A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Advanced Technologies

Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2003

MODerate Resolution Imaging Spetroradiometer (MODIS) whose heritage comes from NOAA/AVHRR, CZCS, SeaWIFS has been designed as a primary sensor to monitor atmosphere, land, and ocean conditions and their changes. However, one of the major problems for MODIS images is the cloud. It is an obstruction for earth and sea surface observation using satellite remote sensing data. They should be removed out before any other data processing. In this study, the two main considerations in this study are 1) to find the proper band or band combination for cloud detection over the Indochina peninsular and 2) to evaluate annual and seasonal cloud coverage for this region. Cloud coverage information will offer an indication for further researches since the fundamental feature of the earth, as viewed from space is a climate dominated by dynamic cloud atmosphere. The process on finding the proper cloud detection method is described and tested over the Indochina peninsula. We found that the results of 2-band combination for could detection between emissive band and reflective band are better than one band threshold. Band combinations of (band 4 & band 31 ), and (band 6 & band 31) have been selected for cloud detection over land and sea regions, respectively. Evaluating annual and seasonal cloud coverage was conducted to explore the factor of cloud coverage for each location. The results indicate that tropical wind, earth topography, and season are the main factors of the dynamic cloud coverage.