A Modest Cloud Cover Study (part 2)

Today I compare the CRU TS4.08 (0.50°), CLARA-A2 (0.25°) and ICOADS 3 (2°) cloud cover gridded datasets for the UK region

First a song; and a rather lovely one at that, as penned and sung by the great Joni Mitchell back in June of 1967…

Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

… and here is some lovely footage of Joni at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival, along with her fabulous Martin acoustic (tuned to DGDGBE I think). She’s been wonderfully imaginative with guitar tunings over the years, notching up no less than 50 during her career, with some sources quoting 80 if you include capo variants.

Today we humble Substackers are also going to look at clouds from both sides, those sides being the CRU TS4.08 cloud fraction 0.5° gridded assembly, and the CLARA-A2 cloud fraction 0.25° gr…