The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) was based at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. ISCCP was sponsored by the World Climate Research Programme for the purpose of "collecting and analysing satellite radiance measurements to infer the global distribution of cloud radiative properties and their diurnal and seasonal variations".

This dataset contains the global monthly cloud analysis products (ISCCP-C2), at 250 km spatial resolution. They are derived from monthly averages of data taken with three-hour resolution. The products include monthly averages of calibrated radiances, cloud detection results, and cloud and surface properties from radiative analysis. There are 72 variables contained within the data set. The data available at the time of publication begin in July 1983 and extend through December 1990.