Articles | Volume 15, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2939-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-15-2939-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
11 May 2022
Research article |
| 11 May 2022
| 11 May 2022
Airborne measurements of directional reflectivity over the Arctic marginal sea ice zone
Sebastian Becker
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
André Ehrlich
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Evelyn Jäkel
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Tim Carlsen
Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Michael Schäfer
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Manfred Wendisch
Leipzig Institute for Meteorology (LIM), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Related authors
André Ehrlich, Susanne Crewell, Andreas Herber, Marcus Klingebiel, Christof Lüpkes, Mario Mech, Sebastian Becker, Stephan Borrmann, Heiko Bozem, Matthias Buschmann, Hans-Christian Clemen, Elena De La Torre Castro, Henning Dorff, Regis Dupuy, Oliver Eppers, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Andreas Giez, Sarah Grawe, Christophe Gourbeyre, Jörg Hartmann, Evelyn Jäkel, Philipp Joppe, Olivier Jourdan, Zsófia Jurányi, Benjamin Kirbus, Johannes Lucke, Anna E. Luebke, Maximilian Maahn, Nina Maherndl, Christian Mallaun, Johanna Mayer, Stephan Mertes, Guillaume Mioche, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, Veronika Pörtge, Nils Risse, Greg Roberts, Sophie Rosenburg, Johannes Röttenbacher, Michael Schäfer, Jonas Schaefer, Andreas Schäfler, Imke Schirmacher, Johannes Schneider, Sabrina Schnitt, Frank Stratmann, Christian Tatzelt, Christiane Voigt, Andreas Walbröl, Anna Weber, Bruno Wetzel, Martin Wirth, and Manfred Wendisch
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1295–1328, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1295-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1295-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides an overview of the HALO–(AC)3 aircraft campaign data sets, the campaign-specific instrument operation, data processing, and data quality. The data set comprises in situ and remote sensing observations from three research aircraft: HALO, Polar 5, and Polar 6. All data are published in the PANGAEA database by instrument-separated data subsets. It is highlighted how the scientific analysis of the HALO–(AC)3 data benefits from the coordinated operation of three aircraft.
Sebastian Becker, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1210, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1210, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds interact with solar radiation and can alter the surface temperature. The strength of this cloud impact is driven by cloud properties as well as solar elevation and surface reflection. Since these dependences are poorly represented in climate models, cloud, surface, and radiation observations are used to quantify the contributions of the drivers in the Arctic. It is shown that the weaker surface reflection dominates the stronger cooling effect of clouds over open ocean compared to sea ice.
Manfred Wendisch, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Benjamin Kirbus, Christof Lüpkes, Mario Mech, Steven J. Abel, Elisa F. Akansu, Felix Ament, Clémantyne Aubry, Sebastian Becker, Stephan Borrmann, Heiko Bozem, Marlen Brückner, Hans-Christian Clemen, Sandro Dahlke, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Julien Delanoë, Elena De La Torre Castro, Henning Dorff, Regis Dupuy, Oliver Eppers, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Sarah Grawe, Silke Groß, Jörg Hartmann, Silvia Henning, Lutz Hirsch, Evelyn Jäkel, Philipp Joppe, Olivier Jourdan, Zsofia Jurányi, Michail Karalis, Mona Kellermann, Marcus Klingebiel, Michael Lonardi, Johannes Lucke, Anna E. Luebke, Maximilian Maahn, Nina Maherndl, Marion Maturilli, Bernhard Mayer, Johanna Mayer, Stephan Mertes, Janosch Michaelis, Michel Michalkov, Guillaume Mioche, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, Roel Neggers, Davide Ori, Daria Paul, Fiona M. Paulus, Christian Pilz, Felix Pithan, Mira Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Maximilian Ringel, Nils Risse, Gregory C. Roberts, Sophie Rosenburg, Johannes Röttenbacher, Janna Rückert, Michael Schäfer, Jonas Schaefer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Jörg Schmidt, Sebastian Schmidt, Johannes Schneider, Sabrina Schnitt, Anja Schwarz, Holger Siebert, Harald Sodemann, Tim Sperzel, Gunnar Spreen, Bjorn Stevens, Frank Stratmann, Gunilla Svensson, Christian Tatzelt, Thomas Tuch, Timo Vihma, Christiane Voigt, Lea Volkmer, Andreas Walbröl, Anna Weber, Birgit Wehner, Bruno Wetzel, Martin Wirth, and Tobias Zinner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8865–8892, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8865-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8865-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe. Warm-air intrusions (WAIs) into the Arctic may play an important role in explaining this phenomenon. Cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) out of the Arctic may link the Arctic climate changes to mid-latitude weather. In our article, we describe how to observe air mass transformations during CAOs and WAIs using three research aircraft instrumented with state-of-the-art remote-sensing and in situ measurement devices.
Andreas Walbröl, Janosch Michaelis, Sebastian Becker, Henning Dorff, Kerstin Ebell, Irina Gorodetskaya, Bernd Heinold, Benjamin Kirbus, Melanie Lauer, Nina Maherndl, Marion Maturilli, Johanna Mayer, Hanno Müller, Roel A. J. Neggers, Fiona M. Paulus, Johannes Röttenbacher, Janna E. Rückert, Imke Schirmacher, Nils Slättberg, André Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8007–8029, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8007-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8007-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To support the interpretation of the data collected during the HALO-(AC)3 campaign, which took place in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic from 7 March to 12 April 2022, we analyze how unusual the weather and sea ice conditions were with respect to the long-term climatology. From observations and ERA5 reanalysis, we found record-breaking warm air intrusions and a large variety of marine cold air outbreaks. Sea ice concentration was mostly within the climatological interquartile range.
Evelyn Jäkel, Sebastian Becker, Tim R. Sperzel, Hannah Niehaus, Gunnar Spreen, Ran Tao, Marcel Nicolaus, Wolfgang Dorn, Annette Rinke, Jörg Brauchle, and Manfred Wendisch
The Cryosphere, 18, 1185–1205, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1185-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1185-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The results of the surface albedo scheme of a coupled regional climate model were evaluated against airborne and ground-based measurements conducted in the European Arctic in different seasons between 2017 and 2022. We found a seasonally dependent bias between measured and modeled surface albedo for cloudless and cloudy situations. The strongest effects of the albedo model bias on the net irradiance were most apparent in the presence of optically thin clouds.
Olivia Linke, Johannes Quaas, Finja Baumer, Sebastian Becker, Jan Chylik, Sandro Dahlke, André Ehrlich, Dörthe Handorf, Christoph Jacobi, Heike Kalesse-Los, Luca Lelli, Sina Mehrdad, Roel A. J. Neggers, Johannes Riebold, Pablo Saavedra Garfias, Niklas Schnierstein, Matthew D. Shupe, Chris Smith, Gunnar Spreen, Baptiste Verneuil, Kameswara S. Vinjamuri, Marco Vountas, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9963–9992, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9963-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Lapse rate feedback (LRF) is a major driver of the Arctic amplification (AA) of climate change. It arises because the warming is stronger at the surface than aloft. Several processes can affect the LRF in the Arctic, such as the omnipresent temperature inversion. Here, we compare multimodel climate simulations to Arctic-based observations from a large research consortium to broaden our understanding of these processes, find synergy among them, and constrain the Arctic LRF and AA.
Manfred Wendisch, Johannes Stapf, Sebastian Becker, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Marcus Klingebiel, Christof Lüpkes, Michael Schäfer, and Matthew D. Shupe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9647–9667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9647-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9647-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric radiation measurements have been conducted during two field campaigns using research aircraft. The data are analyzed to see if the near-surface air in the Arctic is warmed or cooled if warm–humid air masses from the south enter the Arctic or cold–dry air moves from the north from the Arctic to mid-latitude areas. It is important to study these processes and to check if climate models represent them well. Otherwise it is not possible to reliably forecast the future Arctic climate.
Sebastian Becker, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7015–7031, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7015-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7015-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyses the variability of the warming or cooling effect of clouds on the Arctic surface. Therefore, aircraft radiation measurements were performed over sea ice and open ocean during three seasonally different campaigns. It is found that clouds cool the open-ocean surface most strongly in summer. Over sea ice, clouds warm the surface in spring but have a neutral effect in summer. Due to the variable sea ice extent, clouds warm the surface during spring but cool it during late summer.
Kevin Wolf, Evelyn Jäkel, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, Hannes Feilhauer, Andreas Huth, Alexandra Weigelt, and Manfred Wendisch
Biogeosciences, 22, 2909–2933, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2909-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2909-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper reports an investigation of the influence of clouds on vegetation albedo using a coupled atmosphere–vegetation radiative transfer model. Both models are iteratively linked to simulate cloud–vegetation–radiation interactions over canopies more realistically. Solar, spectral, and broadband irradiances have been simulated under varying cloud conditions. The simulated irradiances were used to investigate the spectral and broadband effect of clouds on vegetation albedo.
