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- Author or Editor: S.A. Kinne x
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Abstract
Using the data obtained from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 3.7-µm and 10.9-µm channels, a retrieval scheme has been developed to simultaneously infer cirrus cloud optical depth and mean effective ice crystal size based on the theory of radiative transfer and parameterizations. A numerical scheme is further developed to remove the solar component in the 3.7-µm radiance for applications to daytime satellite data. This scheme is based on the correlation between the 3.7-µm (solar) and 0.63-µm reflectances. Validation of the algorithm has been performed by using various datasets that were collected during the FIRE-II IFO (Nov-Dec 1991) at Coffeyville, Kansas. We have focused on the 26 November and 5 December cases. The retrieval analysis over a 0.5°×1.0° area is performed around Coffeyville for each case based on AVHRR-HRPT data. For validation the authors analyze the photomicrograph data collected by the balloonborne replicator, determine the microphysical and optical properties of the sampled cirrus clouds, and derive their position at the satellite overpass based on sounding data. It is demonstrated that the retrieved cirrus cloud temperature, mean effective ice crystal size, and optical depth closely match the observed values. Further, the retrieved cirrus cloud properties are applied to the computation of surface radiative fluxes using a radiative transfer program that involves a consistent representation of cirrus cloud fields. The computed values are compared with the data measured from ground-based radiometers, and it is shown that the computed downward surface IR and solar fluxes are within 5 and 10 W m−2 of the measured values, respectively, near the time of satellite overpass.
Abstract
Using the data obtained from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) 3.7-µm and 10.9-µm channels, a retrieval scheme has been developed to simultaneously infer cirrus cloud optical depth and mean effective ice crystal size based on the theory of radiative transfer and parameterizations. A numerical scheme is further developed to remove the solar component in the 3.7-µm radiance for applications to daytime satellite data. This scheme is based on the correlation between the 3.7-µm (solar) and 0.63-µm reflectances. Validation of the algorithm has been performed by using various datasets that were collected during the FIRE-II IFO (Nov-Dec 1991) at Coffeyville, Kansas. We have focused on the 26 November and 5 December cases. The retrieval analysis over a 0.5°×1.0° area is performed around Coffeyville for each case based on AVHRR-HRPT data. For validation the authors analyze the photomicrograph data collected by the balloonborne replicator, determine the microphysical and optical properties of the sampled cirrus clouds, and derive their position at the satellite overpass based on sounding data. It is demonstrated that the retrieved cirrus cloud temperature, mean effective ice crystal size, and optical depth closely match the observed values. Further, the retrieved cirrus cloud properties are applied to the computation of surface radiative fluxes using a radiative transfer program that involves a consistent representation of cirrus cloud fields. The computed values are compared with the data measured from ground-based radiometers, and it is shown that the computed downward surface IR and solar fluxes are within 5 and 10 W m−2 of the measured values, respectively, near the time of satellite overpass.
Abstract
Measurements from the FIRE 1991 cirrus cloud field experiment in the central United States are presented and analyzed.
The first part focuses on cirrus microphysical properties. Aircraft 2D-probe in situ data at different cloud altitudes were evaluated for cirrus cases on four different days. Also presented are simultaneous data samples from balloonborne videosondes. Only these balloonsondes could detect the smaller crystals. Their data suggest (at least for midlatitude altitudes below 10 km) that ice crystals smaller than 15 μm in size are rare and that small ice crystals not detected by 2D-probe measurements are radiatively of minor importance, as overlooked 2D-probe crystals account for about 10% of the total extinction.
The second part focuses on the link between cirrus cloud properties and radiation. With cloud macrophysical properties from surface remote sensing added to the microphysical data and additional radiation measurements at the surface, testbeds for radiative transfer models were created. To focus on scattering processes, model evaluations were limited to the solar radiative transfer by comparing calculated and measured transmissions of sunlight at the surface.
Comparisons under cloud-free conditions already reveal a model bias of about +45 W m−2 for the hemispheric solar downward broadband flux. This discrepancy, which is (at least in part) difficult to explain, has to be accounted for in comparisons involving clouds.
