AbstractSatellite systems and high‐altitude platform systems working in Ka and V bands require the application of adaptive techniques in order to mitigate link degradations caused by atmospheric impairments such as those due to cloud cover. Among these techniques, resource sharing system techniques and site diversity need information on the spatial distribution of impairments caused by cloud cover, including the probability of simultaneous occurrence of adverse conditions in various regions.A study has been performed in Spain, within the framework of COST Action 280, to investigate the large‐scale spatial distribution of cloud cover using synoptic meteorological data. Cloud cover distribution for individual sites and the spatial correlation properties for pairs of sites have been investigated. The geographical distributions of the values obtained from the statistical analysis have been represented in maps of contour lines using standard mapping procedures. Correlation parameters are expected to decrease with distance; however, the maps derived taking a given site as reference reveal a significant influence of climatic and geographic factors such as weather fronts, orography or the proximity to the sea. The statistics and maps obtained can be useful to optimize power sharing in multi‐beam satellite systems, as suggested in this paper. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.