Manfred Wendisch, Benjamin Kirbus, Davide Ori, Matthew D. Shupe, Susanne Crewell, Harald Sodemann, and Vera Schemann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2062, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2062, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Aircraft observations of air parcels moving into and out of the Arctic are reported. From the data, heating and cooling as well as drying and moistening of the air masses along their way into and out of the Arctic could be measured for the first time. These data enable to evaluate if numerical weather prediction models are able to accurately represent these air mass transformations. This work helps to model the future climate changes in the Arctic, which are important for mid-latitude weather.
Kevin Wolf, Evelyn Jäkel, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, Hannes Feilhauer, Andreas Huth, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2082, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2082, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents combined atmosphere-vegetation radiative transfer simulations to systematically investigate cloud-induced biases in remotely sensed vegetation indices (VIs) derived from below-cloud measurements. The biases in VIs have been investigated for the general case of two-band VIs, and for the special cases of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), the normalized difference water index (NDWI), and the enhanced vegetation index (EVI).
André Ehrlich, Susanne Crewell, Andreas Herber, Marcus Klingebiel, Christof Lüpkes, Mario Mech, Sebastian Becker, Stephan Borrmann, Heiko Bozem, Matthias Buschmann, Hans-Christian Clemen, Elena De La Torre Castro, Henning Dorff, Regis Dupuy, Oliver Eppers, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Andreas Giez, Sarah Grawe, Christophe Gourbeyre, Jörg Hartmann, Evelyn Jäkel, Philipp Joppe, Olivier Jourdan, Zsófia Jurányi, Benjamin Kirbus, Johannes Lucke, Anna E. Luebke, Maximilian Maahn, Nina Maherndl, Christian Mallaun, Johanna Mayer, Stephan Mertes, Guillaume Mioche, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, Veronika Pörtge, Nils Risse, Greg Roberts, Sophie Rosenburg, Johannes Röttenbacher, Michael Schäfer, Jonas Schaefer, Andreas Schäfler, Imke Schirmacher, Johannes Schneider, Sabrina Schnitt, Frank Stratmann, Christian Tatzelt, Christiane Voigt, Andreas Walbröl, Anna Weber, Bruno Wetzel, Martin Wirth, and Manfred Wendisch
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1295–1328, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1295-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1295-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides an overview of the HALO–(AC)3 aircraft campaign data sets, the campaign-specific instrument operation, data processing, and data quality. The data set comprises in situ and remote sensing observations from three research aircraft: HALO, Polar 5, and Polar 6. All data are published in the PANGAEA database by instrument-separated data subsets. It is highlighted how the scientific analysis of the HALO–(AC)3 data benefits from the coordinated operation of three aircraft.
Sebastian Becker, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1210, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1210, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds interact with solar radiation and can alter the surface temperature. The strength of this cloud impact is driven by cloud properties as well as solar elevation and surface reflection. Since these dependences are poorly represented in climate models, cloud, surface, and radiation observations are used to quantify the contributions of the drivers in the Arctic. It is shown that the weaker surface reflection dominates the stronger cooling effect of clouds over open ocean compared to sea ice.
Joshua Jeremias Müller, Michael Schäfer, Sophie Rosenburg, André Ehrlich, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-3967, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-3967, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We retrieved high-resolution maps of Arctic surface temperature and type using airborne thermal infrared imagery from the HALO-(𝒜𝒞)3 campaign. Our study highlights small-scale surface variability, complementing satellite observations. Surface temperature was retrieved via radiative transfer simulations, while surface type was classified using machine learning. Additionally, we analyzed segment sizes of each surface type, presenting results based on their distance from the sea-ice edge.
Astrid B. Gjelsvik, Robert O. David, Tim Carlsen, Franziska Hellmuth, Stefan Hofer, Zachary McGraw, Harald Sodemann, and Trude Storelvmo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1617–1637, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1617-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1617-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Ice formation in clouds has a substantial impact on radiation and precipitation and must be realistically simulated in order to understand present and future Arctic climate. Rare aerosols known as ice-nucleating particles can play an important role in cloud ice formation, but their representation in global climate models is not well suited for the Arctic. In this study, the simulation of cloud phase is improved when the representation of these particles is constrained by Arctic observations.
Franziska Hellmuth, Tim Carlsen, Anne Sophie Daloz, Robert Oscar David, Haochi Che, and Trude Storelvmo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1353–1383, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1353-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1353-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This article compares the occurrence of supercooled liquid-containing clouds (sLCCs) and their link to surface snowfall in CloudSat–CALIPSO, ERA5, and the CMIP6 models. Significant discrepancies were found, with ERA5 and CMIP6 consistently overestimating sLCC and snowfall frequency. This bias is likely due to cloud microphysics parameterization. This conclusion has implications for accurately representing cloud phase and snowfall in future climate projections.
Marcus Klingebiel, André Ehrlich, Micha Gryschka, Nils Risse, Nina Maherndl, Imke Schirmacher, Sophie Rosenburg, Sabine Hörnig, Manuel Moser, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, Hartwig Deneke, Mario Mech, Christiane Voigt, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-201, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-201, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our study is using aircraft measurements from the HALO-(𝒜𝒞)³ campaign to investigate the transition from organized Arctic cloud street structures to more scattered cloud shapes. We show that lower wind speeds cause this transition. In addition we look at the changes of the cloud coverage, the height of the clouds, the cloud particles and the radiative properties.
Michail Karalis, Gunilla Svensson, Manfred Wendisch, and Michael Tjernström
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3709, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3709, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
During the spring Arctic warm-air intrusion captured by HALO-(𝒜𝒞)3, the airmass demonstrated a column-like structure. We built a Lagrangian modeling framework using a single-column model (AOSCM) to simulate the airmass transformation. Comparing to observations, reanalysis and forecast data, we found that the AOSCM can successfully reproduce the main features of the transformation. The framework can be used for future model development to improve Arctic weather and climate prediction.
Imke Schirmacher, Sabrina Schnitt, Marcus Klingebiel, Nina Maherndl, Benjamin Kirbus, André Ehrlich, Mario Mech, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12823–12842, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12823-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12823-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
During Arctic marine cold-air outbreaks, cold air flows from sea ice over open water. Roll circulations evolve, forming cloud streets. We investigate the initial circulation and cloud development using high-resolution airborne measurements. We compute the distance an air mass traveled over water (fetch) from back trajectories. Cloud streets form at 15 km fetch, cloud cover strongly increases at around 20 km, and precipitation forms at around 30 km.
Lara Foth, Wolfgang Dorn, Annette Rinke, Evelyn Jäkel, and Hannah Niehaus
The Cryosphere, 18, 4053–4064, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4053-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-4053-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
It is demonstrated that the explicit consideration of the cloud dependence of the snow surface albedo in a climate model results in a more realistic simulation of the surface albedo during the snowmelt period in late May and June. Although this improvement appears to be relatively insubstantial, it has significant impact on the simulated sea-ice volume and extent in the model due to an amplification of the snow/sea-ice albedo feedback, one of the main contributors to Arctic amplification.
Manfred Wendisch, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Benjamin Kirbus, Christof Lüpkes, Mario Mech, Steven J. Abel, Elisa F. Akansu, Felix Ament, Clémantyne Aubry, Sebastian Becker, Stephan Borrmann, Heiko Bozem, Marlen Brückner, Hans-Christian Clemen, Sandro Dahlke, Georgios Dekoutsidis, Julien Delanoë, Elena De La Torre Castro, Henning Dorff, Regis Dupuy, Oliver Eppers, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Sarah Grawe, Silke Groß, Jörg Hartmann, Silvia Henning, Lutz Hirsch, Evelyn Jäkel, Philipp Joppe, Olivier Jourdan, Zsofia Jurányi, Michail Karalis, Mona Kellermann, Marcus Klingebiel, Michael Lonardi, Johannes Lucke, Anna E. Luebke, Maximilian Maahn, Nina Maherndl, Marion Maturilli, Bernhard Mayer, Johanna Mayer, Stephan Mertes, Janosch Michaelis, Michel Michalkov, Guillaume Mioche, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, Roel Neggers, Davide Ori, Daria Paul, Fiona M. Paulus, Christian Pilz, Felix Pithan, Mira Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Maximilian Ringel, Nils Risse, Gregory C. Roberts, Sophie Rosenburg, Johannes Röttenbacher, Janna Rückert, Michael Schäfer, Jonas Schaefer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Jörg Schmidt, Sebastian Schmidt, Johannes Schneider, Sabrina Schnitt, Anja Schwarz, Holger Siebert, Harald Sodemann, Tim Sperzel, Gunnar Spreen, Bjorn Stevens, Frank Stratmann, Gunilla Svensson, Christian Tatzelt, Thomas Tuch, Timo Vihma, Christiane Voigt, Lea Volkmer, Andreas Walbröl, Anna Weber, Birgit Wehner, Bruno Wetzel, Martin Wirth, and Tobias Zinner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8865–8892, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8865-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8865-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe. Warm-air intrusions (WAIs) into the Arctic may play an important role in explaining this phenomenon. Cold-air outbreaks (CAOs) out of the Arctic may link the Arctic climate changes to mid-latitude weather. In our article, we describe how to observe air mass transformations during CAOs and WAIs using three research aircraft instrumented with state-of-the-art remote-sensing and in situ measurement devices.