Comparisons under cirrus cloud conditions identify as the major obstacle in cirrus solar radiative transfer modeling the inability of one-dimensional radiative transfer models to account for horizontal inhomogeneities. The successful incorporation of multidimensional radiative transfer effects will depend not only on better models but critically on the ability to measure and to define characteristic inhomogeneity scales of cloud fields.
The relative minor error related to the microphysical treatment is in part a reflection of the improved understanding on solar scattering on ice crystals over the last decade and of the available wealth on ice-crystal size and shape data for this study. In absence of this information, uncertainties from microphysical cirrus model assumptions will remain high.
Abstract
Measurements from the FIRE 1991 cirrus cloud field experiment in the central United States are presented and analyzed.
The first part focuses on cirrus microphysical properties. Aircraft 2D-probe in situ data at different cloud altitudes were evaluated for cirrus cases on four different days. Also presented are simultaneous data samples from balloonborne videosondes. Only these balloonsondes could detect the smaller crystals. Their data suggest (at least for midlatitude altitudes below 10 km) that ice crystals smaller than 15 μm in size are rare and that small ice crystals not detected by 2D-probe measurements are radiatively of minor importance, as overlooked 2D-probe crystals account for about 10% of the total extinction.
The second part focuses on the link between cirrus cloud properties and radiation. With cloud macrophysical properties from surface remote sensing added to the microphysical data and additional radiation measurements at the surface, testbeds for radiative transfer models were created. To focus on scattering processes, model evaluations were limited to the solar radiative transfer by comparing calculated and measured transmissions of sunlight at the surface.
Comparisons under cloud-free conditions already reveal a model bias of about +45 W m−2 for the hemispheric solar downward broadband flux. This discrepancy, which is (at least in part) difficult to explain, has to be accounted for in comparisons involving clouds.
Comparisons under cirrus cloud conditions identify as the major obstacle in cirrus solar radiative transfer modeling the inability of one-dimensional radiative transfer models to account for horizontal inhomogeneities. The successful incorporation of multidimensional radiative transfer effects will depend not only on better models but critically on the ability to measure and to define characteristic inhomogeneity scales of cloud fields.
The relative minor error related to the microphysical treatment is in part a reflection of the improved understanding on solar scattering on ice crystals over the last decade and of the available wealth on ice-crystal size and shape data for this study. In absence of this information, uncertainties from microphysical cirrus model assumptions will remain high.
Clouds cover about 70% of Earth's surface and play a dominant role in the energy and water cycle of our planet. Only satellite observations provide a continuous survey of the state of the atmosphere over the entire globe and across the wide range of spatial and temporal scales that compose weather and climate variability. Satellite cloud data records now exceed more than 25 years; however, climate data records must be compiled from different satellite datasets and can exhibit systematic biases. Questions therefore arise as to the accuracy and limitations of the various sensors and retrieval methods. The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Cloud Assessment, initiated in 2005 by the GEWEX Radiation Panel (GEWEX Data and Assessment Panel since 2011), provides the first coordinated intercomparison of publicly available, standard global cloud products (gridded monthly statistics) retrieved from measurements of multispectral imagers (some with multiangle view and polarization capabilities), IR sounders, and lidar. Cloud properties under study include cloud amount, cloud height (in terms of pressure, temperature, or altitude), cloud thermodynamic phase, and cloud radiative and bulk microphysical properties (optical depth or emissivity, effective particle radius, and water path). Differences in average cloud properties, especially in the amount of high-level clouds, are mostly explained by the inherent instrument measurement capability for detecting and/or identifying optically thin cirrus, especially when overlying low-level clouds. The study of long-term variations with these datasets requires consideration of many factors. The monthly gridded database presented here facilitates further assessments, climate studies, and the evaluation of climate models.
