Can the TSI detect thin cirrus clouds?
A TSI instrument can distinguish between high thin cirrus and thick cloud cover, but there is an inherent limit to what the TSI determines to be thin vs. what is thick or what is clear (just as with human observers). The main difference is that the TSI is consistent, while human observers are generally not. So the TSI software filters the image into just two categories clear and cloud. A user-adjustable threshold permits you to separate the two categories by setting the point at which the TSI determines that a cloud qualifies as “a cloud.