Johannes Röttenbacher, André Ehrlich, Hanno Müller, Florian Ewald, Anna E. Luebke, Benjamin Kirbus, Robin J. Hogan, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8085–8104, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8085-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8085-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Weather prediction models simplify the physical processes related to light scattering by clouds consisting of complex ice crystals. Whether these simplifications are the cause for uncertainties in their prediction can be evaluated by comparing them with measurement data. Here we do this for Arctic ice clouds over sea ice using airborne measurements from two case studies. The model performs well for thick ice clouds but not so well for thin ones. This work can be used to improve the model.
Andreas Walbröl, Janosch Michaelis, Sebastian Becker, Henning Dorff, Kerstin Ebell, Irina Gorodetskaya, Bernd Heinold, Benjamin Kirbus, Melanie Lauer, Nina Maherndl, Marion Maturilli, Johanna Mayer, Hanno Müller, Roel A. J. Neggers, Fiona M. Paulus, Johannes Röttenbacher, Janna E. Rückert, Imke Schirmacher, Nils Slättberg, André Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8007–8029, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8007-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8007-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To support the interpretation of the data collected during the HALO-(AC)3 campaign, which took place in the North Atlantic sector of the Arctic from 7 March to 12 April 2022, we analyze how unusual the weather and sea ice conditions were with respect to the long-term climatology. From observations and ERA5 reanalysis, we found record-breaking warm air intrusions and a large variety of marine cold air outbreaks. Sea ice concentration was mostly within the climatological interquartile range.
Hanno Müller, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Johannes Röttenbacher, Benjamin Kirbus, Michael Schäfer, Robin J. Hogan, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4157–4175, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4157-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4157-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A weather model is used to compare solar radiation with measurements from an aircraft campaign in the Arctic. Model and observations agree on the downward radiation but show differences in the radiation reflected by the surface and the clouds, which in the model is too low above sea ice and too high above open ocean. The model–observation bias is reduced above open ocean by a realistic fraction of clouds and less cloud liquid water and above sea ice by less dark sea ice and more cloud droplets.
Benjamin Kirbus, Imke Schirmacher, Marcus Klingebiel, Michael Schäfer, André Ehrlich, Nils Slättberg, Johannes Lucke, Manuel Moser, Hanno Müller, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3883–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3883-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A research aircraft is used to track the changes in air temperature, moisture, and cloud properties for air that moves from cold Arctic sea ice onto warmer oceanic waters. The measurements are compared to two reanalysis models named ERA5 and CARRA. The biggest differences are found for air temperature over the sea ice and moisture over the ocean. CARRA data are more accurate than ERA5 because they better simulate the sea ice, the transition from sea ice to open ocean, and the forming clouds.
Evelyn Jäkel, Sebastian Becker, Tim R. Sperzel, Hannah Niehaus, Gunnar Spreen, Ran Tao, Marcel Nicolaus, Wolfgang Dorn, Annette Rinke, Jörg Brauchle, and Manfred Wendisch
The Cryosphere, 18, 1185–1205, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1185-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1185-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The results of the surface albedo scheme of a coupled regional climate model were evaluated against airborne and ground-based measurements conducted in the European Arctic in different seasons between 2017 and 2022. We found a seasonally dependent bias between measured and modeled surface albedo for cloudless and cloudy situations. The strongest effects of the albedo model bias on the net irradiance were most apparent in the presence of optically thin clouds.
Michael Lonardi, Elisa F. Akansu, André Ehrlich, Mauro Mazzola, Christian Pilz, Matthew D. Shupe, Holger Siebert, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1961–1978, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1961-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1961-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Profiles of thermal-infrared irradiance were measured at two Arctic sites. The presence or lack of clouds influences the vertical structure of these observations. In particular, the cloud top region is a source of radiative energy that can promote cooling and mixing in the cloud layer. Simulations are used to further characterize how the amount of water in the cloud modifies this forcing. A case study additionally showcases the evolution of the radiation profiles in a dynamic atmosphere.
Elisa F. Akansu, Sandro Dahlke, Holger Siebert, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15473–15489, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15473-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15473-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The height of the mixing layer is an important measure of the surface-level distribution of energy or other substances. The experimental determination of this height is associated with large uncertainties, particularly under stable conditions that we often find during the polar night or in the presence of clouds. We present a reference method using turbulence measurements on a tethered balloon, which allows us to evaluate approaches based on radiosondes or surface observations.
Marcus Klingebiel, André Ehrlich, Elena Ruiz-Donoso, Nils Risse, Imke Schirmacher, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, Kevin Wolf, Mario Mech, Manuel Moser, Christiane Voigt, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15289–15304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15289-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15289-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study we explain how we use aircraft measurements from two Arctic research campaigns to identify cloud properties (like droplet size) over sea-ice and ice-free ocean. To make sure that our measurements make sense, we compare them with other observations. Our results show, e.g., larger cloud droplets in early summer than in spring. Moreover, the cloud droplets are also larger over ice-free ocean than compared to sea ice. In the future, our data can be used to improve climate models.
Imke Schirmacher, Pavlos Kollias, Katia Lamer, Mario Mech, Lukas Pfitzenmaier, Manfred Wendisch, and Susanne Crewell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4081–4100, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4081-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4081-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
CloudSat’s relatively coarse spatial resolution, low sensitivity, and blind zone limit its assessment of Arctic low-level clouds, which affect the surface energy balance. We compare cloud fractions from CloudSat and finely resolved airborne radar observations to determine CloudSat’s limitations. Cloudsat overestimates cloud fractions above its blind zone, especially during cold-air outbreaks over open water, and misses a cloud fraction of 32 % and half of the precipitation inside its blind zone.
Olivia Linke, Johannes Quaas, Finja Baumer, Sebastian Becker, Jan Chylik, Sandro Dahlke, André Ehrlich, Dörthe Handorf, Christoph Jacobi, Heike Kalesse-Los, Luca Lelli, Sina Mehrdad, Roel A. J. Neggers, Johannes Riebold, Pablo Saavedra Garfias, Niklas Schnierstein, Matthew D. Shupe, Chris Smith, Gunnar Spreen, Baptiste Verneuil, Kameswara S. Vinjamuri, Marco Vountas, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9963–9992, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9963-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Lapse rate feedback (LRF) is a major driver of the Arctic amplification (AA) of climate change. It arises because the warming is stronger at the surface than aloft. Several processes can affect the LRF in the Arctic, such as the omnipresent temperature inversion. Here, we compare multimodel climate simulations to Arctic-based observations from a large research consortium to broaden our understanding of these processes, find synergy among them, and constrain the Arctic LRF and AA.
Manfred Wendisch, Johannes Stapf, Sebastian Becker, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Marcus Klingebiel, Christof Lüpkes, Michael Schäfer, and Matthew D. Shupe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9647–9667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9647-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9647-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric radiation measurements have been conducted during two field campaigns using research aircraft. The data are analyzed to see if the near-surface air in the Arctic is warmed or cooled if warm–humid air masses from the south enter the Arctic or cold–dry air moves from the north from the Arctic to mid-latitude areas. It is important to study these processes and to check if climate models represent them well. Otherwise it is not possible to reliably forecast the future Arctic climate.
Sophie Rosenburg, Charlotte Lange, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, André Ehrlich, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3915–3930, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3915-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Snow layer melting and melt pond formation on Arctic sea ice are important seasonal processes affecting the surface reflection and energy budget. Sea ice reflectivity was surveyed by airborne imaging spectrometers in May–June 2017. Adapted retrieval approaches were applied to find snow layer liquid water fraction, snow grain effective radius, and melt pond depth. The retrievals show the potential and limitations of spectral airborne imaging to map melting snow layer and melt pond properties.
Manuel Moser, Christiane Voigt, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Valerian Hahn, Guillaume Mioche, Olivier Jourdan, Régis Dupuy, Christophe Gourbeyre, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Johannes Lucke, Yvonne Boose, Mario Mech, Stephan Borrmann, André Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7257–7280, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7257-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a comprehensive microphysical and thermodynamic phase analysis of low-level clouds in the northern Fram Strait, above the sea ice and the open ocean, during spring and summer. Using airborne in situ cloud data, we show that the properties of Arctic low-level clouds vary significantly with seasonal meteorological situations and surface conditions. The observations presented in this study can help one to assess the role of clouds in the Arctic climate system.
Sebastian Becker, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7015–7031, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7015-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7015-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyses the variability of the warming or cooling effect of clouds on the Arctic surface. Therefore, aircraft radiation measurements were performed over sea ice and open ocean during three seasonally different campaigns. It is found that clouds cool the open-ocean surface most strongly in summer. Over sea ice, clouds warm the surface in spring but have a neutral effect in summer. Due to the variable sea ice extent, clouds warm the surface during spring but cool it during late summer.
