Abstract

Cloud-base heights over tropical montane cloud forests are determined using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud products and National Centers for Environmental Prediction global tropospheric final analysis (FNL) fields. Cloud-base heights are computed by subtracting cloud thickness estimates from cloud-top height estimates. Cloud-top pressures determined from the current MODIS retrieval algorithm often have serious cloud-top pressure retrieval errors at pressures > 700 hPa. The problem can be easily remedied by matching cloud-top temperature derived from the 11-μm channel to the dewpoint temperature profile (instead of the temperature profile) obtained from the FNL dataset. The FNL dataset at 1° spatial resolution produced results that were nearly equivalent to those derived from radiosonde measurements. The following three different approaches for estimating cloud thickness are examined: 1) the constant liquid water method, 2) the empirical method, and 3) the adiabatic model method. The retrieval technique is applied first for stratus clouds over U.S. airports for 12 cases, with cloud-base heights compared with ceilometer measurements. Mean square errors on the order of 200 m result. Then, the approach is applied to orographic clouds over Monteverde, Costa Rica, with estimated cloud-base heights compared with those derived from photographs. Mean square errors on the order of 100 m result. Both the empirical and adiabatic model approaches produce superior results when compared with the constant liquid water (CLW) approach. This is due to the fact that CLW is more sensitive to natural variations in cloud optical thickness.

Abstract

Using in situ measurements of aerosol optical properties and ground-based measurements of aerosol optical thickness (τ _s ) during the Smoke, Clouds and Radiation—Brazil (SCAR-B) experiment, a four-stream broadband radiative transfer model is used to estimate the downward shortwave irradiance (DSWI) and top-of-atmosphere (TOA) shortwave aerosol radiative forcing (SWARF) in cloud-free regions dominated by smoke from biomass burning in Brazil. The calculated DSWI values are compared with broadband pyranometer measurements made at the surface. The results show that, for two days when near-coincident measurements of single-scattering albedo ω ₀ and τ _s are available, the root-mean-square errors between the measured and calculated DSWI for daytime data are within 30 W m⁻². For five days during SCAR-B, however, when assumptions about ω ₀ have to be made and also when τ _s was significantly higher, the differences can be as large as 100 W m⁻². At TOA, the SWARF per unit optical thickness ranges from −20 to −60 W m⁻² over four major ecosystems in South America. The results show that τ _s and ω ₀ are the two most important parameters that affect DSWI calculations. For SWARF values, surface albedos also play an important role. It is shown that ω ₀ must be known within 0.05 and τ _s at 0.55 μm must be known to within 0.1 to estimate DSWI to within 20 W m⁻². The methodology described in this paper could serve as a potential strategy for determining DSWI values in the presence of aerosols. The wavelength dependence of τ _s and ω ₀ over the entire shortwave spectrum is needed to improve radiative transfer calculations. If global retrievals of DSWI and SWARF from satellite measurements are to be performed in the presence of biomass-burning aerosols on a routine basis, a concerted effort should be made to develop methodologies for estimating ω ₀ and τ _s from satellite and ground-based measurements.

Abstract

Observations of cirrus and altocumulus clouds during the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project Regional Experiment (FIRE) are compared to theoretical models of cloud radiative properties. Three tests are performed. First, Landsat radiances are used to compare the relationship between nadir reflectance at 0.83 μm and beam emittance at 11.5 μm with that predicted by model calculations using spherical and nonspherical phase functions. Good agreement is found between observations and theory when water droplets dominate. Poor agreement is found when ice particles dominate, especially if scattering phase functions for spherical particles am used. Even when compared to a laboratory measured ice particle phase function (Volkovitskiy et al. 1980), the observations show increased side scattered radiation relative to the theoretical calculations. Second, the anisotropy of conservatively scattered radiation is examined using simultaneous multiple-angle views of the cirrus from Landsat and ER-2 aircraft radiometers. Observed anisotropy gives good agreement with theoretical calculations using the laboratory measured ice-particle phase function and poor agreement with a spherical-particle phase function. Third, Landsat radiances at 0.83 μm, 1.65 μm, and 2.21 μm are used to infer particle phase and particle size. For water droplets, good agreement is found with King Air FSSP particle probe measurements in the cloud. For ice particles, the Landsat radiance observations predict an effective radius of 60 μm versus aircraft observations of about 200 μm. It is suggested that this discrepancy may be explained by uncertainty in the imaginary index of ice and by inadequate measurements of small ice particles by microphysical probes.

Abstract

This study details two unique methods to quantify cloud-immersion statistics for tropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs). The first technique uses a new algorithm for determining cloud-base height using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud products, and the second method uses numerical atmospheric simulation along with geostationary satellite data. Cloud-immersion statistics are determined using MODIS data for March 2003 over the study region consisting of Costa Rica, southern Nicaragua, and northern Panama. Comparison with known locations of cloud forests in northern Costa Rica shows that the MODIS-derived cloud-immersion maps successfully identify known cloud-forest locations in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) database. Large connected regions of cloud immersion are observed in regions in which the trade wind flow is directly impinging upon the mountain slopes; in areas in which the flow is parallel to the slopes, a fractured spatial distribution of TMCFs is observed. Comparisons of the MODIS-derived cloud-immersion map with the model output show that the MODIS product successfully captures the important cloud-immersion patterns in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica. The areal extent of cloud immersion is at a maximum during morning hours and at a minimum during the afternoon, before increasing again in the evening. Cloud-immersion frequencies generally increase with increasing elevation and tend to be higher on the Caribbean Sea side of the mountains. This study shows that the MODIS data may be used successfully to map the biogeography of cloud forests and to quantify cloud immersion over cloud-forest locations.

A summary is presented of the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean (SHEBA) project, with a focus on the field experiment that was conducted from October 1997 to October 1998. The primary objective of the field work was to collect ocean, ice, and atmospheric datasets over a full annual cycle that could be used to understand the processes controlling surface heat exchanges—in particular, the ice–albedo feedback and cloud–radiation feedback. This information is being used to improve formulations of arctic ice–ocean–atmosphere processes in climate models and thereby improve simulations of present and future arctic climate. The experiment was deployed from an ice breaker that was frozen into the ice pack and allowed to drift for the duration of the experiment. This research platform allowed the use of an extensive suite of instruments that directly measured ocean, atmosphere, and ice properties from both the ship and the ice pack in the immediate vicinity of the ship. This summary describes the project goals, experimental design, instrumentation, and the resulting datasets. Examples of various data products available from the SHEBA project are presented.