technique called cluster analysis. Using this technique, cloud profiles can be divided into distinct categories such as low cloud, high cloud, deep convection, and sparse thin clouds. Clustering analysis only produces unrealistic multiple high‐cloud groups when it is attempted to gener","cbCaikdxJDTbwQfo","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaikdxJDTbwQfo","pdf",4316240,16,"English","# Abstract\n## Method and data\n## Cluster number effects\n# Plain Language Summary\n## Climate relevance\n## Practical grouping of regimes\n# Introduction\n## Tropical circulation and cloud types","[{\"question\":\"How are tropical cloud profiles classified in this study?\",\"answer\":\"The study applies K-means cluster analysis to tropical cloud fraction profiles derived from combined CALIPSO and CloudSat observations.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does increasing the number of clusters beyond five create problems?\",\"answer\":\"More clusters produce redundant high-cloud groups because geometrically thin clouds with slightly different altitudes can be separated mathematically despite similar morphology.\"},{\"question\":\"Which cluster numbers are considered most appropriate?\",\"answer\":\"Objective evaluation indicates four clusters are most appropriate, while five clusters are also reasonable when adding a congestus regime that is practically equivalent to the four-cluster solution.\"}]","Tropical Cloud Classification With a Clustering Analysis Applied to CloudSat and CALIPSO Observations - Research findings | PDF"]