Dmitry G. Chechin, Christof Lüpkes, Jörg Hartmann, André Ehrlich, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4685–4707, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4685-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4685-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Clouds represent a very important component of the Arctic climate system, as they strongly reduce the amount of heat lost to space from the sea ice surface. Properties of clouds, as well as their persistence, strongly depend on the complex interaction of such small-scale properties as phase transitions, radiative transfer and turbulence. In this study we use airborne observations to learn more about the effect of clouds and radiative cooling on turbulence in comparison with other factors.
André Ehrlich, Martin Zöger, Andreas Giez, Vladyslav Nenakhov, Christian Mallaun, Rolf Maser, Timo Röschenthaler, Anna E. Luebke, Kevin Wolf, Bjorn Stevens, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1563–1581, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1563-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1563-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of the broadband radiative energy budget from aircraft are needed to study the effect of clouds, aerosol particles, and surface conditions on the Earth's energy budget. However, the moving aircraft introduces challenges to the instrument performance and post-processing of the data. This study introduces a new radiometer package, outlines a greatly simplifying method to correct thermal offsets, and provides exemplary measurements of solar and thermal–infrared irradiance.
Yunfan Liu, Hang Su, Siwen Wang, Chao Wei, Wei Tao, Mira L. Pöhlker, Christopher Pöhlker, Bruna A. Holanda, Ovid O. Krüger, Thorsten Hoffmann, Manfred Wendisch, Paulo Artaxo, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 251–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-251-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-251-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The origins of the abundant cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in the upper troposphere (UT) of the Amazon remain unclear. With model developments of new secondary organic aerosol schemes and constrained by observation, we show that strong aerosol nucleation and condensation in the UT is triggered by biogenic organics, and organic condensation is key for UT CCN production. This UT CCN-producing mechanism may prevail over broader vegetation canopies and deserves emphasis in aerosol–climate feedback.
Julie Thérèse Pasquier, Jan Henneberger, Fabiola Ramelli, Annika Lauber, Robert Oscar David, Jörg Wieder, Tim Carlsen, Rosa Gierens, Marion Maturilli, and Ulrike Lohmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15579–15601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15579-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15579-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
It is important to understand how ice crystals and cloud droplets form in clouds, as their concentrations and sizes determine the exact radiative properties of the clouds. Normally, ice crystals form from aerosols, but we found evidence for the formation of additional ice crystals from the original ones over a large temperature range within Arctic clouds. In particular, additional ice crystals were formed during collisions of several ice crystals or during the freezing of large cloud droplets.
Britta Schäfer, Tim Carlsen, Ingrid Hanssen, Michael Gausa, and Trude Storelvmo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9537–9551, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9537-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9537-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud properties are important for the surface radiation budget. This study presents cold-cloud observations based on lidar measurements from the Norwegian Arctic between 2011 and 2017. Using statistical assessments and case studies, we give an overview of the macro- and microphysical properties of these clouds and demonstrate the capabilities of long-term cloud observations in the Norwegian Arctic from the ground-based lidar at Andenes.
Michael Schäfer, Kevin Wolf, André Ehrlich, Christoph Hallbauer, Evelyn Jäkel, Friedhelm Jansen, Anna Elizabeth Luebke, Joshua Müller, Jakob Thoböll, Timo Röschenthaler, Bjorn Stevens, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1491–1509, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1491-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1491-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The new airborne thermal infrared imager VELOX is introduced. It measures two-dimensional fields of spectral thermal infrared radiance or brightness temperature within the large atmospheric window. The technical specifications as well as necessary calibration and correction procedures are presented. Example measurements from the first field deployment are analysed with respect to cloud coverage and cloud top altitude.
Anna E. Luebke, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, Kevin Wolf, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2727–2744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2727-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2727-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A combination of aircraft and satellite observations is used to show how the characteristics of tropical shallow clouds interact with incoming and outgoing energy. A complete depiction of these clouds is challenging to obtain, but such data are useful for understanding how models can correctly represent them. The amount of cloud is found to be the most important factor, while other cloud characteristics become increasingly impactful when more cloud is present.
Ramon Campos Braga, Barbara Ervens, Daniel Rosenfeld, Meinrat O. Andreae, Jan-David Förster, Daniel Fütterer, Lianet Hernández Pardo, Bruna A. Holanda, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Ovid O. Krüger, Oliver Lauer, Luiz A. T. Machado, Christopher Pöhlker, Daniel Sauer, Christiane Voigt, Adrian Walser, Manfred Wendisch, Ulrich Pöschl, and Mira L. Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17513–17528, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17513-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17513-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Interactions of aerosol particles with clouds represent a large uncertainty in estimates of climate change. Properties of aerosol particles control their ability to act as cloud condensation nuclei. Using aerosol measurements in the Amazon, we performed model studies to compare predicted and measured cloud droplet number concentrations at cloud bases. Our results confirm previous estimates of particle hygroscopicity in this region.
Heike Konow, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Marek Jacob, Marcus Klingebiel, Tobias Kölling, Anna E. Luebke, Theresa Mieslinger, Veronika Pörtge, Jule Radtke, Michael Schäfer, Hauke Schulz, Raphaela Vogel, Martin Wirth, Sandrine Bony, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Linda Forster, Andreas Giez, Felix Gödde, Silke Groß, Manuel Gutleben, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Friedhelm Jansen, Theresa Lang, Bernhard Mayer, Mario Mech, Marc Prange, Sabrina Schnitt, Jessica Vial, Andreas Walbröl, Manfred Wendisch, Kevin Wolf, Tobias Zinner, Martin Zöger, Felix Ament, and Bjorn Stevens
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5545–5563, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The German research aircraft HALO took part in the research campaign EUREC4A in January and February 2020. The focus area was the tropical Atlantic east of the island of Barbados. We describe the characteristics of the 15 research flights, provide auxiliary information, derive combined cloud mask products from all instruments that observe clouds on board the aircraft, and provide code examples that help new users of the data to get started.
Ramon Campos Braga, Daniel Rosenfeld, Ovid O. Krüger, Barbara Ervens, Bruna A. Holanda, Manfred Wendisch, Trismono Krisna, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, Christiane Voigt, and Mira L. Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14079–14088, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14079-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14079-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Quantifying the precipitation within clouds is crucial for our understanding of the Earth's hydrological cycle. Using in situ measurements of cloud and rain properties over the Amazon Basin and Atlantic Ocean, we show here a linear relationship between the effective radius (re) and precipitation water content near the tops of convective clouds for different pollution states and temperature levels. Our results emphasize the role of re to determine both initiation and amount of precipitation.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Linlu Mei, Vladimir Rozanov, Evelyn Jäkel, Xiao Cheng, Marco Vountas, and John P. Burrows
The Cryosphere, 15, 2781–2802, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2781-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2781-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new snow property retrieval algorithm from satellite observations. This is Part 2 of two companion papers and shows the results and validation. The paper performs the new retrieval algorithm on the Sea and Land
Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) instrument and compares the retrieved snow properties with ground-based measurements, aircraft measurements and other satellite products.
Ulrike Egerer, André Ehrlich, Matthias Gottschalk, Hannes Griesche, Roel A. J. Neggers, Holger Siebert, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6347–6364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6347-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6347-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a case study of a three-day period with a persistent humidity inversion above a mixed-phase cloud layer in the Arctic. It is based on measurements with a tethered balloon, complemented with results from a dedicated high-resolution large-eddy simulation. Both methods show that the humidity layer acts to provide moisture to the cloud layer through downward turbulent transport. This supply of additional moisture can contribute to the persistence of Arctic clouds.
Johannes Stapf, André Ehrlich, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-279, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-279, 2021
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne observations of the surface radiative energy budget in the marginal sea ice zone (the region between open ocean and closed sea ice) are presented. Atmospheric thermodynamic profiles and surface properties change on small spatial scales in this area and influence the impact of clouds on the radiative energy budget. The radiation budget over sea ice is compared to available studies in the Arctic and the influence of cold air outbreaks and warm air intrusions is illustrated.
Evelyn Jäkel, Tim Carlsen, André Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, Michael Schäfer, Sophie Rosenburg, Konstantina Nakoudi, Marco Zanatta, Gerit Birnbaum, Veit Helm, Andreas Herber, Larysa Istomina, Linlu Mei, and Anika Rohde
The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-14, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2021-14, 2021
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
Different approaches to retrieve the optical-equivalent snow grain size using satellite, airborne, and ground-based observations were evaluated and compared to modeled data. The study is focused on low Sun and partly rough surface conditions encountered North of Greenland in March/April 2018. We proposed an adjusted airborne retrieval method to reduce the retrieval uncertainty.
