Articles | Volume 14, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6633-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6633-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
14 Oct 2021
Research article |
| 14 Oct 2021
| 14 Oct 2021
Evaluation of satellite retrievals of liquid clouds from the GOES-13 imager and MODIS over the midlatitude North Atlantic during the NAAMES campaign
David Painemal
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Douglas Spangenberg
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
William L. Smith Jr.
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Patrick Minnis
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Brian Cairns
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, US
Richard H. Moore
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Ewan Crosbie
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Claire Robinson
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Kenneth L. Thornhill
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Edward L. Winstead
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA, US
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Luke Ziemba
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, US
Related authors
Xiaojian Zheng, Yan Feng, David Painemal, Shaocheng Xie, Zhujun Li, and Yuan Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5932, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5932, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke from African fires often drifts over the cloud deck of the southeastern Atlantic, but how it changes the water in these clouds remains uncertain. Using nine years of satellite data, we sorted days by weather pattern and by whether the smoke sat above or touched the clouds. The cloud-water response depends on both, and averaging over all days hides it. A climate model gives the opposite response, pointing to processes that need improvement in the model.
Michael S. Diamond, Andrew S. Ackerman, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Ann M. Fridlind, Ehsan Erfani, Caspar Jungbacker, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, Frida A.-M. Bender, Annica M. L. Ekman, Franziska Glassmeier, Graham Feingold, Fredrik Jansson, David A. Johnson, Matthias Schwarz, Robert Wood, Takanobu Yamaguchi, Jianhao Zhang, Xiaoli Zhou, and Paquita Zuidema
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5350, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5350, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We compare how cloud resolving models represent an important cloud transition over the subtropical oceans. Clouds can either break up by deepening and drying out or by raining and forming an open cell pattern. Compared to observations, the clouds deepen a bit too much and get too polluted when smoke is present. In clean conditions, some models drizzle and break up into open cells while others barely rain; the model spread stems from different rain amounts for similar clouds.
Timothy W. Juliano, Florian Tornow, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Gregory S. Elsaesser, Bart Geerts, Christian P. Lackner, David Painemal, Israel Silber, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Gunilla Svensson, Michael Tjernström, Peng Wu, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Peter Bogenschutz, Dmitry Chechin, Kamal Kant Chandrakar, Jan Chylik, Andrey Debolskiy, Rostislav Fadeev, Anu Gupta, Luisa Ickes, Michail Karalis, Martin Köhler, Branko Kosović, Peter Kuma, Weiwei Li, Evgeny Mortikov, Hugh Morrison, Roel A. J. Neggers, Anna Possner, Tomi Raatikainen, Lea Raillard, Sami Romakkaniemi, Niklas Schnierstein, Shin-ichiro Shima, Nikita Silin, Mikhail Tolstykh, Étienne Vignon, Lulin Xue, Meng Zhang, and Xue Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 13267–13302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13267-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13267-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Models struggle to capture cloud and precipitation processes and their radiative effects in marine cold-air outbreaks. We use a quasi-Lagrangian framework to compare large-eddy simulation (LES) and single-column model (SCM) output with field and satellite observations. With fixed droplet and ice numbers, LES and SCM agree in liquid-only tests. In mixed-phase conditions, LES plausibly capture cloud thinning and breakup, while SCMs largely remain overcast and thereby miss cloud radiative effects.
Zhujun Li, David Painemal, Yan Feng, and Xiaojian Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 7705–7720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7705-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7705-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
This study is the first global assessment of aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) and cloud adjustments that relies on vertically resolved aerosol retrievals that are vertically matched with the location of the cloud layer. We computed ACI metrics and cloud adjustments over the global ocean by combining retrievals from active and passive satellite sensors and found high sensitivity of clouds to changes in their cloud droplet number concentration due to aerosols.
Jianhao Zhang, David Painemal, Tom Dror, Jung-Sub Lim, Armin Sorooshian, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 6015–6034, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6015-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6015-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds transitioning from overcast to broken fields play an important role in regulating the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface. Using satellite imagery and a novel space-time exchange approach, we examine these transitions during marine cold-air outbreaks. Our analysis reveals characteristic signatures (or fingerprints) of liquid- and ice-phase processes, demonstrating how space-borne observations can provide new physical insight into cloud evolution.
Seethala Chellappan, David Painemal, Mandana Thieman, Christian Pelayo, William L. Smith Jr., and Lynn M. Russell
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-933, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-933, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed observations from the ARM EPCAPE campaign at coastal California, and satellite cloud properties to understand how large-scale weather patterns influence marine low clouds and aerosols. Using ERA5 data and Self-Organizing Maps, we identified nine synoptic regimes linked to cloud cover, depth, and liquid water path. Satellite data show anticyclone position strongly affects cloud properties, while aerosol–cloud covariability depends on turbulence and supersaturation.
Jingyi Chen, Hailong Wang, Bo Zhang, Hongyu Liu, David Painemal, Armin Sorooshian, Sheng-Lun Tai, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 2209–2224, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2209-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2209-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
NASA-validated modeling shows +4K SST (sea surface temperature) & +25 % gradients distinctly alter boundary layer dynamics, cloud physics in cold-air outbreaks. Warmer SST reduces cloud cover; increases size, elongation; hydrometeors shift to ice. Sharper Gradients boost liquid water (cold upwind); reduces ice; disrupts organization. Also, SST changes alter cloud-top properties via entrained airmass origin. Resolving ocean-atmosphere coupling in global models is essential for accurate cloud feedback projections.
Timothy W. Juliano, Florian Tornow, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Gregory S. Elsaesser, Bart Geerts, Christian P. Lackner, David Painemal, Israel Silber, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Gunilla Svensson, Michael Tjernström, Peng Wu, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Peter Bogenschutz, Dmitry Chechin, Kamal Kant Chandrakar, Jan Chylik, Andrey Debolskiy, Rostislav Fadeev, Anu Gupta, Luisa Ickes, Michail Karalis, Martin Köhler, Branko Kosović, Peter Kuma, Weiwei Li, Evgeny Mortikov, Hugh Morrison, Roel A. J. Neggers, Anna Possner, Tomi Raatikainen, Sami Romakkaniemi, Niklas Schnierstein, Shin-ichiro Shima, Nikita Silin, Mikhail Tolstykh, Lulin Xue, Meng Zhang, and Xue Zheng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6217, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6217, 2026
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Models struggle to capture cloud and precipitation processes and their radiative effects in marine cold-air outbreaks. We use a quasi-Lagrangian framework to compare large-eddy simulation (LES) and single-column model (SCM) output with field and satellite observations. With fixed droplet and ice numbers, LES and SCM agree in liquid-only tests. In mixed-phase conditions, LES plausibly capture cloud thinning and breakup, while SCMs largely remain overcast and thereby miss cloud radiative effects.
Xiaojian Zheng, Yan Feng, David Painemal, Meng Zhang, Shaocheng Xie, Zhujun Li, Robert Jacob, and Bethany Lusch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 17473–17499, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17473-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17473-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study used satellite observations and climate model simulations to examine how aerosols affect marine clouds over the Eastern North Atlantic. Cloud responses to aerosols differed significantly across meteorological regimes. The model captured overall trends but exaggerated cloud responses, performing better for shallower than deeper clouds. The results highlight the need to untangle aerosol effects from meteorology and improve cloud process representation in climate models.
Travis D. Toth, Marian B. Clayton, Zhujun Li, David Painemal, Sharon D. Rodier, Jayanta Kar, Tyler J. Thorsen, Richard A. Ferrare, Mark A. Vaughan, Jason L. Tackett, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Anne E. Garnier, Ellsworth J. Welton, Robert A. Ryan, Charles R. Trepte, and David M. Winker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6765–6793, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6765-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6765-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
NASA's CALIPSO satellite mission observed aerosols (airborne particles) globally from 2006 to 2023. Its final data products update improves its aerosol optical parameters over oceans by adjusting for regional and seasonal differences in a new measurement-model synergistic approach. This results in a more realistic aerosol characterization, specifically near coastlines (where sea salt mixes with pollution), with potential impacts to future studies of science applications (e.g., climate effects).
Florian Tornow, Ann Fridlind, George Tselioudis, Brian Cairns, Andrew Ackerman, Seethala Chellappan, David Painemal, Paquita Zuidema, Christiane Voigt, Simon Kirschler, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5053–5074, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The recent NASA campaign ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment) performed 71 tandem flights in mid-latitude marine cold-air outbreaks off the US eastern seaboard. We provide meteorological and cloud transition stage context, allowing us to identify days that are most suitable for Lagrangian modeling and analysis. Surveyed cloud properties show signatures of cloud microphysical processes, such as cloud-top entrainment and secondary ice formation.
Hongyu Liu, Bo Zhang, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Richard A. Ferrare, Hyundeok Choi, Armin Sorooshian, David Painemal, Hailong Wang, Michael A. Shook, Amy Jo Scarino, Johnathan W. Hair, Ewan C. Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Taylor J. Shingler, Chris A. Hostetler, Gao Chen, Mary M. Kleb, Gan Luo, Fangqun Yu, Mark A. Vaughan, Yongxiang Hu, Glenn S. Diskin, John B. Nowak, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, Christoph A. Keller, and Matthew S. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2087–2121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We use the GEOS-Chem model to simulate aerosol distributions and properties over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) during the winter and summer deployments in 2020 of the NASA ACTIVATE mission. Model results are evaluated against aircraft, ground-based, and satellite observations. The improved understanding of life cycle, composition, transport pathways, and distribution of aerosols has important implications for characterizing aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions over WNAO.
Ewan Crosbie, Luke D. Ziemba, Michael A. Shook, Taylor Shingler, Johnathan W. Hair, Armin Sorooshian, Richard A. Ferrare, Brian Cairns, Yonghoon Choi, Joshua DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Chris Hostetler, Simon Kirschler, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, and Edward Winstead
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6123–6152, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine clouds are found to clump together in regions or lines, readily discernible from satellite images of the ocean. While clustering is also a feature of deep storm clouds, we focus on smaller cloud systems associated with fair weather and brief localized showers. Two aircraft sampled the region around these shallow systems: one incorporated measurements taken within, adjacent to, and below the clouds, while the other provided a survey from above using remote sensing techniques.
Leong Wai Siu, Joseph S. Schlosser, David Painemal, Brian Cairns, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, Longlei Li, Mary M. Kleb, Amy Jo Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Snorre A. Stamnes, and Xubin Zeng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2739–2759, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2739-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2739-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An unprecedented 3-year aerosol dataset was collected from a recent NASA field campaign over the western North Atlantic Ocean, which offers a special opportunity to evaluate two state-of-the-art remote sensing instruments, one lidar and the other polarimeter, on the same aircraft. Special attention has been paid to validate aerosol optical depth data and their uncertainties when no reference dataset is available. Physical reasons for the disagreement between two instruments are discussed.
Alejandro Baró Pérez, Michael S. Diamond, Frida A.-M. Bender, Abhay Devasthale, Matthias Schwarz, Julien Savre, Juha Tonttila, Harri Kokkola, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4591–4610, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a numerical model to study interactions between humid light-absorbing aerosol plumes, clouds, and radiation over the southeast Atlantic. We find that the warming produced by the aerosols reduces cloud cover, especially in highly polluted situations. Aerosol impacts on drizzle play a minor role. However, aerosol effects on cloud reflectivity and moisture-induced changes in cloud cover dominate the climatic response and lead to an overall cooling by the biomass burning plumes.
Shaoyue Qiu, Xue Zheng, David Painemal, Christopher R. Terai, and Xiaoli Zhou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2913–2935, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2913-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The aerosol indirect effect (AIE) depends on cloud states, which exhibit significant diurnal variations in the northeastern Atlantic. Yet the AIE diurnal cycle remains poorly understood. Using satellite retrievals, we find a pronounced “U-shaped” diurnal variation in the AIE, which is contributed to by the transition of cloud states combined with the lagged cloud responses. This suggests that polar-orbiting satellites with overpass times at noon underestimate daytime mean values of the AIE.
