Cloud property retrievals from 3 decades of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) measurements provide a unique opportunity for a long-term analysis of clouds. In this study, the accuracy of AVHRR-derived cloud properties cloud mask, cloud-top height, cloud phase and cloud liquid water path is assessed using three state-of-the-art retrieval schemes. In addition, the same retrieval schemes are applied to the AVHRR heritage channels of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to create AVHRR-like retrievals with higher spatial resolution and based on presumably more accurate spectral calibration. The cloud property retrievals were collocated and inter-compared with observations from CloudSat, CALIPSO and AMSR-E The resulting comparison exhibited good agreement in general. The schemes provide correct cloud detection in 82 to 90% of all cloudy cases. With correct identification of clear-sky in 61 to 85% of all clear areas, the schemes are slightly biased towards cloudy conditions. The evaluation of the cloud phase classification shows correct identification of liquid clouds in 61 to 97% and a correct identification of ice clouds in 68 to 95%, demonstrating a large variability among the schemes. Cloud-top height (CTH) retrievals were of relatively similar quality with standard deviations ranging from 2.1 km to 2.7 km. Significant negative biases in these retrievals are found in particular for cirrus clouds. The biases decrease if optical depth thresholds are applied to determine the reference CTH measure. Cloud liquid water path (LWP) is also retrieved well with relative low standard deviations (20 to 28 g/m2), negative bias and high correlations. Cloud ice water path (IWP) retrievals of AVHRR and MODIS exhibit a relative high uncertainty with standard deviations between 800 and 1400 g/m2, which in relative terms exceed 100% when normalized with the mean IWP. However, the global histogram distributions of IWP were similar to the reference dataset.MODIS retrievals are for most comparisons of slightly better quality than AVHRR-based retrievals. Additionally, the choice of different near-infrared channels, 3.7 μm as opposed to 1.6 μm, can have a significant impact on the retrieval quality, most pronounced for IWP, with better accuracy for the 1.6 μm channel setup. This study presents a novel assessment of the quality of cloud properties derived from AVHRR channels, which quantifies the accuracy of the considered retrievals based on common approaches and validation data. Furthermore, it assesses the capabilities of AVHRR-like spectral information for retrieving cloud properties in the light of generating climate data records of cloud properties from three decades of AVHRR measurements.

Forty-six of 97 available families (47%) participated in an investigation of mothers and their high-risk infants who had been discharged from a neonatal intensive care unit. Twenty-three infant demographic, infant medical, maternal demographic, and maternal medical variables were analyzed to determine if differences existed between participating and nonparticipating subjects. Subjects were categorized into three groups: (1) those who completed and returned their questionnaires, (2) those who agreed to participate but did not return their questionnaires, and (3) those who were contactable by letter only. Multivariate analyses of variance yielded no significant effect for Group Status for the Infant Medical, Maternal Demographic, and Maternal Medical variables. The multivariate analysis of the infant demographic variables yielded a significant Group effect with univariate analyses indicating that the groups differed on the Transport variable. Participating mothers more frequently had infants who had been transported to our facility than did nonparticipating mothers. The findings are discussed in relation to sample representativeness and suggestions are offered for reporting subject-loss data.

Since relatively little is known as to why parents find it difficult to recognize when their high-risk infant ceases to be ill, this investigation examined parental reports of infant complications and the relationship these reports had with parental education level and method of delivery. Using a questionnaire format, 60 parents reported complications their infants experienced during NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) hospitalization. Maternal and paternal reports were comparable, although both significantly differed from actual diagnoses; parents underreported their infant's complications. Reported complications were not related to parental education level but were associated with method of delivery. Parents of Caesarean-section (C-section) infants identified a significantly smaller percentage of complications than did parents of vaginally delivered babies. It is suggested that (1) medical caregivers have the potential for helping parents more fully comprehend infant complications, (2) supplemental communication methods may be necessary for the task in (1), and (3) information communicated to parents may need to incorporate the current findings about parental education level and delivery method.