Johannes Quaas, Antti Arola, Brian Cairns, Matthew Christensen, Hartwig Deneke, Annica M. L. Ekman, Graham Feingold, Ann Fridlind, Edward Gryspeerdt, Otto Hasekamp, Zhanqing Li, Antti Lipponen, Po-Lun Ma, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Athanasios Nenes, Joyce E. Penner, Daniel Rosenfeld, Roland Schrödner, Kenneth Sinclair, Odran Sourdeval, Philip Stier, Matthias Tesche, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15079–15099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Anthropogenic pollution particles – aerosols – serve as cloud condensation nuclei and thus increase cloud droplet concentration and the clouds' reflection of sunlight (a cooling effect on climate). This Twomey effect is poorly constrained by models and requires satellite data for better quantification. The review summarizes the challenges in properly doing so and outlines avenues for progress towards a better use of aerosol retrievals and better retrievals of droplet concentrations.
Tim Carlsen, Gerit Birnbaum, André Ehrlich, Veit Helm, Evelyn Jäkel, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
The Cryosphere, 14, 3959–3978, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3959-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3959-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The angular reflection of solar radiation by snow surfaces is particularly anisotropic and highly variable. We measured the angular reflection from an aircraft using a digital camera in Antarctica in 2013/14 and studied its variability: the anisotropy increases with a lower Sun but decreases for rougher surfaces and larger snow grains. The applied methodology allows for a direct comparison with satellite observations, which generally underestimated the anisotropy measured within this study.
Jan Kretzschmar, Johannes Stapf, Daniel Klocke, Manfred Wendisch, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13145–13165, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13145-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13145-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study compares simulations with the ICON model at the kilometer scale to airborne radiation and cloud microphysics observations that have been derived during the ACLOUD aircraft campaign around Svalbard, Norway, in May/June 2017. We find an overestimated surface warming effect of clouds compared to the observations in our setup. This bias was reduced by considering subgrid-scale vertical motion in the activation of cloud condensation nuclei in the two-moment microphysical scheme used.
Li Li, Zhengqiang Li, Wenyuan Chang, Yang Ou, Philippe Goloub, Chengzhe Li, Kaitao Li, Qiaoyun Hu, Jianping Wang, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10845–10864, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10845-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10845-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Dust Aerosol Observation-Kashi (DAO-K) campaign was conducted near the Taklimakan Desert in April 2019 to obtain comprehensive aerosol, atmosphere, and surface parameters. Estimations of aerosol solar radiative forcing by a radiative transfer (RT) model were improved based on the measured aerosol parameters, additionally considering atmospheric profiles and diurnal variations of surface albedo. RT simulations agree well with simultaneous irradiance observations, even in dust-polluted conditions.
Johannes Stapf, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9895–9914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9895-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9895-2020, 2020
Tobias Donth, Evelyn Jäkel, André Ehrlich, Bernd Heinold, Jacob Schacht, Andreas Herber, Marco Zanatta, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8139–8156, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8139-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8139-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Solar radiative effects of Arctic black carbon (BC) particles (suspended in the atmosphere and in the surface snowpack) were quantified under cloudless and cloudy conditions. An atmospheric and a snow radiative transfer model were coupled to account for radiative interactions between both compartments. It was found that (i) the warming effect of BC in the snowpack overcompensates for the atmospheric BC cooling effect, and (ii) clouds tend to reduce the atmospheric BC cooling and snow BC warming.
Elena Ruiz-Donoso, André Ehrlich, Michael Schäfer, Evelyn Jäkel, Vera Schemann, Susanne Crewell, Mario Mech, Birte Solveig Kulla, Leif-Leonard Kliesch, Roland Neuber, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5487–5511, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5487-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5487-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Mixed-phase clouds, formed of water droplets and ice crystals, appear frequently in Arctic regions. Characterizing the distribution of liquid water and ice inside the cloud appropriately is important because it influences the cloud's impact on the surface temperature. In this study, we combined images of the cloud top with measurements inside the cloud to analyze in detail the 3D spatial distribution of liquid and ice in two mixed-phase clouds occurring under different meteorological scenarios.
Bruna A. Holanda, Mira L. Pöhlker, David Walter, Jorge Saturno, Matthias Sörgel, Jeannine Ditas, Florian Ditas, Christiane Schulz, Marco Aurélio Franco, Qiaoqiao Wang, Tobias Donth, Paulo Artaxo, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Stephan Borrmann, Ramon Braga, Joel Brito, Yafang Cheng, Maximilian Dollner, Johannes W. Kaiser, Thomas Klimach, Christoph Knote, Ovid O. Krüger, Daniel Fütterer, Jošt V. Lavrič, Nan Ma, Luiz A. T. Machado, Jing Ming, Fernando G. Morais, Hauke Paulsen, Daniel Sauer, Hans Schlager, Johannes Schneider, Hang Su, Bernadett Weinzierl, Adrian Walser, Manfred Wendisch, Helmut Ziereis, Martin Zöger, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4757–4785, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4757-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4757-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass burning smoke from African savanna and grassland is transported across the South Atlantic Ocean in defined layers within the free troposphere. The combination of in situ aircraft and ground-based measurements aided by satellite observations showed that these layers are transported into the Amazon Basin during the early dry season. The influx of aged smoke, enriched in black carbon and cloud condensation nuclei, has important implications for the Amazonian aerosol and cloud cycling.
Fan Mei, Jian Wang, Jennifer M. Comstock, Ralf Weigel, Martina Krämer, Christoph Mahnke, John E. Shilling, Johannes Schneider, Christiane Schulz, Charles N. Long, Manfred Wendisch, Luiz A. T. Machado, Beat Schmid, Trismono Krisna, Mikhail Pekour, John Hubbe, Andreas Giez, Bernadett Weinzierl, Martin Zoeger, Mira L. Pöhlker, Hans Schlager, Micael A. Cecchini, Meinrat O. Andreae, Scot T. Martin, Suzane S. de Sá, Jiwen Fan, Jason Tomlinson, Stephen Springston, Ulrich Pöschl, Paulo Artaxo, Christopher Pöhlker, Thomas Klimach, Andreas Minikin, Armin Afchine, and Stephan Borrmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 661–684, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-661-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-661-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In 2014, the US DOE G1 aircraft and the German HALO aircraft overflew the Amazon basin to study how aerosols influence cloud cycles under a clean condition and around a tropical megacity. This paper describes how to meaningfully compare similar measurements from two research aircraft and identify the potential measurement issue. We also discuss the uncertainty range for each measurement for further usage in model evaluation and satellite data validation.
Pascal Polonik, Christoph Knote, Tobias Zinner, Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Bernhard Mayer, Meinrat O. Andreae, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Thomas Klimach, Christoph Mahnke, Sergej Molleker, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, Christiane Voigt, Ralf Weigel, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1591–1605, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A realistic representation of cloud–aerosol interactions is central to accurate climate projections. Here we combine observations collected during the ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign with chemistry-transport simulations to evaluate the model’s ability to represent the indirect effects of biomass burning aerosol on cloud microphysics. We find an upper limit for the model sensitivity on cloud condensation nuclei concentrations well below the levels reached during the burning season in the Amazon Basin.
Christine Pohl, Larysa Istomina, Steffen Tietsche, Evelyn Jäkel, Johannes Stapf, Gunnar Spreen, and Georg Heygster
The Cryosphere, 14, 165–182, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-165-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-165-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A spectral to broadband conversion is developed empirically that can be used in combination with the Melt Pond Detector algorithm to derive broadband albedo (300–3000 nm) of Arctic sea ice from MERIS data. It is validated and shows better performance compared to existing conversion methods. A comparison of MERIS broadband albedo with respective values from ERA5 reanalysis suggests a revision of the albedo values used in ERA5. MERIS albedo might be useful for improving albedo representation.
André Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, Christof Lüpkes, Matthias Buschmann, Heiko Bozem, Dmitri Chechin, Hans-Christian Clemen, Régis Dupuy, Olliver Eppers, Jörg Hartmann, Andreas Herber, Evelyn Jäkel, Emma Järvinen, Olivier Jourdan, Udo Kästner, Leif-Leonard Kliesch, Franziska Köllner, Mario Mech, Stephan Mertes, Roland Neuber, Elena Ruiz-Donoso, Martin Schnaiter, Johannes Schneider, Johannes Stapf, and Marco Zanatta
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 1853–1881, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1853-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1853-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
During the Arctic CLoud Observations Using airborne measurements during polar Day (ACLOUD) campaign, two research aircraft (Polar 5 and 6) jointly performed 22 research flights over the transition zone between open ocean and closed sea ice. The data set combines remote sensing and in situ measurement of cloud, aerosol, and trace gas properties, as well as turbulent and radiative fluxes, which will be used to study Arctic boundary layer and mid-level clouds and their role in Arctic amplification.