Simon Kirschler, Christiane Voigt, Bruce E. Anderson, Gao Chen, Ewan C. Crosbie, Richard A. Ferrare, Valerian Hahn, Johnathan W. Hair, Stefan Kaufmann, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire E. Robinson, Kevin J. Sanchez, Amy J. Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10731–10750, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we present an overview of liquid and mixed-phase clouds and precipitation in the marine boundary layer over the western North Atlantic Ocean. We compare microphysical properties of pure liquid clouds to mixed-phase clouds and show that the initiation of the ice phase in mixed-phase clouds promotes precipitation. The observational data presented in this study are well suited for investigating the processes that give rise to liquid and mixed-phase clouds, ice, and precipitation.
Armin Sorooshian, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Adam D. Bell, Ryan Bennett, Grace Betito, Sharon P. Burton, Megan E. Buzanowicz, Brian Cairns, Eduard V. Chemyakin, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Brian L. Collister, Anthony L. Cook, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan C. Crosbie, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sanja Dmitrovic, Eva-Lou Edwards, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David van Gilst, Johnathan W. Hair, David B. Harper, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Chris A. Hostetler, Nathan Jester, Michael Jones, Simon Kirschler, Mary M. Kleb, John M. Kusterer, Sean Leavor, Joseph W. Lee, Hongyu Liu, Kayla McCauley, Richard H. Moore, Joseph Nied, Anthony Notari, John B. Nowak, David Painemal, Kasey E. Phillips, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Joseph S. Schlosser, Shane T. Seaman, Chellappan Seethala, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth A. Sinclair, William L. Smith Jr., Douglas A. Spangenberg, Snorre A. Stamnes, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Andrzej P. Wasilewski, Hailong Wang, Edward L. Winstead, Kira Zeider, Xubin Zeng, Bo Zhang, Luke D. Ziemba, and Paquita Zuidema
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3419–3472, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) produced a unique dataset for research into aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions. HU-25 Falcon and King Air aircraft conducted systematic and spatially coordinated flights over the northwest Atlantic Ocean. This paper describes the ACTIVATE flight strategy, instrument and complementary dataset products, data access and usage details, and data application notes.
Edward Gryspeerdt, Daniel T. McCoy, Ewan Crosbie, Richard H. Moore, Graeme J. Nott, David Painemal, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Armin Sorooshian, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3875–3892, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3875-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3875-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Droplet number concentration is a key property of clouds, influencing a variety of cloud processes. It is also used for estimating the cloud response to aerosols. The satellite retrieval depends on a number of assumptions – different sampling strategies are used to select cases where these assumptions are most likely to hold. Here we investigate the impact of these strategies on the agreement with in situ data, the droplet number climatology and estimates of the indirect radiative forcing.
Zhujun Li, David Painemal, Gregory Schuster, Marian Clayton, Richard Ferrare, Mark Vaughan, Damien Josset, Jayanta Kar, and Charles Trepte
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2745–2766, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2745-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2745-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
For more than 15 years, CALIPSO has revolutionized our understanding of the role of aerosols in climate. Here we evaluate CALIPSO aerosol typing over the ocean using an independent CALIPSO–CloudSat product. The analysis suggests that CALIPSO correctly categorizes clean marine aerosol over the open ocean, elevated smoke over the SE Atlantic, and dust over the tropical Atlantic. Similarities between clean and dusty marine over the open ocean implies that algorithm modifications are warranted.
Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Between July and October, biomass burning smoke is advected over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, leading to climate forcing. Model calculations of forcing by this plume vary significantly in both magnitude and sign. This paper compares aerosol and cloud properties observed during three NASA ORACLES field campaigns to the same in four models. It quantifies modeled biases in properties key to aerosol direct radiative forcing and evaluates how these biases propagate to biases in forcing.
Xiaojian Zheng, Yan Feng, David Painemal, Shaocheng Xie, Zhujun Li, and Yuan Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5932, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5932, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke from African fires often drifts over the cloud deck of the southeastern Atlantic, but how it changes the water in these clouds remains uncertain. Using nine years of satellite data, we sorted days by weather pattern and by whether the smoke sat above or touched the clouds. The cloud-water response depends on both, and averaging over all days hides it. A climate model gives the opposite response, pointing to processes that need improvement in the model.
Michael S. Diamond, Andrew S. Ackerman, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Ann M. Fridlind, Ehsan Erfani, Caspar Jungbacker, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, Frida A.-M. Bender, Annica M. L. Ekman, Franziska Glassmeier, Graham Feingold, Fredrik Jansson, David A. Johnson, Matthias Schwarz, Robert Wood, Takanobu Yamaguchi, Jianhao Zhang, Xiaoli Zhou, and Paquita Zuidema
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5350, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5350, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We compare how cloud resolving models represent an important cloud transition over the subtropical oceans. Clouds can either break up by deepening and drying out or by raining and forming an open cell pattern. Compared to observations, the clouds deepen a bit too much and get too polluted when smoke is present. In clean conditions, some models drizzle and break up into open cells while others barely rain; the model spread stems from different rain amounts for similar clouds.
Zihao Yuan, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Guangliang Fu, J. Vanderlei Martins, Andrew M. Sayer, Chamara Rajapakshe, Brian Cairns, Hai Xiang Lin, Jan Willem Erisman, and Otto P. Hasekamp
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5631, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5631, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a systematic intercomparison of cloud droplet effective radius and effective variance from the PACE instruments SPEXone, HARP-2, and OCI. Comparison of one-year data shows reasonable consistency, but also show clear systematic differences. The comparison establishes a baseline understanding of PACE cloud retrieval performance, gives insight into retrieval uncertainties, and provides a guideline for using multi-instrument PACE data sets in aerosol–cloud interaction studies.
Timothy W. Juliano, Florian Tornow, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Gregory S. Elsaesser, Bart Geerts, Christian P. Lackner, David Painemal, Israel Silber, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Gunilla Svensson, Michael Tjernström, Peng Wu, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Peter Bogenschutz, Dmitry Chechin, Kamal Kant Chandrakar, Jan Chylik, Andrey Debolskiy, Rostislav Fadeev, Anu Gupta, Luisa Ickes, Michail Karalis, Martin Köhler, Branko Kosović, Peter Kuma, Weiwei Li, Evgeny Mortikov, Hugh Morrison, Roel A. J. Neggers, Anna Possner, Tomi Raatikainen, Lea Raillard, Sami Romakkaniemi, Niklas Schnierstein, Shin-ichiro Shima, Nikita Silin, Mikhail Tolstykh, Étienne Vignon, Lulin Xue, Meng Zhang, and Xue Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 13267–13302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13267-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-13267-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Models struggle to capture cloud and precipitation processes and their radiative effects in marine cold-air outbreaks. We use a quasi-Lagrangian framework to compare large-eddy simulation (LES) and single-column model (SCM) output with field and satellite observations. With fixed droplet and ice numbers, LES and SCM agree in liquid-only tests. In mixed-phase conditions, LES plausibly capture cloud thinning and breakup, while SCMs largely remain overcast and thereby miss cloud radiative effects.
Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Ivona Cetinić, Brian Cairns, Samuel E. Leblanc, Rei Ueyama, and the PACE-PAX team
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-541, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-541, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
We present data collected for validation of atmospheric, oceanic and terrestrial data products produced by the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) and JAXA/ESA Earth, Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) missions. Our field campaign, called the PACE Postlaunch Airborne Experiment (PACE-PAX) was carried out in September of 2024 with two instrumented aircraft, several ocean research vessels and more. Data are free and available to the public.
Xin Chen, Dylan B. Millet, Glenn M. Wolfe, Erin R. Delaria, M. Julian Deventer, Markus Müller, Arne Schiller, Kenneth Lee Thornhill, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 5353–5372, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5353-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5353-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Air-sea exchange is a major uncertainty source for many volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Aircraft-based eddy covariance can be used to quantify these fluxes over large regions but such applications have been limited. We used observations over the Atlantic to characterize VOC fluxes and elucidate the drivers of measurement error. Results show how sensor noise and turbulent variability interact to determine flux detectability, and define instrumental priorities for future use of this technique.
Patrick C. Taylor, Armin Sorooshian, Rei Ueyama, Sebastian Schmidt, Ihab Abboud, Quincy Allison, Kevin Barry, Sebastian Becker, Holly A. Bender, Joseph R. Bennett, James B. Blair, Niklas Bohn, Linette Boisvert, Matthew D. Brown, Roelof Bruintjes, Anthony Bucholtz, Megan Buzanowicz, Brian Cairns, Filippo Calì Quaglia, Eduard Chemyakin, Bo Chen, Gao Chen, Hong Chen, Yu-Wen Chen, Zezhen Cheng, Swarup China, Dan Chirica, Yonghoon Choi, Peter Colarco, Brian Collister, Ewan Crosbie, Maurice J. Cross, Janet Daniels, Paul DeMott, Joshua P. DiGangi, Alcide Giorgio di Sarra, Glenn S. Diskin, Erica K. Dolinar, Eva-Lou Edwards, Samuel Ephraim, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Romanos Foskinis, Francesca Gallo, Lan Gao, José Luis Gómez-Amo, Daisy Gonzalez, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Pawan Gupta, Ivan Heckman, Michael Hendrickson, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ken Hirata, Michelle Hofton, Andrew L. Holen, Ulas Im, Alia L. Khan, Ralph Kahn, Alexei V. Korolev, Sonia Kreidenweis, Thomas Krumpen, Nathan Kurtz, Leslie Lait, Bradley Lamkin, Jack Landy, Nurun Nahar Lata, Paul Lawson, Samuel LeBlanc, Sean Leavor, Jing Li, Thorsten Markus, Hal Maring, Andreas H. Massling, Camille Mavis, Flynn McGinnity, Kerry Meyer, Gabriel Mojica, Richard H. Moore, Parker Morris, Giovanni Muscari, Vikas Nataraja, Amin R. Nehrir, Athanasios Nenes, Edward P. Nowottnick, Matteo Ottaviani, Chelsea Parker, Ryan Patnaude, Michael Perez, Russell J. Perkins, Colten Peterson, Alek Petty, Stevie Phothisane, Chris Polashenski, Kerri A. Pratt, Kayla M. Preisler, John Prytherch, David Rabine, Jens Redemann, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Joseph S. Schlosser, Vanessa Selimovic, Michael A. Shook, Morgan Silverman, Henrik Skov, Alexander Smirnov, Cassidy Soloff, Amy Solomon, Snorre Stamnes, Azusa Takeishi, David R. Thompson, K. Lee Thornhill, Rachel Tilling, Michael Tjernström, Monica Tosco, Pedro C. Valdelomar, David Van Gilst, Jian Wang, Zhien Wang, Andrzej Wasilewski, Manfred Wendisch, Brent Wilder, Edward L. Winstead, Albert Wu, Peng Xian, Lauren M. Zamora, Jiaoshi Zhang, Lei Zhang, Lu Zhang, Luke Ziemba, and Paquita Zuidema
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-241, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2026-241, 2026
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
This article summarizes the data sets collected during the Arctic Radiation Cloud aerosol Sea ice Interaction eXperiment (ARCSIX), NASA's most comprehensive Arctic field campaign to date. The overarching goal was to quantify the contributions of surface, clouds, aerosol particles, and precipitation to summer sea ice melt. This paper describes the ARCSIX implementation including the flight strategy, instruments, complementary data sets, access, and usage details.
