Methods, a computer-readable medium, and a system are provided for determining
whether a data point indicates a presence of a cloud using visible near-infrared
data and short wavelength infrared data. A first comparison of a cirrus-band reflectance
of the data point with a threshold cirrus-band reflectance value is made, classifying
the data point as a cloud point if the cirrus-band reflectance of the data point
exceeds the threshold cirrus-band reflectance value. When the comparing of the
cirrus-band reflectance of the data point with the threshold cirrus-band reflectance
value does not classify the data point as a cloud point, a further analysis is
performed, including performing a second or more comparisons of additional cloud
indicators derived from at least one of the visible, near-infrared, and short wavelength
infrared data with related empirically-derived, landcover-dependent thresholds
for classifying the data point as a cloud point or a non-cloud point.