Detection of the cloud liquid water path horizontal inhomogeneity in a coastline area by means of ground-based microwave observations: feasibility study

Kostsov, Vladimir S.; Ionov, Dmitry V.; Kniffka, Anke

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4565-2020

Articles | Volume 13, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4565-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4565-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 8

Research article

|

25 Aug 2020

Research article |

| 25 Aug 2020

Detection of the cloud liquid water path horizontal inhomogeneity in a coastline area by means of ground-based microwave observations: feasibility study

Vladimir S. Kostsov, Dmitry V. Ionov, and Anke Kniffka

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Final revised paper (published on 25 Aug 2020)
Preprint (discussion started on 27 Feb 2020)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'Review of " Detection of the cloud liquid water path horizontal inhomogeneity in a coastline area by means of ground-based microwave observations: feasibility study"', Anonymous Referee #1, 12 Mar 2020
- AC1: 'The reply to the anonymous referee #1 (RC1)', Vladimir Kostsov, 22 May 2020
RC2: 'Comments on manuscript amt-2020-52', Anonymous Referee #2, 10 Apr 2020
- AC2: 'The reply to the anonymous referee #2 (RC2)', Vladimir Kostsov, 22 May 2020

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Vladimir Kostsov on behalf of the Authors (22 May 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (12 Jun 2020) by Stefan Kneifel

RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (25 Jun 2020)

RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (30 Jun 2020)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

I appreciate that the authors revised the manuscript in many ways. Also, the conclusions are now more carefully formulated and uncertainties discussed in detail. I also like that the authors demonstrate how these observations could be used for model evaluation.

Still, I have one major point concerning the forward simulated brightness temperatures (TBs). In ll. 372-392, uncertainties related to the forward calculations are qualitatively discussed but no quantative measures provided. While for off-zenith calculations, it is difficult to evaluate the uncertainty due to the spatial variability of atmospheric variables, for zenith observations, the calculated TBs can and should be compared to the measured values. If the zenith TB measurements are well reproduced, differences between the calculated and measured off-zenith TBs are mainly related to the spatial inhomogeneity of LWP, water vapor and temperature. However, if the uncertainties in the zenith calculations are bigger than the TB differences caused by the the spatial variability of LWP, q, … (shown in the cases studies in Figs. 6-10), it is difficult to draw any conclusions. I think that it is important to show how accurate the simulated zenith TBs under clear and cloudy conditions are and to provide some numbers here. These numbers need to be set into context to the numbers shown in Figs. 6-10 to gain confidence in the results.

In general, the manuscript is very long (28 pages text, 18 figures!). I think that some discussions should be shortened but I would ask the authors to check where there is potential to reduce the length of the manuscript.

In additition, I have a few minor comments:

Figs. 6-10: Could you plot as well the LWP value which has been used to calculate the TB values? The SEVIRI LWP values at the HATPRO location is shown but this is not the value used in forward calculations. It think this information would be helpful as well.

l 81: at “a” synoptic station

l 82: The authors of “the” mentioned study

l 468: should have produced “a” signal

l 699: IPT is the specific retrieval Loehnert et al. (2008) developed, not a general name

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (30 Jun 2020) by Stefan Kneifel

AR by Vladimir Kostsov on behalf of the Authors (08 Jul 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (17 Jul 2020) by Stefan Kneifel

Post-review adjustments

AA: Author's adjustment | EA: Editor approval

AA by Vladimir Kostsov on behalf of the Authors (20 Aug 2020) Author's adjustment Manuscript

EA: Adjustments approved (24 Aug 2020) by Stefan Kneifel

Short summary

Previously, observations from satellites provided evidence for systematic differences between the values of the cloud liquid water path over land and water areas in northern Europe. An attempt is made to detect such differences by means of ground-based microwave measurements performed near the coastline of the Gulf of Finland. The results demonstrate the existence of the cloud liquid water path gradient, which is positive as in the case of the satellite measurements (larger values over land).