Ariadne K. Papamichou, Evanthia Kallou, Richard H. Moore, Holger Pfaender, and Dimitri N. Mavris
J. Env. Com. Air Transp. Sys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-11, https://doi.org/10.5194/jecats-2026-11, 2026
Preprint under review for JECATS
Short summary
Short summary
Contrails are thin ice clouds that may form behind aircraft, are responsible for about half of aviation's climate impact, and are hard to detect and predict. Using data from two flight test campaigns, we developed a tool that can be used with a camera mounted on aircraft to detect contrail formation and predict persistence in real time, with camera placement strongly affecting results. Using only this tool and onboard cameras, this lower-cost approach could help reduce aviation's climate impact.
Young Ro Lee, Linda Arterburn, Masayuki Takeuchi, David J. Tanner, James M. Roberts, Behrooz Roozitalab, Daun Jeong, Alan J. Hills, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, Simone Meinardi, Barbara Barletta, Nicola J. Blake, Donald R. Blake, Saewung Kim, Wojciech Wojnowski, Felix Piel, Armin Wisthaler, Katherine Ball, John D. Crounse, Paul O. Wennberg, Jason Miech, Yonghoon Choi, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Abby Sebol, Erin R. Delaria, Reem A. Hannun, Jason M. St. Clair, Glenn M. Wolfe, Changmin Cho, Courtney Owen, Kirk Lesko, Alessandro Franchin, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, Richard Moore, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Guy Symonds, Dongwook Kim, Douglas A. Day, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Kirk Ullmann, Samuel R. Hall, James H. Crawford, and L. Gregory Huey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 8695–8715, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8695-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8695-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We flew a large variety of instruments on the NASA DC-8 research aircraft to measure pollution over South Korea in the winter of 2024. This works focuses on acyl peroxynitrates (PANs for short) which are formed by chemistry in air. We found high levels of PANs often associated with industrial emissions of pollutants such as ethanol and ethylene oxide. This work helps to understand how to reduce pollution of this sort.
Katherine Mifsud, Jason Barr, Robert Wood, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan Crosbie, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, Richard H. Moore, Claire Robinson, Michael A. Shook, Armin Sorooshian, Christiane Voigt, and Luke Ziemba
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3027, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3027, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Salt particles from the ocean can help marine clouds precipitate more quickly, but their role is not fully understood. Using aircraft observations over the northwest Atlantic Ocean and computer simulations, we studied how these particles affect warm rain formation. We found that clouds containing more large sea salt particles, even at relatively low amounts, produce more rain. These results improve understanding of how sea salt aerosols influence clouds, rainfall, and climate.
Zhujun Li, David Painemal, Yan Feng, and Xiaojian Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 7705–7720, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7705-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7705-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
This study is the first global assessment of aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) and cloud adjustments that relies on vertically resolved aerosol retrievals that are vertically matched with the location of the cloud layer. We computed ACI metrics and cloud adjustments over the global ocean by combining retrievals from active and passive satellite sensors and found high sensitivity of clouds to changes in their cloud droplet number concentration due to aerosols.
Susan Mathai, Gregory L. Schuster, Michael A. Shook, and Luke D. Ziemba
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1917, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1917, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
There are several organic aerosols being emitted into the atmosphere through different sources. Often, it's challenging to account for these wide variety of species in global climate models due to a lack of clarity about their classification thresholds. In this study, we define thresholds based on the imaginary refractive index to classify organic aerosols into strongly, moderately, weakly, and very weakly absorbing. The classification shows clear optical separation from 350–500 nm wavelengths.
Jianhao Zhang, David Painemal, Tom Dror, Jung-Sub Lim, Armin Sorooshian, and Graham Feingold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 6015–6034, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6015-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6015-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds transitioning from overcast to broken fields play an important role in regulating the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface. Using satellite imagery and a novel space-time exchange approach, we examine these transitions during marine cold-air outbreaks. Our analysis reveals characteristic signatures (or fingerprints) of liquid- and ice-phase processes, demonstrating how space-borne observations can provide new physical insight into cloud evolution.
Seethala Chellappan, David Painemal, Mandana Thieman, Christian Pelayo, William L. Smith Jr., and Lynn M. Russell
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-933, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-933, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed observations from the ARM EPCAPE campaign at coastal California, and satellite cloud properties to understand how large-scale weather patterns influence marine low clouds and aerosols. Using ERA5 data and Self-Organizing Maps, we identified nine synoptic regimes linked to cloud cover, depth, and liquid water path. Satellite data show anticyclone position strongly affects cloud properties, while aerosol–cloud covariability depends on turbulence and supersaturation.
Jingyi Chen, Hailong Wang, Bo Zhang, Hongyu Liu, David Painemal, Armin Sorooshian, Sheng-Lun Tai, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 2209–2224, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2209-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2209-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
NASA-validated modeling shows +4K SST (sea surface temperature) & +25 % gradients distinctly alter boundary layer dynamics, cloud physics in cold-air outbreaks. Warmer SST reduces cloud cover; increases size, elongation; hydrometeors shift to ice. Sharper Gradients boost liquid water (cold upwind); reduces ice; disrupts organization. Also, SST changes alter cloud-top properties via entrained airmass origin. Resolving ocean-atmosphere coupling in global models is essential for accurate cloud feedback projections.
Jan-Lukas Tirpitz, Nathaniel Brockway, Santo Fedele Colosimo, Robert Spurr, Matt Christi, Samuel Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Vijay Natraj, Nicolas Theys, Johnathan Hair, Taylor Shingler, Rodney Weber, Ruchen Zhu, Jack Dibb, Richard Moore, Elizabeth Wiggins, and Jochen Stutz
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5541, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5541, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
This study applies a novel remote sensing algorithm to airborne radiation measurements performed in wildfire plumes, to retrieve the absorptive properties of biomass burning aerosols. The results provide new insights on the magnitude, wavelength dependence, and atmospheric aging of the imaginary refractive index, volume absorption cross-section, and single scattering albedo of the smoke particles. Furthermore, potential and limitations of the applied method are discussed.
Timothy W. Juliano, Florian Tornow, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Gregory S. Elsaesser, Bart Geerts, Christian P. Lackner, David Painemal, Israel Silber, Mikhail Ovchinnikov, Gunilla Svensson, Michael Tjernström, Peng Wu, Alejandro Baró Pérez, Peter Bogenschutz, Dmitry Chechin, Kamal Kant Chandrakar, Jan Chylik, Andrey Debolskiy, Rostislav Fadeev, Anu Gupta, Luisa Ickes, Michail Karalis, Martin Köhler, Branko Kosović, Peter Kuma, Weiwei Li, Evgeny Mortikov, Hugh Morrison, Roel A. J. Neggers, Anna Possner, Tomi Raatikainen, Sami Romakkaniemi, Niklas Schnierstein, Shin-ichiro Shima, Nikita Silin, Mikhail Tolstykh, Lulin Xue, Meng Zhang, and Xue Zheng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6217, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6217, 2026
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Models struggle to capture cloud and precipitation processes and their radiative effects in marine cold-air outbreaks. We use a quasi-Lagrangian framework to compare large-eddy simulation (LES) and single-column model (SCM) output with field and satellite observations. With fixed droplet and ice numbers, LES and SCM agree in liquid-only tests. In mixed-phase conditions, LES plausibly capture cloud thinning and breakup, while SCMs largely remain overcast and thereby miss cloud radiative effects.
Richard Ferrare, Johnathan Hair, Taylor Shingler, Chris Hostetler, Amin Nehrir, Marta Fenn, Amy Jo Scarino, Sharon Burton, Marian Clayton, James Collins, Laura Judd, James Crawford, Katherine Travis, Travis Toth, Pablo Saide, Jose Luis Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Guy Symonds, Richard Moore, Luke Ziemba, Michael Shook, Glenn Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, Ryan Bennett, Chia-Hsiang Ho, Lim-Seok Chang, Adisak Aiampisanuvong, and Ittipol Pawarmart
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 7735–7766, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7735-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7735-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method to retrieve atmospheric particulate matter concentrations using only airborne High Spectral Resolution Lidar measurements in machine learning algorithms. Retrieved concentrations agree well with surface measurements. These concentrations and our estimates of the particle mass extinction efficiency are also consistent with those retrieved from airborne in situ measurements. This methodology can also be applied to the Atmosphere Lidar on the EarthCARE satellite.
Jeffrey S. Reid, Robert E. Holz, Chris A. Hostetler, Richard A. Ferrare, Juli I. Rubin, Elizabeth J. Thompson, Susan C. van den Heever, Corey G. Amiot, Sharon P. Burton, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua H. Cossuth, Daniel P. Eleuterio, Edwin W. Eloranta, Ralph Kuehn, Willem J. Marais, Hal B. Maring, Armin Sorooshian, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Charles R. Trepte, Jian Wang, Peng Xian, and Luke D. Ziemba
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 18639–18673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18639-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18639-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We document air and ship born measurements of the vertical distribution of pollution and biomass burning aerosol particles transported within the Maritime Continent's monsoonal flows for 1000s of kilometers, and yet still exhibit intricate patterns around clouds near the ocean's surface. Findings demonstrate that, while aerosol transport occurs near the surface, there is heterogeneity in particle extinction that must be considered for both in situ observations and satellite retrievals.
Xiaojian Zheng, Yan Feng, David Painemal, Meng Zhang, Shaocheng Xie, Zhujun Li, Robert Jacob, and Bethany Lusch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 17473–17499, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17473-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17473-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study used satellite observations and climate model simulations to examine how aerosols affect marine clouds over the Eastern North Atlantic. Cloud responses to aerosols differed significantly across meteorological regimes. The model captured overall trends but exaggerated cloud responses, performing better for shallower than deeper clouds. The results highlight the need to untangle aerosol effects from meteorology and improve cloud process representation in climate models.
Joseph S. Schlosser, Sanja Dmitrovic, Ryan Bennett, Brian Cairns, Gao Chen, Glenn S. Diskin, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Michael A. Jones, Jeffrey S. Reid, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Armin Sorooshian, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Luke D. Ziemba, and Snorre Stamnes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 7187–7220, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7187-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7187-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study focuses on aerosol particles, which critically influence the atmosphere by scattering and absorbing light. To understand these interactions, airborne field campaigns deploy instruments that can measure these particles’ directly or indirectly via remote sensing. We introduce the In Situ Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm (ISARA) to ensure consistency between aerosol measurements and show that the two data sets generally align, with some deviation caused by the presence of larger particles.
Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Subin Yoon, Sergio L. Alvarez, James H. Flynn, Claire E. Robinson, Michael A. Shook, K. Lee Thornhill, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, Maria Obiminda L. Cambaliza, James B. Simpas, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 17387–17397, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17387-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-17387-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Both fire and urban emissions are major contributors to air pollution in Southeast Asia. Relative increases in measurements of methane and carbon monoxide gases during an aircraft campaign near the Philippines in 2019 were used to isolate pollution emissions from fires vs. urban sources. Results were compared to atmospheric transport models to determine the sources' regional origins, and relationships between pollution indicators relevant to poor air quality were investigated for each source.
Travis D. Toth, Marian B. Clayton, Zhujun Li, David Painemal, Sharon D. Rodier, Jayanta Kar, Tyler J. Thorsen, Richard A. Ferrare, Mark A. Vaughan, Jason L. Tackett, Huisheng Bian, Mian Chin, Anne E. Garnier, Ellsworth J. Welton, Robert A. Ryan, Charles R. Trepte, and David M. Winker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6765–6793, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6765-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6765-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
NASA's CALIPSO satellite mission observed aerosols (airborne particles) globally from 2006 to 2023. Its final data products update improves its aerosol optical parameters over oceans by adjusting for regional and seasonal differences in a new measurement-model synergistic approach. This results in a more realistic aerosol characterization, specifically near coastlines (where sea salt mixes with pollution), with potential impacts to future studies of science applications (e.g., climate effects).
