The invention discloses a multilayer cloud inversion method for a multi-channel scanning imaging 
radiometer of a FengYun 4A 
meteorological satellite, and fills the blank in the 
algorithm domestically.Unique 
design characteristics of a spectral channel of a domestic 
satellite radiometer (AGRI) are taken into full consideration, a multilayer cloud model is established on theoretical basis of rapidradiation transmission 
simulation, sensitivity of different short-wave 
infrared channels (1.6 and 2.25 micron) to different phase clouds is analyzed, and it is discovered for the first time that the two channels can be used to identification of the cloud phase. According to the model, it is provided that penetration of the short-wave 
infrared channels is high in different cloud optical thicknesses, and lower-layer water cloud information can penetrate the upper layer and extracted by 
satellite observation. The 
infrared channels are combined to identify the 
cloud top phase, and the brand new multilayer cloud (upper ice cloud and lower water cloud) identification 
algorithm via the 
radiometer is provided. A multilayer cloud result of the 
algorithm is verified by using the accurate active spaceborne 
laser radar CALIOP, and is highly accurate. The unique 
design characteristics of the spectral channel of the domestic imager are fully considered, the method is applied to a new generator of domestic imager AGRI, and can be used to provide more accurate and efficient multilayer 
cloud detection results for applications in future.