Jacob Schacht, Bernd Heinold, Johannes Quaas, John Backman, Ribu Cherian, Andre Ehrlich, Andreas Herber, Wan Ting Katty Huang, Yutaka Kondo, Andreas Massling, P. R. Sinha, Bernadett Weinzierl, Marco Zanatta, and Ina Tegen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11159–11183, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11159-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11159-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of Earth. Black carbon (BC) aerosol contributes to this Arctic amplification by direct and indirect aerosol radiative effects while distributed in air or deposited on snow and ice. The aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAM is used to estimate direct aerosol radiative effect (DRE). Airborne and near-surface BC measurements are used to evaluate the model and give an uncertainty range for the burden and DRE of Arctic BC caused by different emission inventories.
Ulrike Egerer, Matthias Gottschalk, Holger Siebert, André Ehrlich, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4019–4038, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4019-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4019-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we introduce the new tethered balloon system BELUGA, which includes different modular instrument packages for measuring turbulence and radiation in the atmospheric boundary layer. BELUGA was deployed in an Arctic field campaign in 2017, providing details of boundary layer processes in combination with low-level clouds. Those processes are still not fully understood and in situ measurements in the Arctic improve our understanding of the Arctic response in terms of global warming.
Evelyn Jäkel, Johannes Stapf, Manfred Wendisch, Marcel Nicolaus, Wolfgang Dorn, and Annette Rinke
The Cryosphere, 13, 1695–1708, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1695-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1695-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The sea ice surface albedo parameterization of a coupled regional climate model was validated against aircraft measurements performed in May–June 2017 north of Svalbard. The albedo parameterization was run offline from the model using the measured parameters surface temperature and snow depth to calculate the surface albedo and the individual fractions of the ice surface subtypes. An adjustment of the variables and additionally accounting for cloud cover reduced the root-mean-squared error.
Kevin Wolf, André Ehrlich, Marek Jacob, Susanne Crewell, Martin Wirth, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1635–1658, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1635-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1635-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Using passive spectral solar radiation and active lidar, radar, and microwave measurements with HALO during NARVAL-II, the cloud droplet number concentration of shallow trade wind cumulus is estimated. With stepwise inclusion of the different instruments into the retrieval, the benefits of the synergetic approach based on artificial measurements and two cloud cases are demonstrated. Significant improvement with the synergetic method compared to the solar-radiation-only method is reported.
Tobias Zinner, Ulrich Schwarz, Tobias Kölling, Florian Ewald, Evelyn Jäkel, Bernhard Mayer, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1167–1181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1167-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1167-2019, 2019
Erlend M. Knudsen, Bernd Heinold, Sandro Dahlke, Heiko Bozem, Susanne Crewell, Irina V. Gorodetskaya, Georg Heygster, Daniel Kunkel, Marion Maturilli, Mario Mech, Carolina Viceto, Annette Rinke, Holger Schmithüsen, André Ehrlich, Andreas Macke, Christof Lüpkes, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17995–18022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17995-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17995-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The paper describes the synoptic development during the ACLOUD/PASCAL airborne and ship-based field campaign near Svalbard in spring 2017. This development is presented using near-surface and upperair meteorological observations, satellite, and model data. We first present time series of these data, from which we identify and characterize three key periods. Finally, we put our observations in historical and regional contexts and compare our findings to other Arctic field campaigns.
Emma Järvinen, Olivier Jourdan, David Neubauer, Bin Yao, Chao Liu, Meinrat O. Andreae, Ulrike Lohmann, Manfred Wendisch, Greg M. McFarquhar, Thomas Leisner, and Martin Schnaiter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15767–15781, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15767-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15767-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Using light diffraction it is possible to detect microscopic features within ice particles that have not yet been fully characterized. Here, this technique was applied in airborne measurements, where it was found that majority of atmospheric ice particles have features that significantly change the way ice particles interact with solar light. The microscopic features make ice-containing clouds more reflective than previously thought, which could have consequences for predicting our climate.
Christiane Schulz, Johannes Schneider, Bruna Amorim Holanda, Oliver Appel, Anja Costa, Suzane S. de Sá, Volker Dreiling, Daniel Fütterer, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Thomas Klimach, Christoph Knote, Martina Krämer, Scot T. Martin, Stephan Mertes, Mira L. Pöhlker, Daniel Sauer, Christiane Voigt, Adrian Walser, Bernadett Weinzierl, Helmut Ziereis, Martin Zöger, Meinrat O. Andreae, Paulo Artaxo, Luiz A. T. Machado, Ulrich Pöschl, Manfred Wendisch, and Stephan Borrmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14979–15001, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14979-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14979-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol chemical composition measurements in the tropical upper troposphere over the Amazon region show that 78 % of the aerosol in the upper troposphere consists of organic matter. Up to 20 % of the organic aerosol can be attributed to isoprene epoxydiol secondary organic aerosol (IEPOX-SOA). Furthermore, organic nitrates were identified, suggesting a connection to the IEPOX-SOA formation.
Michael Schäfer, Katharina Loewe, André Ehrlich, Corinna Hoose, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13115–13133, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13115-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13115-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne observed horizontal fields of cloud optical thickness are compared with semi-idealized large eddy simulations of Arctic stratus. The comparison focuses on horizontal cloud inhomogeneities and directional features of the small-scale cloud structures. Using inhomogeneity parameters and autocorrelation analysis it is investigated, if the observed small-scale cloud inhomogeneities can be represented by the model. Forcings for cloud inhomogeneities are investigated in a sensitivity study.
Jorge Saturno, Florian Ditas, Marloes Penning de Vries, Bruna A. Holanda, Mira L. Pöhlker, Samara Carbone, David Walter, Nicole Bobrowski, Joel Brito, Xuguang Chi, Alexandra Gutmann, Isabella Hrabe de Angelis, Luiz A. T. Machado, Daniel Moran-Zuloaga, Julian Rüdiger, Johannes Schneider, Christiane Schulz, Qiaoqiao Wang, Manfred Wendisch, Paulo Artaxo, Thomas Wagner, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 10391–10405, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10391-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10391-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses satellite observations to track volcanic emissions in eastern Congo and their subsequent transport across the Atlantic Ocean into the Amazon Basin. Aircraft and ground-based observations are used to characterize the influence of volcanogenic aerosol on the chemical and microphysical properties of Amazonian aerosols. Further, this work is an illustrative example of the conditions and dynamics driving the transatlantic transport of African emissions to South America.
Luiz A. T. Machado, Alan J. P. Calheiros, Thiago Biscaro, Scott Giangrande, Maria A. F. Silva Dias, Micael A. Cecchini, Rachel Albrecht, Meinrat O. Andreae, Wagner F. Araujo, Paulo Artaxo, Stephan Borrmann, Ramon Braga, Casey Burleyson, Cristiano W. Eichholz, Jiwen Fan, Zhe Feng, Gilberto F. Fisch, Michael P. Jensen, Scot T. Martin, Ulrich Pöschl, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Jean-François Ribaud, Daniel Rosenfeld, Jaci M. B. Saraiva, Courtney Schumacher, Ryan Thalman, David Walter, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6461–6482, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6461-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6461-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This overview discuss the main precipitation processes and their sensitivities to environmental conditions in the Central Amazon Basin. It presents a review of the knowledge acquired about cloud processes and rainfall formation in Amazonas. In addition, this study provides a characterization of the seasonal variation and rainfall sensitivities to topography, surface cover, and aerosol concentration. Airplane measurements were evaluated to characterize and contrast cloud microphysical properties.
Trismono C. Krisna, Manfred Wendisch, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Frank Werner, Ralf Weigel, Stephan Borrmann, Christoph Mahnke, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, Christiane Voigt, and Luiz A. T. Machado
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4439–4462, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4439-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4439-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The optical thickness and particle effective radius of a cirrus above liquid water clouds and a DCC topped by an anvil cirrus are retrieved based on SMART and MODIS radiance measurements. For the cirrus, retrieved particle effective radius are validated with corresponding in situ data using a vertical weighting method. This approach allows to assess the measurements, retrieval algorithms, and derived cloud products.
Meinrat O. Andreae, Armin Afchine, Rachel Albrecht, Bruna Amorim Holanda, Paulo Artaxo, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Stephan Borrmann, Micael A. Cecchini, Anja Costa, Maximilian Dollner, Daniel Fütterer, Emma Järvinen, Tina Jurkat, Thomas Klimach, Tobias Konemann, Christoph Knote, Martina Krämer, Trismono Krisna, Luiz A. T. Machado, Stephan Mertes, Andreas Minikin, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, Daniel Sauer, Hans Schlager, Martin Schnaiter, Johannes Schneider, Christiane Schulz, Antonio Spanu, Vinicius B. Sperling, Christiane Voigt, Adrian Walser, Jian Wang, Bernadett Weinzierl, Manfred Wendisch, and Helmut Ziereis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 921–961, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-921-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-921-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We made airborne measurements of aerosol particle concentrations and properties over the Amazon Basin. We found extremely high concentrations of very small particles in the region between 8 and 14 km altitude all across the basin, which had been recently formed by gas-to-particle conversion at these altitudes. This makes the upper troposphere a very important source region of atmospheric particles with significant implications for the Earth's climate system.