Andrew M. Sayer, Brian Cairns, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Luca Lelli, Chamara Rajapakshe, Scott E. Giangrande, Gareth E. Thomas, and Damao Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6681–6703, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6681-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6681-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Satellites can estimate cloud height in several ways: two include a thermal technique (colder clouds being higher up), and another looking at colours of light that oxygen in the atmosphere absorbs (darker clouds being lower down). It can also be measured (from ground or space) by radar and lidar. We compare satellite data we developed using the oxygen method with other estimates to help us refine our technique.
Jason A. Miech, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Yonghoon Choi, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Francesca Gallo, Carolyn E. Jordan, Michael A. Shook, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Sayantee Roy, Young Ro Lee, Katherine Ball, John D. Crounse, Paul Wennberg, Felix Piel, Stefan Swift, Wojciech Wojnowski, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 15701–15714, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15701-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15701-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass burning is a significant source of greenhouse gases and airborne pollutants in Asia. Airborne measurements of greenhouse gas enhancement ratios, trace gases, and particle scattering were used to identify air masses impacted by biomass burning over several Asian countries during February and March of 2024. Further analysis using atmospheric transport models and satellite hotspot products was performed to understand the transport history of biomass burning impacted airmasses over Thailand.
Emily Lenhardt, Lan Gao, Chris A. Hostetler, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan Crosbie, Armin Sorooshian, Cassidy Soloff, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 13747–13768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13747-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13747-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Small particles that form cloud droplets greatly impact Earth's climate but are very difficult to measure. If we can measure them using satellite-based instruments, we greatly increase the amount of available data on their concentrations. In this study, we find that including information about particle size is most important to measure them accurately from such satellite-based instruments. This can inform future studies on how to obtain more accurate information about small particles.
Soodabeh Namdari, Sanja Dmitrovic, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Simon Kirschler, John B. Nowak, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 4325–4345, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4325-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4325-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted this study to assess the accuracy of airborne measurements of wind, temperature, and humidity, essential for understanding atmospheric processes. Using data from NASA's ACTIVATE campaign, we compared measurements from the Turbulent Air Motion Measurement System (TAMMS) and diode laser hygrometer (DLH) aboard a Falcon aircraft with dropsondes from a King Air, matching data points based on location and time using statistical methods. The study showed strong agreement, confirming the reliability of these methods for advancing climate models.
Luke R. Allen, Sandra E. Yuter, Declan M. Crowe, Matthew A. Miller, and K. Lee Thornhill
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6679–6701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6679-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6679-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We analyzed in-cloud characteristics using in situ measurements from 42 research flights across two field campaigns into non-orographic, non-lake-effect winter storms. Much of the storm volume contains weak vertical motions (a few centimeters per second), and most updrafts ≥ 0.5 m s-1 are small (< 1 km). Within 2 km of cloud radar echo top, stronger vertical motions and conditions for ice particle growth are more common. Overturning air motions near cloud top appear important for the production of snow particles.
Ewan Crosbie, Johnathan W. Hair, Amin R. Nehrir, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris Hostetler, Taylor Shingler, David Harper, Marta Fenn, James Collins, Rory Barton-Grimley, Brian Collister, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Simon Kirschler, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2639–2658, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2639-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2639-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A method was developed to extract information from airborne lidar observations about the distribution of ice and liquid water within clouds. The method specifically targets signatures of horizontal and vertical gradients in ice and water that appear in the polarization of the lidar signals. The method was tested against direct measurements of the cloud properties collected by a second aircraft.
Genevieve Rose Lorenzo, Luke D. Ziemba, Avelino F. Arellano, Mary C. Barth, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Richard Ferrare, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Michael A. Shook, Simone Tilmes, Jian Wang, Qian Xiao, Jun Zhang, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5469–5495, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5469-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5469-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Novel aerosol hygroscopicity analyses of CAMP2Ex (Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment) field campaign data show low aerosol hygroscopicity values in Southeast Asia. Organic carbon from smoke decreases hygroscopicity to levels more like those in continental than in polluted marine regions. Hygroscopicity changes at cloud level demonstrate how surface particles impact clouds in the region, affecting model representation of aerosol and cloud interactions in similar polluted marine regions with high organic carbon emissions.
Florian Tornow, Ann Fridlind, George Tselioudis, Brian Cairns, Andrew Ackerman, Seethala Chellappan, David Painemal, Paquita Zuidema, Christiane Voigt, Simon Kirschler, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5053–5074, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The recent NASA campaign ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment) performed 71 tandem flights in mid-latitude marine cold-air outbreaks off the US eastern seaboard. We provide meteorological and cloud transition stage context, allowing us to identify days that are most suitable for Lagrangian modeling and analysis. Surveyed cloud properties show signatures of cloud microphysical processes, such as cloud-top entrainment and secondary ice formation.
Kerry Meyer, Steven Platnick, G. Thomas Arnold, Nandana Amarasinghe, Daniel Miller, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Mikael Witte, Brian Cairns, Siddhant Gupta, Greg McFarquhar, and Joseph O'Brien
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 981–1011, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-981-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-981-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite remote sensing retrievals of cloud droplet size are used to understand clouds and their interactions with aerosols and radiation but require many simplifying assumptions. Evaluation of these retrievals is typically done by comparing against direct measurements of droplets from airborne cloud probes. This paper details an evaluation of proxy airborne remote sensing droplet size retrievals against several cloud probes and explores the impact of key assumptions on retrieval agreement.
Kira Zeider, Kayla McCauley, Sanja Dmitrovic, Leong Wai Siu, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Simon Kirschler, John B. Nowak, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, Paquita Zuidema, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2407–2422, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2407-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2407-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In situ aircraft data collected over the northwest Atlantic Ocean are utilized to compare aerosol conditions and turbulence between near-surface and below-cloud-base altitudes for different regimes of coupling strength between those two levels, along with how cloud microphysical properties vary across those regimes. Stronger coupling yields more homogenous aerosol structure vertically along with higher cloud drop concentrations and sea salt influence in clouds.
Hongyu Liu, Bo Zhang, Richard H. Moore, Luke D. Ziemba, Richard A. Ferrare, Hyundeok Choi, Armin Sorooshian, David Painemal, Hailong Wang, Michael A. Shook, Amy Jo Scarino, Johnathan W. Hair, Ewan C. Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Taylor J. Shingler, Chris A. Hostetler, Gao Chen, Mary M. Kleb, Gan Luo, Fangqun Yu, Mark A. Vaughan, Yongxiang Hu, Glenn S. Diskin, John B. Nowak, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, Christoph A. Keller, and Matthew S. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2087–2121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2087-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We use the GEOS-Chem model to simulate aerosol distributions and properties over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) during the winter and summer deployments in 2020 of the NASA ACTIVATE mission. Model results are evaluated against aircraft, ground-based, and satellite observations. The improved understanding of life cycle, composition, transport pathways, and distribution of aerosols has important implications for characterizing aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions over WNAO.
Jan-Lukas Tirpitz, Santo Fedele Colosimo, Nathaniel Brockway, Robert Spurr, Matt Christi, Samuel Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Johnathan Hair, Taylor Shingler, Rodney Weber, Jack Dibb, Richard Moore, Elizabeth Wiggins, Vijay Natraj, Nicolas Theys, and Jochen Stutz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1989–2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1989-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1989-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We combine plume composition data from the 2019 NASA FIREX-AQ campaign with state-of-the-art radiative transfer modeling techniques to calculate distributions of actinic flux and photolysis frequencies in a wildfire plume. Excellent agreement of the model and observations demonstrates the applicability of this approach to constrain photochemistry in such plumes. We identify limiting factors for the modeling accuracy and discuss spatial and spectral features of the distributions.
Brent A. McBride, J. Vanderlei Martins, J. Dominik Cieslak, Roberto Fernandez-Borda, Anin Puthukkudy, Xiaoguang Xu, Noah Sienkiewicz, Brian Cairns, and Henrique M. J. Barbosa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5709–5729, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5709-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5709-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Airborne Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (AirHARP) is a new Earth-observing instrument that provides highly accurate measurements of the atmosphere and surface. Using a physics-based calibration technique, we show that AirHARP achieves high measurement accuracy in laboratory and field environments and exceeds a benchmark accuracy requirement for modern aerosol and cloud climate observations. Therefore, the HARP design is highly attractive for upcoming NASA climate missions.
Cassidy Soloff, Taiwo Ajayi, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Francesca Gallo, Johnathan W. Hair, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Simon Kirschler, Richard H. Moore, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10385–10408, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10385-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10385-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Using aircraft measurements over the northwestern Atlantic between the US East Coast and Bermuda and trajectory modeling of continental outflow, we identify trace gas and particle properties that exhibit gradients with offshore distance and quantify these changes with high-resolution measurements of concentrations and particle chemistry, size, and scattering properties. This work furthers our understanding of the complex interactions between continental and marine environments.
Shuaiqi Tang, Hailong Wang, Xiang-Yu Li, Jingyi Chen, Armin Sorooshian, Xubin Zeng, Ewan Crosbie, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Luke D. Ziemba, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10073–10092, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10073-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10073-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We examined marine boundary layer clouds and their interactions with aerosols in the E3SM single-column model (SCM) for a case study. The SCM shows good agreement when simulating the clouds with high-resolution models. It reproduces the relationship between cloud droplet and aerosol particle number concentrations as produced in global models. However, the relationship between cloud liquid water and droplet number concentration is different, warranting further investigation.
Taiwo Ajayi, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Chris A. Hostetler, Simon Kirschler, Richard H. Moore, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Cassidy Soloff, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9197–9218, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9197-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses airborne data to examine vertical profiles of trace gases, aerosol particles, and meteorological variables over a remote marine area (Bermuda). Results show distinct differences based on both air mass source region (North America, Ocean, Caribbean/North Africa) and altitude for a given air mass type. This work highlights the sensitivity of remote marine areas to long-range transport and the importance of considering the vertical dependence of trace gas and aerosol properties.
Sanja Dmitrovic, Johnathan W. Hair, Brian L. Collister, Ewan Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Yongxiang Hu, John A. Reagan, Claire E. Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, Taylor J. Shingler, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3515–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study introduces and evaluates a new ocean surface wind speed product from the NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) airborne High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar – Generation 2 (HSRL-2) during the NASA ACTIVATE mission. We show that HSRL-2 surface wind speed data are accurate when compared to ground-truth dropsonde measurements. Therefore, the HSRL-2 instrument is able obtain accurate, high-resolution surface wind speed data in airborne field campaigns.
Sunny Sun-Mack, Patrick Minnis, Yan Chen, Gang Hong, and William L. Smith Jr.
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3323–3346, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3323-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3323-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Multilayer clouds (MCs) affect the radiation budget differently than single-layer clouds (SCs) and need to be identified in satellite images. A neural network was trained to identify MCs by matching imagery with lidar/radar data. This method correctly identifies ~87 % SCs and MCs with a net accuracy gain of 7.5 % over snow-free surfaces. It is more accurate than most available methods and constitutes a first step in providing a reasonable 3-D characterization of the cloudy atmosphere.
Ewan Crosbie, Luke D. Ziemba, Michael A. Shook, Taylor Shingler, Johnathan W. Hair, Armin Sorooshian, Richard A. Ferrare, Brian Cairns, Yonghoon Choi, Joshua DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Chris Hostetler, Simon Kirschler, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, and Edward Winstead
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6123–6152, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine clouds are found to clump together in regions or lines, readily discernible from satellite images of the ocean. While clustering is also a feature of deep storm clouds, we focus on smaller cloud systems associated with fair weather and brief localized showers. Two aircraft sampled the region around these shallow systems: one incorporated measurements taken within, adjacent to, and below the clouds, while the other provided a survey from above using remote sensing techniques.