Clouds cover about 70% of Earth's surface and play a dominant role in the energy and water cycle of our planet. Only satellite observations provide a continuous survey of the state of the atmosphere over the entire globe and across the wide range of spatial and temporal scales that compose weather and climate variability. Satellite cloud data records now exceed more than 25 years; however, climate data records must be compiled from different satellite datasets and can exhibit systematic biases. Questions therefore arise as to the accuracy and limitations of the various sensors and retrieval methods. The Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Cloud Assessment, initiated in 2005 by the GEWEX Radiation Panel (GEWEX Data and Assessment Panel since 2011), provides the first coordinated intercomparison of publicly available, standard global cloud products (gridded monthly statistics) retrieved from measurements of multispectral imagers (some with multiangle view and polarization capabilities), IR sounders, and lidar. Cloud properties under study include cloud amount, cloud height (in terms of pressure, temperature, or altitude), cloud thermodynamic phase, and cloud radiative and bulk microphysical properties (optical depth or emissivity, effective particle radius, and water path). Differences in average cloud properties, especially in the amount of high-level clouds, are mostly explained by the inherent instrument measurement capability for detecting and/or identifying optically thin cirrus, especially when overlying low-level clouds. The study of long-term variations with these datasets requires consideration of many factors. The monthly gridded database presented here facilitates further assessments, climate studies, and the evaluation of climate models.
Abstract
Observations from a wide variety of instruments and platforms are used to validate many different aspects of a three-dimensional mesoscale simulation of the dynamics, cloud microphysics, and radiative transfer of a cirrus cloud system observed on 26 November 1991 during the second cirrus field program of the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE-II) located in southeastern Kansas. The simulation was made with a mesoscale dynamical model utilizing a simplified bulk water cloud scheme and a spectral model of radiative transfer. Expressions for cirrus optical properties for solar and infrared wavelength intervals as functions of ice water content and effective particle radius are modified for the midlatitude cirrus observed during FIRE-II and are shown to compare favorably with explicit size-resolving calculations of the optical properties. Rawinsonde, Raman lidar, and satellite data are evaluated and combined to produce a time–height cross section of humidity at the central FIRE-II site for model verification. Due to the wide spacing of rawinsondes and their infrequent release, important moisture features go undetected and are absent in the conventional analyses. The upper-tropospheric humidities used for the initial conditions were generally less than 50% of those inferred from satellite data, yet over the course of a 24-h simulation the model produced a distribution that closely resembles the large-scale features of the satellite analysis. The simulated distribution and concentration of ice compares favorably with data from radar, lidar, satellite, and aircraft. Direct comparison is made between the radiative transfer simulation and data from broadband and spectral sensors and inferred quantities such as cloud albedo, optical depth, and top-of-the-atmosphere 11-µm brightness temperature, and the 6.7-µm brightness temperature. Comparison is also made with theoretical heating rates calculated using the rawinsonde data and measured ice water size distributions near the central site. For this case study, and perhaps for most other mesoscale applications, the differences between the observed and simulated radiative quantities are due more to errors in the prediction of ice water content, than to errors in the optical properties or the radiative transfer solution technique.
Abstract
Observations from a wide variety of instruments and platforms are used to validate many different aspects of a three-dimensional mesoscale simulation of the dynamics, cloud microphysics, and radiative transfer of a cirrus cloud system observed on 26 November 1991 during the second cirrus field program of the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Program (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE-II) located in southeastern Kansas. The simulation was made with a mesoscale dynamical model utilizing a simplified bulk water cloud scheme and a spectral model of radiative transfer. Expressions for cirrus optical properties for solar and infrared wavelength intervals as functions of ice water content and effective particle radius are modified for the midlatitude cirrus observed during FIRE-II and are shown to compare favorably with explicit size-resolving calculations of the optical properties. Rawinsonde, Raman lidar, and satellite data are evaluated and combined to produce a time–height cross section of humidity at the central FIRE-II site for model verification. Due to the wide spacing of rawinsondes and their infrequent release, important moisture features go undetected and are absent in the conventional analyses. The upper-tropospheric humidities used for the initial conditions were generally less than 50% of those inferred from satellite data, yet over the course of a 24-h simulation the model produced a distribution that closely resembles the large-scale features of the satellite analysis. The simulated distribution and concentration of ice compares favorably with data from radar, lidar, satellite, and aircraft. Direct comparison is made between the radiative transfer simulation and data from broadband and spectral sensors and inferred quantities such as cloud albedo, optical depth, and top-of-the-atmosphere 11-µm brightness temperature, and the 6.7-µm brightness temperature. Comparison is also made with theoretical heating rates calculated using the rawinsonde data and measured ice water size distributions near the central site. For this case study, and perhaps for most other mesoscale applications, the differences between the observed and simulated radiative quantities are due more to errors in the prediction of ice water content, than to errors in the optical properties or the radiative transfer solution technique.