Micael A. Cecchini, Luiz A. T. Machado, Manfred Wendisch, Anja Costa, Martina Krämer, Meinrat O. Andreae, Armin Afchine, Rachel I. Albrecht, Paulo Artaxo, Stephan Borrmann, Daniel Fütterer, Thomas Klimach, Christoph Mahnke, Scot T. Martin, Andreas Minikin, Sergej Molleker, Lianet H. Pardo, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14727–14746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14727-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14727-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study introduces and explores the concept of gamma phase space. This space is able to represent all possible variations in the cloud droplet size distributions (DSDs). The methodology was applied to recent in situ aircraft measurements over the Amazon. It is shown that the phase space is able to represent several processes occurring in the clouds in a simple manner. The consequences for cloud studies, modeling, and the representation of the transition from warm to mixed phase are discussed.
Ramon Campos Braga, Daniel Rosenfeld, Ralf Weigel, Tina Jurkat, Meinrat O. Andreae, Manfred Wendisch, Ulrich Pöschl, Christiane Voigt, Christoph Mahnke, Stephan Borrmann, Rachel I. Albrecht, Sergej Molleker, Daniel A. Vila, Luiz A. T. Machado, and Lucas Grulich
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14433–14456, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14433-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14433-2017, 2017
Tim Carlsen, Gerit Birnbaum, André Ehrlich, Johannes Freitag, Georg Heygster, Larysa Istomina, Sepp Kipfstuhl, Anaïs Orsi, Michael Schäfer, and Manfred Wendisch
The Cryosphere, 11, 2727–2741, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2727-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2727-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The optical size of snow grains (ropt) affects the reflectivity of snow surfaces and thus the local surface energy budget in particular in polar regions. The temporal evolution of ropt retrieved from ground-based, airborne, and spaceborne remote sensing could reproduce optical in situ measurements for a 2-month period in central Antarctica (2013/14). The presented validation study provided a unique testbed for retrievals of ropt under Antarctic conditions where in situ data are scarce.
Anja Costa, Jessica Meyer, Armin Afchine, Anna Luebke, Gebhard Günther, James R. Dorsey, Martin W. Gallagher, Andre Ehrlich, Manfred Wendisch, Darrel Baumgardner, Heike Wex, and Martina Krämer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 12219–12238, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12219-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-12219-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents 38 h of in situ cloud spectrometer observations of microphysical cloud properties in the Arctic, midlatitudes and tropics. The clouds are classified via particle concentrations, size distributions, and – as a novelty – small particle aspherical fractions. Cloud-type profiles are given for different temperatures and locations. The results confine regions where different cloud transformation processes occurred and emphasise the importance of small particle shape detection.
Marcus Klingebiel, André Ehrlich, Fanny Finger, Timo Röschenthaler, Suad Jakirlić, Matthias Voigt, Stefan Müller, Rolf Maser, Manfred Wendisch, Peter Hoor, Peter Spichtinger, and Stephan Borrmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3485–3498, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3485-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3485-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Microphysical and radiation measurements were collected with the unique AIRcraft TOwed Sensor Shuttle (AIRTOSS) – Learjet tandem platform. It is a combination of a Learjet 35A research aircraft and an instrumented aerodynamic bird, which can be detached from and retracted back to the aircraft during flight.
AIRTOSS and Learjet are equipped with radiative, cloud microphysical, trace gas,
and meteorological instruments to study cirrus clouds.
André Ehrlich, Eike Bierwirth, Larysa Istomina, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3215–3230, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3215-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3215-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In the Arctic, uncertainties in passive solar remote sensing of cloud properties arise from uncertainties in the assumed spectral surface albedo, mainly determined by the generally unknown effective snow grain size. Therefore, a retrieval method is presented that simultaneously derives liquid water cloud and snow surface parameters, including cloud optical thickness, droplet effective radius, and effective snow grain size. Airborne measurements were used to test the retrieval procedure.
Micael A. Cecchini, Luiz A. T. Machado, Meinrat O. Andreae, Scot T. Martin, Rachel I. Albrecht, Paulo Artaxo, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Stephan Borrmann, Daniel Fütterer, Tina Jurkat, Christoph Mahnke, Andreas Minikin, Sergej Molleker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, Christiane Voigt, Bernadett Weinzierl, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10037–10050, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10037-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10037-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We study the effects of aerosol particles and updraft speed on the warm phase of Amazonian clouds. We expand the sensitivity analysis usually found in the literature by concomitantly considering cloud evolution and the effects on droplet size distribution (DSD) shape. The quantitative results show that particle concentration is the primary driver for the vertical profiles of effective diameter and droplet concentration in the warm phase of Amazonian convective clouds.
Evelyn Jäkel, Manfred Wendisch, Trismono C. Krisna, Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Tina Jurkat, Christiane Voigt, Micael A. Cecchini, Luiz A. T. Machado, Armin Afchine, Anja Costa, Martina Krämer, Meinrat O. Andreae, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 9049–9066, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9049-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9049-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Vertical profiles of the cloud particle phase state in tropical deep convective clouds (DCCs) were investigated using airborne imaging spectrometer measurements during the ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign, which was conducted over the Brazilian rainforest in September 2014. A phase discrimination retrieval was applied to observations of clouds formed in different aerosol conditions. The profiles were compared to in situ and satellite measurements.
Ramon Campos Braga, Daniel Rosenfeld, Ralf Weigel, Tina Jurkat, Meinrat O. Andreae, Manfred Wendisch, Mira L. Pöhlker, Thomas Klimach, Ulrich Pöschl, Christopher Pöhlker, Christiane Voigt, Christoph Mahnke, Stephan Borrmann, Rachel I. Albrecht, Sergej Molleker, Daniel A. Vila, Luiz A. T. Machado, and Paulo Artaxo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7365–7386, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7365-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7365-2017, 2017
Kevin Wolf, André Ehrlich, Tilman Hüneke, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Frank Werner, Martin Wirth, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4283–4303, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4283-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4283-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The potential of airborne radiance measurements in the sideward and nadir directions for cirrus remote sensing is investigated. Therefore radiative transfer simulations were used and the sensitivity of upward radiance with respect to optical thickness, effective radius, surface albedo, wavelength and viewing angle was studied. It was shown that sideward observations lead to more accurate retrieval results. Investigating a case study of ML-CIRRUS, these findings are confirmed.
Michael Schäfer, Eike Bierwirth, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Frank Werner, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2359–2372, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2359-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2359-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud optical thickness fields, retrieved from solar spectral radiance measurements, are used to investigate the directional structure of horizontal cloud inhomogeneities with scalar one-dimensional inhomogeneity parameters, two-dimensional auto-correlation functions, and two-dimensional Fourier analysis. The investigations reveal that it is not sufficient to quantify horizontal cloud inhomogeneities by one-dimensional inhomogeneity parameters; two-dimensional parameters are necessary.
Heike Wex, Katrin Dieckmann, Greg C. Roberts, Thomas Conrath, Miguel A. Izaguirre, Susan Hartmann, Paul Herenz, Michael Schäfer, Florian Ditas, Tina Schmeissner, Silvia Henning, Birgit Wehner, Holger Siebert, and Frank Stratmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14107–14130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14107-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14107-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol arriving in the eastern Caribbean after passing the Atlantic is characterized, based on ground-based and airborne measurements. We describe the repetitive occurrence of three different types of air masses and relate them to their origin from either Africa or the Atlantic and also draw conclusions about the particle composition. The length of the data series is unprecedented. By a comparison with other studies, we also suggest that the organic fraction in the aerosol depends on season.
Fanny Finger, Frank Werner, Marcus Klingebiel, André Ehrlich, Evelyn Jäkel, Matthias Voigt, Stephan Borrmann, Peter Spichtinger, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7681–7693, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7681-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7681-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Solar spectra of optical layer properties of cirrus have been derived from the first truly collocated airborne radiation measurements using an aircraft and a towed sensor platform. The measured layer properties differ slightly due to horizontal cirrus inhomogeneities and the influence of low-level water clouds. Applying a 1-D radiative transfer model sensitivity studies were performed. It was found that if a low-level cloud is not considered, the solar cooling of the cirrus is strongly overestimated.
S. T. Martin, P. Artaxo, L. A. T. Machado, A. O. Manzi, R. A. F. Souza, C. Schumacher, J. Wang, M. O. Andreae, H. M. J. Barbosa, J. Fan, G. Fisch, A. H. Goldstein, A. Guenther, J. L. Jimenez, U. Pöschl, M. A. Silva Dias, J. N. Smith, and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4785–4797, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4785-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4785-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5) Experiment took place in central Amazonia throughout 2014 and 2015. The experiment focused on the complex links among vegetation, atmospheric chemistry, and aerosol production on the one hand and their connections to aerosols, clouds, and precipitation on the other, especially when altered by urban pollution. This article serves as an introduction to the special issue of publications presenting findings of this experiment.