Leong Wai Siu, Joseph S. Schlosser, David Painemal, Brian Cairns, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, Longlei Li, Mary M. Kleb, Amy Jo Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Snorre A. Stamnes, and Xubin Zeng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2739–2759, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2739-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2739-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An unprecedented 3-year aerosol dataset was collected from a recent NASA field campaign over the western North Atlantic Ocean, which offers a special opportunity to evaluate two state-of-the-art remote sensing instruments, one lidar and the other polarimeter, on the same aircraft. Special attention has been paid to validate aerosol optical depth data and their uncertainties when no reference dataset is available. Physical reasons for the disagreement between two instruments are discussed.
Alejandro Baró Pérez, Michael S. Diamond, Frida A.-M. Bender, Abhay Devasthale, Matthias Schwarz, Julien Savre, Juha Tonttila, Harri Kokkola, Hyunho Lee, David Painemal, and Annica M. L. Ekman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4591–4610, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4591-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We use a numerical model to study interactions between humid light-absorbing aerosol plumes, clouds, and radiation over the southeast Atlantic. We find that the warming produced by the aerosols reduces cloud cover, especially in highly polluted situations. Aerosol impacts on drizzle play a minor role. However, aerosol effects on cloud reflectivity and moisture-induced changes in cloud cover dominate the climatic response and lead to an overall cooling by the biomass burning plumes.
Eva-Lou Edwards, Yonghoon Choi, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Claire E. Robinson, Michael A. Shook, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3349–3378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3349-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3349-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate Cl− depletion in sea salt particles over the northwest Atlantic from December 2021 to June 2022 using an airborne dataset. Losses of Cl− are greatest in May and least in December–February and March. Inorganic acidic species can account for all depletion observed for December–February, March, and June near Bermuda but none in May. Quantifying Cl− depletion as a percentage captures seasonal trends in depletion but fails to convey the effects it may have on atmospheric oxidation.
Shaoyue Qiu, Xue Zheng, David Painemal, Christopher R. Terai, and Xiaoli Zhou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2913–2935, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2913-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The aerosol indirect effect (AIE) depends on cloud states, which exhibit significant diurnal variations in the northeastern Atlantic. Yet the AIE diurnal cycle remains poorly understood. Using satellite retrievals, we find a pronounced “U-shaped” diurnal variation in the AIE, which is contributed to by the transition of cloud states combined with the lagged cloud responses. This suggests that polar-orbiting satellites with overpass times at noon underestimate daytime mean values of the AIE.
Luis F. Millán, Matthew D. Lebsock, Ken B. Cooper, Jose V. Siles, Robert Dengler, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Amin Nehrir, Rory A. Barton-Grimley, James E. Collins, Claire E. Robinson, Kenneth L. Thornhill, and Holger Vömel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 539–559, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-539-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we describe and validate a new technique in which three radar tones are used to estimate the water vapor inside clouds and precipitation. This instrument flew on board NASA's P-3 aircraft during the Investigation of Microphysics and Precipitation for Atlantic Coast-Threatening Snowstorms (IMPACTS) campaign and the Synergies Of Active optical and Active microwave Remote Sensing Experiment (SOA2RSE) campaign.
Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Avelino F. Arellano, Ali Behrangi, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Michael A. Shook, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 37–55, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-37-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-37-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Wet scavenging strongly influences aerosol lifetime and interactions but is a large uncertainty in global models. We present a method to identify meteorological variables relevant for estimating wet scavenging. During long-range transport over the tropical western Pacific, relative humidity and the frequency of humid conditions are better predictors of scavenging than precipitation. This method can be applied to other regions, and our findings can inform scavenging parameterizations in models.
Meng Gao, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Andrew M. Sayer, Xiaoguang Xu, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brian Cairns, Patricia Castellanos, Guangliang Fu, Neranga Hannadige, Otto Hasekamp, Yongxiang Hu, Amir Ibrahim, Frederick Patt, Anin Puthukkudy, and P. Jeremy Werdell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5863–5881, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5863-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5863-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluated the retrievability and uncertainty of aerosol and ocean properties from PACE's HARP2 instrument using enhanced neural network models with the FastMAPOL algorithm. A cascading retrieval method is developed to improve retrieval performance. A global set of simulated HARP2 data is generated and used for uncertainty evaluations. The performance assessment demonstrates that the FastMAPOL algorithm is a viable approach for operational application to HARP2 data after PACE launch.
Neranga K. Hannadige, Peng-Wang Zhai, Meng Gao, Yongxiang Hu, P. Jeremy Werdell, Kirk Knobelspiesse, and Brian Cairns
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5749–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the impact of three ocean optical models with different numbers of free parameters on the performance of an aerosol and ocean color remote sensing algorithm using the multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) measurements. It was demonstrated that the three- and seven-parameter bio-optical models can be used to accurately represent both open and coastal waters, whereas the one-parameter model has smaller retrieval uncertainty over open water.
Calvin Howes, Pablo E. Saide, Hugh Coe, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jim M. Haywood, Steven G. Howell, Siddhant Gupta, Janek Uin, Mary Kacarab, Chongai Kuang, L. Ruby Leung, Athanasios Nenes, Greg M. McFarquhar, James Podolske, Jens Redemann, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jenny P. S. Wong, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Yang Zhang, Jianhao Zhang, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13911–13940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand smoke properties and its interactions with clouds, we compare the WRF-CAM5 model with observations from ORACLES, CLARIFY, and LASIC field campaigns in the southeastern Atlantic in August 2017. The model transports and mixes smoke well but does not fully capture some important processes. These include smoke chemical and physical aging over 4–12 days, smoke removal by rain, sulfate particle formation, aerosol activation into cloud droplets, and boundary layer turbulence.
Simon Kirschler, Christiane Voigt, Bruce E. Anderson, Gao Chen, Ewan C. Crosbie, Richard A. Ferrare, Valerian Hahn, Johnathan W. Hair, Stefan Kaufmann, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire E. Robinson, Kevin J. Sanchez, Amy J. Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10731–10750, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10731-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we present an overview of liquid and mixed-phase clouds and precipitation in the marine boundary layer over the western North Atlantic Ocean. We compare microphysical properties of pure liquid clouds to mixed-phase clouds and show that the initiation of the ice phase in mixed-phase clouds promotes precipitation. The observational data presented in this study are well suited for investigating the processes that give rise to liquid and mixed-phase clouds, ice, and precipitation.
Qian Xiao, Jiaoshi Zhang, Yang Wang, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan Crosbie, Edward L. Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Jeffrey S. Reid, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Armin Sorooshian, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Sarah Woods, Paul Lawson, Snorre A. Stamnes, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9853–9871, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9853-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9853-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Using recent airborne measurements, we show that the influences of anthropogenic emissions, transport, convective clouds, and meteorology lead to new particle formation (NPF) under a variety of conditions and at different altitudes in tropical marine environments. NPF is enhanced by fresh urban emissions in convective outflow but is suppressed in air masses influenced by aged urban emissions where reactive precursors are mostly consumed while particle surface area remains relatively high.
Rose Marie Miller, Robert M. Rauber, Larry Di Girolamo, Matthew Rilloraza, Dongwei Fu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Stephen W. Nesbitt, Luke D. Ziemba, Sarah Woods, and Kenneth Lee Thornhill
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8959–8977, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8959-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8959-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The influence of human-produced aerosols on clouds remains one of the uncertainties in radiative forcing of Earth’s climate. Measurements of aerosol chemistry from sources around the Philippines illustrate the linkage between aerosol chemical composition and cloud droplet characteristics. Differences in aerosol chemical composition in the marine layer from biomass burning, industrial, ship-produced, and marine aerosols are shown to impact cloud microphysical structure just above cloud base.
Armin Sorooshian, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Adam D. Bell, Ryan Bennett, Grace Betito, Sharon P. Burton, Megan E. Buzanowicz, Brian Cairns, Eduard V. Chemyakin, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Brian L. Collister, Anthony L. Cook, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan C. Crosbie, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sanja Dmitrovic, Eva-Lou Edwards, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David van Gilst, Johnathan W. Hair, David B. Harper, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Chris A. Hostetler, Nathan Jester, Michael Jones, Simon Kirschler, Mary M. Kleb, John M. Kusterer, Sean Leavor, Joseph W. Lee, Hongyu Liu, Kayla McCauley, Richard H. Moore, Joseph Nied, Anthony Notari, John B. Nowak, David Painemal, Kasey E. Phillips, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Joseph S. Schlosser, Shane T. Seaman, Chellappan Seethala, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth A. Sinclair, William L. Smith Jr., Douglas A. Spangenberg, Snorre A. Stamnes, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Andrzej P. Wasilewski, Hailong Wang, Edward L. Winstead, Kira Zeider, Xubin Zeng, Bo Zhang, Luke D. Ziemba, and Paquita Zuidema
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3419–3472, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) produced a unique dataset for research into aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions. HU-25 Falcon and King Air aircraft conducted systematic and spatially coordinated flights over the northwest Atlantic Ocean. This paper describes the ACTIVATE flight strategy, instrument and complementary dataset products, data access and usage details, and data application notes.
Haihui Zhu, Randall V. Martin, Betty Croft, Shixian Zhai, Chi Li, Liam Bindle, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Rachel Y.-W. Chang, Bruce E. Anderson, Luke D. Ziemba, Johnathan W. Hair, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, Inderjeet Singh, Deepangsu Chatterjee, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Jack E. Dibb, Joshua S. Schwarz, and Andrew Weinheimer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5023–5042, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5023-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5023-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Particle size of atmospheric aerosol is important for estimating its climate and health effects, but simulating atmospheric aerosol size is computationally demanding. This study derives a simple parameterization of the size of organic and secondary inorganic ambient aerosol that can be applied to atmospheric models. Applying this parameterization allows a better representation of the global spatial pattern of aerosol size, as verified by ground and airborne measurements.
Meng Gao, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Brian Cairns, Xiaoguang Xu, and J. Vanderlei Martins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2067–2087, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2067-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2067-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Multi-angle polarimetric measurements have been shown to greatly improve the remote sensing capability of aerosols and help atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. However, the uncertainty correlations among different measurement angles have not been well characterized. In this work, we provided a practical framework to evaluate the impact of the angular uncertainty correlation in retrieval results and a method to directly estimate correlation strength from retrieval residuals.
Emily D. Lenhardt, Lan Gao, Jens Redemann, Feng Xu, Sharon P. Burton, Brian Cairns, Ian Chang, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Yohei Shinozuka, Snorre Stamnes, Mary Kacarab, Amie Dobracki, Jenny Wong, Steffen Freitag, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2037–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Small atmospheric particles, such as smoke from wildfires or pollutants from human activities, impact cloud properties, and clouds have a strong influence on climate. To better understand the distributions of these particles, we develop relationships to derive their concentrations from remote sensing measurements from an instrument called a lidar. Our method is reliable for smoke particles, and similar steps can be taken to develop relationships for other particle types.
Francesca Gallo, Janek Uin, Kevin J. Sanchez, Richard H. Moore, Jian Wang, Robert Wood, Fan Mei, Connor Flynn, Stephen Springston, Eduardo B. Azevedo, Chongai Kuang, and Allison C. Aiken
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4221–4246, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4221-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a summary statistic of multiday aerosol plume transport event influences on aerosol physical properties and the cloud condensation nuclei budget at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Facility in the eastern North Atlantic (ENA). An algorithm that integrates aerosol properties is developed and applied to identify multiday aerosol transport events. The influence of the aerosol plumes on aerosol populations at the ENA is successively assessed.
Andrew M. Sayer, Luca Lelli, Brian Cairns, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Amir Ibrahim, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Sergey Korkin, and P. Jeremy Werdell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 969–996, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-969-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-969-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a method to estimate the height of the top of clouds above Earth's surface using satellite measurements. It is based on light absorption by oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, which darkens the signal that a satellite will see at certain wavelengths of light. Clouds "shield" the satellite from some of this darkening, dependent on cloud height (and other factors), because clouds scatter light at these wavelengths. The method will be applied to the future NASA PACE mission.
