File:Total_cloud_cover.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
cloud cover
Sign in to saveAlso known as cloudiness, cloudage, cloud amount
fraction of the sky obscured by clouds when observed from a particular location
Wikidata facts
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- ratio
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- Commons category
- Cloud cover
- described by source
- National Encyclopedia of Uzbekistan
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Total cloud cover fraction averaged over the years 1981-2010 from the CHELSA-BIOCLIM+ data set
Satellite image based largely on observations from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on July 11, 2005, of Earth's cloud cover. Field of View when measuring Cloud Cover from a given location. A local observer will generally employ a wide-angle FOV to determine cloud cover, whereas a satellite will have a narrow field of view. Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud cover is correlated to the sunshine duration as the least cloudy locales are the sunniest ones while the cloudiest areas are the least sunny places, as clouds can block sunlight, especially at sunrise and sunset where sunlight is already limited.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “cloud cover” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.