Francesca Gallo, Kevin J. Sanchez, Bruce E. Anderson, Ryan Bennett, Matthew D. Brown, Ewan C. Crosbie, Chris Hostetler, Carolyn Jordan, Melissa Yang Martin, Claire E. Robinson, Lynn M. Russell, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Armin Wisthaler, Luke D. Ziemba, and Richard H. Moore
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1465–1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1465-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We integrate in situ ship- and aircraft-based measurements of aerosol, trace gases, and meteorological parameters collected during the NASA North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) field campaigns in the western North Atlantic Ocean region. A comprehensive characterization of the vertical profiles of aerosol properties under different seasonal regimes is provided for improving the understanding of aerosol key processes and aerosol–cloud interactions in marine regions.
Allison B. Marquardt Collow, Virginie Buchard, Peter R. Colarco, Arlindo M. da Silva, Ravi Govindaraju, Edward P. Nowottnick, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Chris Hostetler, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 16091–16109, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16091-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-16091-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass burning aerosol impacts aspects of the atmosphere and Earth system through radiative forcing, serving as cloud condensation nuclei, and air quality. Despite its importance, the representation of biomass burning aerosol is not always accurate in models. Field campaign observations from CAMP2Ex are used to evaluate the mass and extinction of aerosols in the GEOS model. Notable biases in the model illuminate areas of future development with GEOS and the underlying GOCART aerosol module.
Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Otto P. Hasekamp, Brian Cairns, Gregory L. Schuster, Snorre Stamnes, Michael Shook, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7411–7434, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7411-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7411-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The strong variability in the chemistry of atmospheric particulate matter affects the amount of water aerosols absorb and their effect on climate. We present a remote sensing method to determine the amount of water in particulate matter. Its application to airborne instruments indicates that the observed aerosols have rather low water contents and low fractions of soluble particles. Future satellites will be able to yield global aerosol water uptake data.
Pamela S. Rickly, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Glenn M. Wolfe, Ryan Bennett, Ilann Bourgeois, John D. Crounse, Jack E. Dibb, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Maximilian Dollner, Emily M. Gargulinski, Samuel R. Hall, Hannah S. Halliday, Thomas F. Hanisco, Reem A. Hannun, Jin Liao, Richard Moore, Benjamin A. Nault, John B. Nowak, Jeff Peischl, Claire E. Robinson, Thomas Ryerson, Kevin J. Sanchez, Manuel Schöberl, Amber J. Soja, Jason M. St. Clair, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Kirk Ullmann, Paul O. Wennberg, Bernadett Weinzierl, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, and Andrew W. Rollins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15603–15620, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15603-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15603-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass burning sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission factors range from 0.27–1.1 g kg-1 C. Biomass burning SO2 can quickly form sulfate and organosulfur, but these pathways are dependent on liquid water content and pH. Hydroxymethanesulfonate (HMS) appears to be directly emitted from some fire sources but is not the sole contributor to the organosulfur signal. It is shown that HMS and organosulfur chemistry may be an important S(IV) reservoir with the fate dependent on the surrounding conditions.
Rachel A. Bergin, Monica Harkey, Alicia Hoffman, Richard H. Moore, Bruce Anderson, Andreas Beyersdorf, Luke Ziemba, Lee Thornhill, Edward Winstead, Tracey Holloway, and Timothy H. Bertram
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15449–15468, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15449-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15449-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Correctly predicting aerosol surface area concentrations is important for determining the rate of heterogeneous reactions in chemical transport models. Here, we compare aircraft measurements of aerosol surface area with a regional model. In polluted air masses, we show that the model underpredicts aerosol surface area by a factor of 2. Despite this disagreement, the representation of heterogeneous chemistry still dominates the overall uncertainty in the loss rate of molecules such as N2O5.
Youhua Tang, Patrick C. Campbell, Pius Lee, Rick Saylor, Fanglin Yang, Barry Baker, Daniel Tong, Ariel Stein, Jianping Huang, Ho-Chun Huang, Li Pan, Jeff McQueen, Ivanka Stajner, Jose Tirado-Delgado, Youngsun Jung, Melissa Yang, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Tom Ryerson, Donald Blake, Joshua Schwarz, Jose-Luis Jimenez, James Crawford, Glenn Diskin, Richard Moore, Johnathan Hair, Greg Huey, Andrew Rollins, Jack Dibb, and Xiaoyang Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7977–7999, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7977-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7977-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper compares two meteorological datasets for driving a regional air quality model: a regional meteorological model using WRF (WRF-CMAQ) and direct interpolation from an operational global model (GFS-CMAQ). In the comparison with surface measurements and aircraft data in summer 2019, these two methods show mixed performance depending on the corresponding meteorological settings. Direct interpolation is found to be a viable method to drive air quality models.
Hossein Dadashazar, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan Crosbie, Sanja Dmitrovic, Simon Kirschler, Kayla McCauley, Richard Moore, Claire Robinson, Joseph S. Schlosser, Michael Shook, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Edward Winstead, Luke Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13897–13913, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13897-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13897-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Multi-season airborne data over the northwestern Atlantic show that organic mass fraction and the relative amount of oxygenated organics within that fraction are enhanced in droplet residual particles as compared to particles below and above cloud. In-cloud aqueous processing is shown to be a potential driver of this compositional shift in cloud. This implies that aerosol–cloud interactions in the region reduce aerosol hygroscopicity due to the jump in the organic : sulfate ratio in cloud.
Ewan Crosbie, Luke D. Ziemba, Michael A. Shook, Claire E. Robinson, Edward L. Winstead, K. Lee Thornhill, Rachel A. Braun, Alexander B. MacDonald, Connor Stahl, Armin Sorooshian, Susan C. van den Heever, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sarah Woods, Paola Bañaga, Matthew D. Brown, Francesca Gallo, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Carolyn E. Jordan, Gabrielle R. Leung, Richard H. Moore, Kevin J. Sanchez, Taylor J. Shingler, and Elizabeth B. Wiggins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13269–13302, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13269-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13269-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The linkage between cloud droplet and aerosol particle chemical composition was analyzed using samples collected in a polluted tropical marine environment. Variations in the droplet composition were related to physical and dynamical processes in clouds to assess their relative significance across three cases that spanned a range of rainfall amounts. In spite of the pollution, sea salt still remained a major contributor to the droplet composition and was preferentially enhanced in rainwater.
Eva-Lou Edwards, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, Sharon P. Burton, Anthony L. Cook, Ewan C. Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Sean W. Freeman, John W. Hair, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Michael A. Shook, G. Alexander Sokolowsky, Susan C. van den Heever, Edward L. Winstead, Sarah Woods, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12961–12983, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12961-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12961-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study compares NAAPS-RA model simulations of aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and extinction to those retrieved with a high spectral resolution lidar near the Philippines. Agreement for AOT was good, and extinction agreement was strongest below 1500 m. Substituting dropsonde relative humidities into NAAPS-RA did not drastically improve agreement, and we discuss potential reasons why. Accurately modeling future conditions in this region is crucial due to its susceptibility to climate change.
Nicole A. June, Anna L. Hodshire, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, K. Lee Thornhill, Kevin J. Sanchez, Richard H. Moore, Demetrios Pagonis, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Matthew M. Coggon, Jonathan M. Dean-Day, T. Paul Bui, Jeff Peischl, Robert J. Yokelson, Matthew J. Alvarado, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Shantanu H. Jathar, and Jeffrey R. Pierce
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12803–12825, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12803-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12803-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The evolution of organic aerosol composition and size is uncertain due to variability within and between smoke plumes. We examine the impact of plume concentration on smoke evolution from smoke plumes sampled by the NASA DC-8 during FIREX-AQ. We find that observed organic aerosol and size distribution changes are correlated to plume aerosol mass concentrations. Additionally, coagulation explains the majority of the observed growth.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Roy R. Johnson, Stephen E. Dunagan, Robert Dahlgren, Jhoon Kim, Myungje Choi, Arlindo da Silva, Patricia Castellanos, Qian Tan, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth Lee Thornhill, and Meloë Kacenelenbogen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11275–11304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11275-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne observations of atmospheric particles and pollution over Korea during a field campaign in May–June 2016 showed that the smallest atmospheric particles are present in the lowest 2 km of the atmosphere. The aerosol size is more spatially variable than optical thickness. We show this with remote sensing (4STAR), in situ (LARGE) observations, satellite measurements (GOCI), and modeled properties (MERRA-2), and it is contrary to the current understanding.
Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, J. Andrew Neuman, Steven S. Brown, Hannah M. Allen, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Matthew M. Coggon, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Jessica B. Gilman, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Hongyu Guo, Hannah A. Halliday, Thomas F. Hanisco, Christopher D. Holmes, L. Gregory Huey, Jose L. Jimenez, Aaron D. Lamplugh, Young Ro Lee, Jakob Lindaas, Richard H. Moore, Benjamin A. Nault, John B. Nowak, Demetrios Pagonis, Pamela S. Rickly, Michael A. Robinson, Andrew W. Rollins, Vanessa Selimovic, Jason M. St. Clair, David Tanner, Krystal T. Vasquez, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Paul O. Wennberg, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Caroline C. Womack, Lu Xu, Kyle J. Zarzana, and Thomas B. Ryerson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4901–4930, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4901-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding fire emission impacts on the atmosphere is key to effective air quality management and requires accurate measurements. We present a comparison of airborne measurements of key atmospheric species in ambient air and in fire smoke. We show that most instruments performed within instrument uncertainties. In some cases, further work is needed to fully characterize instrument performance. Comparing independent measurements using different techniques is important to assess their accuracy.
Meng Gao, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Andrew M. Sayer, Amir Ibrahim, Brian Cairns, Otto Hasekamp, Yongxiang Hu, Vanderlei Martins, P. Jeremy Werdell, and Xiaoguang Xu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4859–4879, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4859-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4859-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we assessed the pixel-wise retrieval uncertainties on aerosol and ocean color derived from multi-angle polarimetric measurements. Standard error propagation methods are used to compute the uncertainties. A flexible framework is proposed to evaluate how representative these uncertainties are compared with real retrieval errors. Meanwhile, to assist operational data processing, we optimized the computational speed to evaluate the retrieval uncertainties based on neural networks.
Edward Gryspeerdt, Daniel T. McCoy, Ewan Crosbie, Richard H. Moore, Graeme J. Nott, David Painemal, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Armin Sorooshian, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3875–3892, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3875-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3875-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Droplet number concentration is a key property of clouds, influencing a variety of cloud processes. It is also used for estimating the cloud response to aerosols. The satellite retrieval depends on a number of assumptions – different sampling strategies are used to select cases where these assumptions are most likely to hold. Here we investigate the impact of these strategies on the agreement with in situ data, the droplet number climatology and estimates of the indirect radiative forcing.
Simon Kirschler, Christiane Voigt, Bruce Anderson, Ramon Campos Braga, Gao Chen, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan Crosbie, Hossein Dadashazar, Richard A. Ferrare, Valerian Hahn, Johannes Hendricks, Stefan Kaufmann, Richard Moore, Mira L. Pöhlker, Claire Robinson, Amy J. Scarino, Dominik Schollmayer, Michael A. Shook, K. Lee Thornhill, Edward Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8299–8319, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8299-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8299-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we show that the vertical velocity dominantly impacts the cloud droplet number concentration (NC) of low-level clouds over the western North Atlantic in the winter and summer season, while the cloud condensation nuclei concentration, aerosol size distribution and chemical composition impact NC within a season. The observational data presented in this study can evaluate and improve the representation of aerosol–cloud interactions for a wide range of conditions.
Dongwei Fu, Larry Di Girolamo, Robert M. Rauber, Greg M. McFarquhar, Stephen W. Nesbitt, Jesse Loveridge, Yulan Hong, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Brian Cairns, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Paul Lawson, Sarah Woods, Simone Tanelli, Sebastian Schmidt, Chris Hostetler, and Amy Jo Scarino
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8259–8285, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8259-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8259-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite-retrieved cloud microphysics are widely used in climate research because of their central role in water and energy cycles. Here, we provide the first detailed investigation of retrieved cloud drop sizes from in situ and various satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques applied to real cumulus cloud fields. We conclude that the most widely used passive remote sensing method employed in climate research produces high biases of 6–8 µm (60 %–80 %) caused by 3-D radiative effects.
Linghan Zeng, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Joseph M. Katich, Joshua P. Schwarz, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Tom Ryerson, Carsten Warneke, Anne E. Perring, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, John B. Nowak, Richard H. Moore, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Demetrios Pagonis, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Lu Xu, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8009–8036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8009-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8009-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Wildfires emit aerosol particles containing brown carbon material that affects visibility and global climate and is toxic. Brown carbon is poorly characterized due to measurement limitations, and its evolution in the atmosphere is not well known. We report on aircraft measurements of brown carbon from large wildfires in the western United States. We compare two methods for measuring brown carbon and study the evolution of brown carbon in the smoke as it moved away from the burning regions.
Joel C. Corbin, Tobias Schripp, Bruce E. Anderson, Greg J. Smallwood, Patrick LeClercq, Ewan C. Crosbie, Steven Achterberg, Philip D. Whitefield, Richard C. Miake-Lye, Zhenhong Yu, Andrew Freedman, Max Trueblood, David Satterfield, Wenyan Liu, Patrick Oßwald, Claire Robinson, Michael A. Shook, Richard H. Moore, and Prem Lobo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3223–3242, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3223-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3223-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The combustion of sustainable aviation fuels in aircraft engines produces particulate matter (PM) emissions with different properties than conventional fuels due to changes in fuel composition. Consequently, the response of various diagnostic instruments to PM emissions may be impacted. We found no significant instrument biases in terms of particle mass, number, and size measurements for conventional and sustainable aviation fuel blends despite large differences in the magnitude of emissions.
Zhujun Li, David Painemal, Gregory Schuster, Marian Clayton, Richard Ferrare, Mark Vaughan, Damien Josset, Jayanta Kar, and Charles Trepte
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2745–2766, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2745-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2745-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
For more than 15 years, CALIPSO has revolutionized our understanding of the role of aerosols in climate. Here we evaluate CALIPSO aerosol typing over the ocean using an independent CALIPSO–CloudSat product. The analysis suggests that CALIPSO correctly categorizes clean marine aerosol over the open ocean, elevated smoke over the SE Atlantic, and dust over the tropical Atlantic. Similarities between clean and dusty marine over the open ocean implies that algorithm modifications are warranted.
Meloë S. F. Kacenelenbogen, Qian Tan, Sharon P. Burton, Otto P. Hasekamp, Karl D. Froyd, Yohei Shinozuka, Andreas J. Beyersdorf, Luke Ziemba, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jack E. Dibb, Taylor Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Reed W. Espinosa, Vanderlei Martins, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Joshua P. Schwarz, Matthew S. Johnson, Jens Redemann, and Gregory L. Schuster
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3713–3742, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3713-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3713-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of aerosols on Earth's radiation budget and human health is important and strongly depends on their composition. One desire of our scientific community is to derive the composition of the aerosol from satellite sensors. However, satellites observe aerosol optical properties (and not aerosol composition) based on remote sensing instrumentation. This study assesses how much aerosol optical properties can tell us about aerosol composition.
Matthew S. Norgren, John Wood, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Snorre A. Stamnes, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan C. Crosbie, Michael A. Shook, A. Scott Kittelman, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Stephen Broccardo, Steffen Freitag, and Jeffrey S. Reid
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1373–1394, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1373-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1373-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A new spectral instrument (SPN-S), with the ability to partition solar radiation into direct and diffuse components, is used in airborne settings to study the optical properties of aerosols and cirrus. It is a low-cost and mechanically simple system but has higher measurement uncertainty than existing standards. This challenge is overcome by utilizing the unique measurement capabilities to develop new retrieval techniques. Validation is done with data from two NASA airborne research campaigns.
Adam T. Ahern, Frank Erdesz, Nicholas L. Wagner, Charles A. Brock, Ming Lyu, Kyra Slovacek, Richard H. Moore, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, and Daniel M. Murphy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1093–1105, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1093-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1093-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Particles in the atmosphere play a significant role in climate change by scattering light back into space, reducing the amount of energy available to be absorbed by greenhouse gases. We built a new instrument to measure what direction light is scattered by particles, e.g., wildfire smoke. This is important because, depending on the angle of the sun, some particles scatter light into space (cooling the planet), but some light is also scattered towards the Earth (not cooling the planet).
Kevin J. Sanchez, Bo Zhang, Hongyu Liu, Matthew D. Brown, Ewan C. Crosbie, Francesca Gallo, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, Carolyn E. Jordan, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, Georges Saliba, Savannah L. Lewis, Lynn M. Russell, Patricia K. Quinn, Timothy S. Bates, Jack Porter, Thomas G. Bell, Peter Gaube, Eric S. Saltzman, Michael J. Behrenfeld, and Richard H. Moore
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2795–2815, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2795-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2795-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric particle concentrations impact clouds, which strongly impact the amount of sunlight reflected back into space and the overall climate. Measurements of particles over the ocean are rare and expensive to collect, so models are necessary to fill in the gaps by simulating both particle and clouds. However, some measurements are needed to test the accuracy of the models. Here, we measure changes in particles in different weather conditions, which are ideal for comparison with models.
Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1–46, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Between July and October, biomass burning smoke is advected over the southeastern Atlantic Ocean, leading to climate forcing. Model calculations of forcing by this plume vary significantly in both magnitude and sign. This paper compares aerosol and cloud properties observed during three NASA ORACLES field campaigns to the same in four models. It quantifies modeled biases in properties key to aerosol direct radiative forcing and evaluates how these biases propagate to biases in forcing.
Tiziana Bräuer, Christiane Voigt, Daniel Sauer, Stefan Kaufmann, Valerian Hahn, Monika Scheibe, Hans Schlager, Felix Huber, Patrick Le Clercq, Richard H. Moore, and Bruce E. Anderson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16817–16826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16817-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16817-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Over half of aviation climate impact is caused by contrails. Biofuels can reduce the ice crystal numbers in contrails and mitigate the climate impact. The experiment ECLIF II/NDMAX in 2018 assessed the effects of biofuels on contrails and aviation emissions. The NASA DC-8 aircraft performed measurements inside the contrail of the DLR A320. One reference fuel and two blends of the biofuel HEFA and kerosene are analysed. We find a max reduction of contrail ice numbers through biofuel use of 40 %.
Zachary C. J. Decker, Michael A. Robinson, Kelley C. Barsanti, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew M. Coggon, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Frank M. Flocke, Alessandro Franchin, Carley D. Fredrickson, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Samuel R. Hall, Hannah Halliday, Christopher D. Holmes, L. Gregory Huey, Young Ro Lee, Jakob Lindaas, Ann M. Middlebrook, Denise D. Montzka, Richard Moore, J. Andrew Neuman, John B. Nowak, Brett B. Palm, Jeff Peischl, Felix Piel, Pamela S. Rickly, Andrew W. Rollins, Thomas B. Ryerson, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Kanako Sekimoto, Lee Thornhill, Joel A. Thornton, Geoffrey S. Tyndall, Kirk Ullmann, Paul Van Rooy, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elizabeth Wiggins, Edward Winstead, Armin Wisthaler, Caroline Womack, and Steven S. Brown
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16293–16317, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
To understand air quality impacts from wildfires, we need an accurate picture of how wildfire smoke changes chemically both day and night as sunlight changes the chemistry of smoke. We present a chemical analysis of wildfire smoke as it changes from midday through the night. We use aircraft observations from the FIREX-AQ field campaign with a chemical box model. We find that even under sunlight typical
nighttimechemistry thrives and controls the fate of key smoke plume chemical processes.
Hossein Dadashazar, Majid Alipanah, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ewan Crosbie, Simon Kirschler, Hongyu Liu, Richard H. Moore, Andrew J. Peters, Amy Jo Scarino, Michael Shook, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Hailong Wang, Edward Winstead, Bo Zhang, Luke Ziemba, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16121–16141, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16121-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16121-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates precipitation impacts on long-range transport of North American outflow over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO). Results demonstrate that precipitation scavenging plays a significant role in modifying surface aerosol concentrations over the WNAO, especially in winter and spring due to large-scale scavenging processes. This study highlights how precipitation impacts surface aerosol properties with relevance for other marine regions vulnerable to continental outflow.
Cited articles
Ahn, E., Huang, Y., Siems, S. T., and Manton, M. J.: A comparison of cloud microphysical properties derived from MODIS and CALIPSO with in situ measurements over the wintertime Southern Ocean, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123, 11120–11140, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028535, 2018.
Alexandrov, M. D., Cairns, B., Emde, C., Ackerman, A. S., and van Diedenhoven, B.: Accuracy assessments of cloud droplet size retrievals from polarized reflectance measurements by the research scanning polarimeter, Remote Sens. Environ., 125, 92–111, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2012.07.012, 2012.
Alexandrov, M. D., Cairns, B., Sinclair, K., Wasiliewski, A. P., Ziemba, L., Crosbie, E., Moore, R., Hair, J., Scarino, A. J., Hu, Y., Stamnes, S., Shook, M. A., and Chen, G.: Retrievals of cloud droplet size from the research scanning polarimeter data: Vali- dation using in situ measurements, Remote Sens. Environ., 210, 76–95, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.005, 2018.
Arduini, R. F., Minnis, P., Smith Jr., W. L., and Ayers, J. K.: Sensitivity of satellite-derived cloud properties to the effective variance of cloud droplet size distribution, Proc. 15th ARM Sci. Team Mtg., Daytona Beach, FL, 14–18 March 2005, available at: http://www.arm.gov/publications/proceedings/conf15/extended_abs/arduini_rf.pdf (last access: 28 September 2021), 2005.
Behrenfeld, M. J., Moore, R. H., Hostetler, C. A., Graff, J., Gaube, P., Russell, L. M., Chen, G., Doney, S. C., Giovannoni, S., Liu, H., Proctor, C., Bola nos, L. M., Baetge, N., Davie-Martin, C., Westberry, T. K., Bates, T. S., Bell, T. G., Bidle, K. D., Boss, E. S., Brooks, S. D., Cairns, B., Carlson, C., Halsey, K., Harvey, E. L., Hu, C., Karp-Boss, L., Kleb, M., Menden-Deuer, S., Morison, F., Quinn, P. K., Scarino, A. J., Anderson, B., Chowdhary, J., Crosbie, E., Ferrare, R., Hair, J. W., Hu, Y., Janz, S., Redemann, J., Saltzman, E., Shook, M., Siegel, D. A., Wisthaler, A., Martin, M. Y., and Ziemba, L.: The North Atlantic Aerosol and Marine Ecosystem Study (NAAMES): Science Motive and Mission Overview, Frontiers in Marine Science, 6, 122, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00122, 2019.
Benas, N., Meirink, J. F., Stengel, M., and Stammes, P.: Sensitivity of liquid cloud optical thickness and effective radius retrievals to cloud bow and glory conditions using two SEVIRI imagers, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2863–2879, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2863-2019, 2019.
Benjamin, S. G., Weygandt, S. S., Brown, J. M., Hu, M., Alexander, C., Smirnova, T. G., Olson, J. B., James, E., Dowell, D. C., Grell, G. A., Lin, H., Peckham, S. E., Smith, T. L., Moninger, W. R., Kenyon, J., and Manikin, G. S.: A North American Hourly Assimilation and Model Forecast Cycle: The Rapid Refresh, Mon. Weather Rev., 144, 1669–1694, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-15-0242.1, 2016.
Doelling, D. R., Haney, C., Bhatt, R., Scarino, B., and Gopalan, A.: Geostationary visible imager calibration for the CERES SYN1deg Edition 4 product, Remote Sens., 10, 288, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10020288, 2018.
Hansen, J. E. and Travis, L. D.: Light scattering in planetary atmospheres, Space Sci. Rev., 16, 527–610, 1974.
Horváth, Á., Seethala, C., and Deneke, H.: View angle dependence of MODIS liquid water path retrievals in warm oceanic clouds, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 8304–8328, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD021355, 2014.
Hu, Y., Rodier, S., Xu, K.-M., Sun, W., Huang, J., Lin, B., Zhai, P., and Josset, D.: Occurrence, liquid water content, and fraction of supercooled water clouds from combined CALIOP/IIR/MODIS measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D00H34, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012384, 2010.
Jones, T. A., Skinner, P., Knopfmeier, K., Mansell, E., Minnis, P., Palikonda, R., and Smith Jr., W. L.: Comparison of cloud microphysics schemes in a Warn-on-Forecast system using synthetic satellite objects, Weather Forecast., 33, 1681–1708, https://doi.org/10.1175/WAF-D-18-0112.1, 2018.
Kang, L., Marchand, R. T., and Smith, W. L.: Evaluation of MODIS and Himawari-8 low clouds retrievals over the Southern Ocean with in situ measurements from the SOCRATES campaign, Earth and Space Science, 8, e2020EA001397, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020EA001397, 2021.
Kato, S., Hinkelman, L. M., and Cheng, A.: Estimate of satellite-derived cloud optical thickness and effective radius errors and their effect on computed domain-averaged irradiances, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D17201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006668, 2006.
Kato, S., Rose, F. G., Sun-Mack, S., Miller, W. F., Chen, Y., Rutan, D. A., Stephens, G. L., Loeb, N. G., Minnis, P., Wielicki, B. A., Winker, D. M., Charlock, T. P., Stackhouse, Jr., P. W., Xu, K.- M., and Collins, W. D.: Improvements of top-of-atmosphere and surface irradiance computations with CALIPSO-, CloudSat-, and MODIS-derived cloud and aerosol properties, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 116, D19209, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016050, 2011.
Lance, S., Brock, C. A., Rogers, D., and Gordon, J. A.: Water droplet calibration of the Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) and in-flight performance in liquid, ice and mixed-phase clouds during ARCPAC, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 1683–1706, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-3-1683-2010, 2010.
Liang, L. and Di Girolamo, L.: A global analysis on the view-angle dependence of plane-parallel oceanic liquid water cloud optical thickness using data synergy from MISR and MODIS, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 118, 2389–2403, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD018201, 2013.
Liang, L., Di Girolamo, L., and Platnick S.: View-angle consistency in reflectance, optical thickness and spherical albedo of marine water-clouds over the northeastern Pacific through MISR-MODIS fusion, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L09811, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL037124, 2009.
Liang, L., Di Girolamo, L., and Sun, W: Bias in MODIS cloud drop effective radius for oceanic water clouds as deduced from optical thickness variability across scattering angles, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 120, 7661–7681, 2015.
Loeb, N. G., Wielicki, B. A., Doelling, D. R., Smith, G. L., Keyes, D. F., Kato, S., Manalo-Smith, N., and Wong, T.: Toward optimal closure of the Earth's top-of-atmosphere radiation budget, J. Climate, 22, 748–766, 2009.
Loeb, N. G., Su, W., Doelling, D. R., Wong, T., Minnis, P., and Miller, W. F.: Earth's top-of-atmosphere radiation budget, Comprehensive Remote Sensing, 5, 67–84, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.10367-7, 2018.
Marshak, A., Platnick, S., Várnai, T., Wen, G., and Cahalan, R. F.: Impact of three-dimensional radiative effects on satellite retrievals of cloud droplet sizes, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D09207, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006686, 2006.
McHardy, T. M., Dong, X., Xi, B., Thieman, M. M., Minnis, P., and Palikonda, R.: Comparison of daytime low-level cloud properties derived from GOES and ARM SGP measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 123, 8221–8237, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028911, 2018.
Miller, D. J., Zhang, Z., Platnick, S., Ackerman, A. S., Werner, F., Cornet, C., and Knobelspiesse, K.: Comparisons of bispectral and polarimetric retrievals of marine boundary layer cloud microphysics: case studies using a LES–satellite retrieval simulator, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3689–3715, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3689-2018, 2018.
Minnis, P., Nguyen, L., Palikonda, R., Heck, P. W. Spangenberg, D. A., Doelling, D. R., Ayers, J. K., Smith Jr., W. L., Khaiyer, M. M., Trepte, Q. Z., Avey, L. A., Chang, F.-L., Yost, C. R., Chee, T. L., and Sun-Mack, S.: Near-real time cloud retrievals from operational and research meteorological satellites, Proc. SPIE 7107, Cardiff, Wales, UK, Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XIII, 710703, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.800344, 2008.
Minnis, P., Sun-Mack, S., Young, D. F., Heck, P. W., Garber, D. P., Chen, Y., Spangenberg, D. A., Arduini, R. F., Trepte, Q. Z., Smith Jr., W. L., Ayers, J. K., Gibson, S. C., Miller, W. F., Chakrapani, V., Takano, Y., Liou, K., and Xie, Y.: CERES Edition-2 cloud property retrievals using TRMM VIRS and TERRA and AQUA MODIS data, Part I: Algorithms, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 49, 4374–4400, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2011.2144601, 2011.
Minnis, P., Bedka, K., Q. Trepte, Q., Yost, C. R., Bedka, S. T., Scarino, B., Khlopenkov, K., and Khaiyer, M. M.: A consistent long-term cloud and clear-sky radiation property dataset from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Climate Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document (C-ATBD), CDRP-ATBD-0826 Rev. 1 AVHRR Cloud Properties – NASA, NOAA CDR Program, 19 September, 159 pp., Hampton, Virginia, U.S., available at: https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/sds/cdr/CDRs/AVHRR_Cloud_Properties_NASA/AlgorithmDescription_01B-30b.pdf (last access: 28 September 2021), 2016.
Minnis, P., Sun-Mack, S., Chen, Y., Chang, F.-L., Yost, C. R., Smith Jr., W. L., Heck, P. W., Arduini, R. F., Bedka, S. T., Yi, Y., Hong, G., Jin, Z., Painemal, D., Palikonda, R., Scarino, B., Spangenberg, D. A., Smith, R. A., Trepte, Q. Z., Yang, P., and Xie, Y.: CERES MODIS cloud product retrievals for Edition 4, Part I: Algorithm changes, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 59, 2744–2780, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2020.3008866, 2020.
Nakajima, T. Y., Suzuki, K., and Stephens, G. L.: Droplet growth in warm water clouds observed by the A-Train. Part I: Sensitivity analysis of the MODIS-derived cloud droplet sizes, J. Atmos. Sci., 67, 1884–1896, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAS3280.1, 2010.
NASA: NAAMES, NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/NAAMES/DATA001, 2020.
NASA Langley Research Center: GOES-13 cloud retrievals, NASA LaRC [data set], available at: https://satcorps.larc.nasa.gov/prod/naames/prod-satp-netcdf/, last access: 28 September 2021.
Noble, S. R. and Hudson, J. G.: MODIS comparisons with northeastern Pacific in situ stratocumulus microphysics, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 120, 8332–8344, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JD022785, 2015.
Painemal, D. and Zuidema, P.: Assessment of MODIS cloud effective radius and optical thickness retrievals over the Southeast Pacific with VOCALS-REx in situ measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D24206, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016155, 2011.
Painemal, D., Minnis, P., and Sun-Mack, S.: The impact of horizontal heterogeneities, cloud fraction, and liquid water path on warm cloud effective radii from CERES-like Aqua MODIS retrievals, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9997–10003, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9997-2013, 2013.
Painemal, D., Chiu, J.-Y. C., Minnis, P., Yost, C., Zhou, X., Cadeddu, M., Eloranta, E., Lewis, E. R., Ferrare, R., and Kollias, P.: Aerosol and cloud microphysics covariability in the northeast Pacific boundary layer estimated with ship-based and satellite remote sensing observations, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 2403–2418, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025771, 2017.
Platnick, S.: Vertical photon transport in cloud remote sensing problems, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 22919–22935, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900333, 2000.
Platnick, S., Meyer, K. G., King, M. D., Wind, G., Amarasinghe, N., Marchant, B., Arnold, G. T., Zhang, Z., Hubanks, P. A., Holz, R. E., Yang, P., Ridgway, W. L., and Riedi, J.: The MODIS Cloud Optical and Microphysical Products: Collection 6 Updates and Examples From Terra and Aqua, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 55, 502–525, 2017.
Platnick, S., Meyer, K., Amarasinghe, N., Wind, G., Hubanks, P. A., and Holz, R. E.: Sensitivity of Multispectral Imager Liquid Water Cloud Microphysical Retrievals to the Index of Refraction, Remote Sens., 12, 4165, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12244165, 2020.
Roebeling, R., Baum, B., Bennartz, R., Hamann, U., Heidinger, A., Meirink, J. F., Stengel, M., Thoss, A., Walther, A., and Watts, P.: Summary of the Fourth Cloud Retrieval Evaluation Workshop, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, ES71–ES74, https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-14-00184.1, 2015.
Seethala, C. and Horváth, Á.: Global assessment of AMSR-E and MODIS cloud liquid water path retrievals in warm oceanic clouds, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D13202, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012662, 2010.
Stubenrauch, C. J., Rossow, W. B., Kinne, S., Ackerman, S., Cesana, G., Chepfer, H., Di Girolamo, L., Getzewich, B., Guignard, A., Heidinger, A., and Maddux, B. C.: Assessment of global cloud datasets from satellites: Project and database initiated by the GEWEX radiation panel, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 94, 1031–1049, 2013.
Vant-Hull, B., Marshak, A., Remer, L. A., and Z. Li: The effects of scattering angle and cumulus cloud geometry on satellite retrievals of cloud droplet effective radius, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 45, 1039–1045, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2006.890416, 2007.
Witte, M. K., Yuan, T., Chuang, P. Y., Platnick, S., Meyer, K. G., Wind, G., and Jonsson, H. H.: MODIS Retrievals of Cloud Effective Radius in Marine Stratocumulus Exhibit No Significant Bias, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 10656–10664, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079325, 2018.
Zhang, Z. and Platnick, S.: An assessment of differences between cloud effective particle radius retrievals for marine water clouds from three MODIS spectral bands, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D20215, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016216, 2011.
Zhang, Z., Ackerman, A. S., Feingold, G., Platnick, S., Pincus, R., and Xue, H.: Effects of cloud horizontal inhomogeneity and drizzle on remote sensing of cloud droplet effective radius: Case studies based on large-eddy simulations, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D19208, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD017655, 2012.
Zhang, Z., Dong, X., Xi, B., Song, H., Ma, P. L., Ghan, S. J., Platnick, S., and Minnis, P.: Intercomparisons of marine boundary layer cloud properties from the ARM CAP-MBL campaign and two MODIS cloud products, J. Geophys. Res., 122, 2351–2365, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025763, 2017.
Short summary
Cloud properties derived from satellite sensors are critical for the global monitoring of climate. This study evaluates satellite-based cloud properties over the North Atlantic using airborne data collected during NAAMES. Satellite observations of droplet size and cloud optical depth tend to compare well with NAAMES data. The analysis indicates that the satellite pixel resolution and the specific viewing geometry need to be taken into account in research applications.
Cloud properties derived from satellite sensors are critical for the global monitoring of...