E. Jäkel, B. Mey, R. Levy, X. Gu, T. Yu, Z. Li, D. Althausen, B. Heese, and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 5237–5249, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5237-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5237-2015, 2015
A. Ehrlich and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3671–3684, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3671-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3671-2015, 2015
M. Schäfer, E. Bierwirth, A. Ehrlich, E. Jäkel, and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 8147–8163, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8147-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8147-2015, 2015
M. Klingebiel, A. de Lozar, S. Molleker, R. Weigel, A. Roth, L. Schmidt, J. Meyer, A. Ehrlich, R. Neuber, M. Wendisch, and S. Borrmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 617–631, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-617-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-617-2015, 2015
S. Henning, K. Dieckmann, K. Ignatius, M. Schäfer, P. Zedler, E. Harris, B. Sinha, D. van Pinxteren, S. Mertes, W. Birmili, M. Merkel, Z. Wu, A. Wiedensohler, H. Wex, H. Herrmann, and F. Stratmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 7859–7868, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7859-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-7859-2014, 2014
C. Fricke, A. Ehrlich, E. Jäkel, B. Bohn, M. Wirth, and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1943–1958, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1943-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1943-2014, 2014
M. Schäfer, E. Bierwirth, A. Ehrlich, F. Heyner, and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1855–1868, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1855-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1855-2013, 2013
E. Bierwirth, A. Ehrlich, M. Wendisch, J.-F. Gayet, C. Gourbeyre, R. Dupuy, A. Herber, R. Neuber, and A. Lampert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1189–1200, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1189-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1189-2013, 2013
E. Jäkel, J. Walter, and M. Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 539–547, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-539-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-539-2013, 2013
E. Jäkel, M. Wendisch, and B. Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 527–537, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-527-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-527-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Propagating information content: an example with advection
Best estimate of the planetary boundary layer height from multiple remote sensing measurements
Observing atmospheric rivers using multi-GNSS airborne radio occultation: system description and data evaluation
Evolution of wind field in the atmospheric boundary layer using multiple-source observations during the passage of Super Typhoon Doksuri (2305)
Observed impact of the GNSS clock data rate on radio occultation bending angles for Sentinel-6A and COSMIC-2
A new method to retrieve relative humidity profiles from a synergy of Raman lidar, microwave radiometer, and satellite
Combining commercial microwave links and weather radar for classification of dry snow and rainfall
Improved consistency in solar-induced fluorescence retrievals from GOME-2A with the SIFTER v3 algorithm
An information content approach to diagnosing and improving CLIMCAPS retrieval consistency across instruments and satellites
Characterizing urban planetary boundary layer dynamics using 3-year Doppler wind lidar measurements in a western Yangtze River Delta city, China
Radar-based high-resolution ensemble precipitation analyses over the French Alps
Gravity waves above the northern Atlantic and Europe during streamer events using Aeolus
CLEAR: a new discrete multiplicative random cascade model for disaggregating path-integrated rainfall estimates from commercial microwave links
Observations of tall-building wakes using a scanning Doppler lidar
High-resolution maps of Arctic surface skin temperature and type retrieved from airborne thermal infrared imagery collected during the HALO-(𝒜𝒞)³ campaign
Mid-Atlantic nocturnal low-level jet characteristics: a machine learning analysis of radar wind profiles
The MATS satellite: Limb image data processing and calibration
Mitigating radome-induced bias in X-band weather radar polarimetric moments using an adaptive discrete Fourier transform algorithm
GNSS-RO residual ionospheric error (RIE): a new method and assessment
Benchmarking KDP in rainfall: a quantitative assessment of estimation algorithms using C-band weather radar observations
Improved hydrometeor detection near the Earth’s surface by a conically scanning spaceborne W-band radar
Assimilation of GNSS Zenith Delays and Tropospheric Gradients: A Sensitivity Study utilizing sparse and dense station networks
Comparative experimental validation of microwave hyperspectral atmospheric soundings in clear-sky conditions
A hybrid algorithm for ship clutter identification in pulse compression polarimetric radar observations
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation climatologies mapped by machine learning and Bayesian interpolation
Use of commercial microwave links as scintillometers: potential and limitations towards evaporation estimation
Determination of low-level temperature profiles from microwave radiometer observations during rain
Aeolus lidar surface return (LSR) at 355 nm as a new Aeolus Level-2A product
Sampling the diurnal and annual cycles of the Earth's energy imbalance with constellations of satellite-borne radiometers
Retrieval of top-of-atmosphere fluxes from combined EarthCARE lidar, imager, and broadband radiometer observations: the BMA-FLX product
Analysis of the measurement uncertainty for a 3D wind lidar
Improving solution availability and temporal consistency of an optimal-estimation physical retrieval for ground-based thermodynamic boundary layer profiling
Reconstruction of 3D precipitation measurements from FY-3G MWRI-RM imaging and sounding channels
An improved geolocation methodology for spaceborne radar and lidar systems
Combining low- and high-frequency microwave radiometer measurements from the MOSAiC expedition for enhanced water vapour products
An LES Exploration of the Assumptions used in Retrieving Entrainment from a Mixing Diagram Approach with Ground-Based Remote Sensors
HAMSTER: Hyperspectral Albedo Maps dataset with high Spatial and TEmporal Resolution
Retrieving Tropospheric Refractivity Structure using Interferometry of Aircraft Radio Transmissions
TanSat-2: a new satellite for mapping solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence at both red and far-red bands with high spatio-temporal resolution
Global-scale gravity wave analysis methodology for the ESA Earth Explorer 11 candidate CAIRT
Retrieval of pseudo-BRDF-adjusted surface reflectance at 440 nm from the Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)
Drop size distribution retrieval using dual-polarization radar at C-band and S-band
Thermal tides in the middle atmosphere at mid-latitudes measured with a ground-based microwave radiometer
Global sensitivity analysis of simulated remote sensing polarimetric observations over snow
Improving the Gaussianity of radar reflectivity departures between observations and simulations using symmetric rain rates
On the temperature stability requirements of free-running Nd:YAG lasers for atmospheric temperature profiling through the rotational Raman technique
Limitations in wavelet analysis of non-stationary atmospheric gravity wave signatures in temperature profiles
A new non-linearity correction method for the spectrum from the Geostationary Inferometric Infrared Sounder on board Fengyun-4 satellites and its preliminary assessments
Determination of high-precision tropospheric delays using crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data
Unfiltering of the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations: the BM-RAD product
David D. Turner, Maria P. Cadeddu, Julia M. Simonson, and Timothy J. Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3533–3546, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3533-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3533-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
When deriving a geophysical variable from remote sensors, the uncertainty and information content are critical. The latter quantify specifies what fraction of a real perturbation would be observed in the derived variable. This paper outlines, for the first time, a methodology for propagating the information content from multiple remote sensors into a derived product using horizontal advection as an example.
Damao Zhang, Jennifer Comstock, Chitra Sivaraman, Kefei Mo, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Jingjing Tian, Tianning Su, Zhanqing Li, and Natalia Roldán-Henao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3453–3475, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3453-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3453-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Planetary boundary layer height (PBLHT) is an important parameter in atmospheric process studies and numerical model simulations. We use machine learning methods to produce a best-estimate planetary boundary layer height (PBLHT-BE-ML) by integrating four PBLHT estimates derived from remote sensing measurements. We demonstrated that PBLHT-BE-ML greatly improved the comparisons against sounding-derived PBLHT.
Bing Cao, Jennifer S. Haase, Michael J. Murphy Jr., and Anna M. Wilson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3361–3392, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3361-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3361-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes an airborne radio occultation (ARO) observation system installed on a reconnaissance aircraft that uses GPS signal refraction in the atmosphere to retrieve information about the temperature and moisture in the storm environment as far away as 400 km surrounding the flight track. The characteristics and quality of 1700 ARO refractivity profiles were assessed. These observations are collected to help understand atmospheric rivers and improve their forecasting.
Xiaoye Wang, Jing Xu, Songhua Wu, Qichao Wang, Guangyao Dai, Peizhi Zhu, Zhizhong Su, Sai Chen, Xiaomeng Shi, and Mengqi Fan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3305–3320, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3305-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3305-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we propose a data fusion method to obtain the no-blind-zone wind speed profiles covering the whole atmospheric boundary layer based on the joint measurements of coherent Doppler lidar (CDL), radar wind profiler (RWP) and automatic weather station (AWS). Since the above instruments are widely deployed in China, we believe this method has broad application prospects for the improvement of the boundary layer parameterization scheme in numerical forecast models.
Sebastiano Padovan, Axel von Engeln, Saverio Paolella, Yago Andres, Chad R. Galley, Riccardo Notarpietro, Veronica Rivas Boscan, Francisco Sancho, Francisco Martin Alemany, Nicolas Morew, and Christian Marquardt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3217–3228, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3217-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3217-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Using about 120 000 occultations recorded by the Sentinel-6A and COSMIC-2 satellites, we show that using high-rate (1 s) GLONASS clock products greatly improves GLONASS occultation statistics and vertical error correlation. For GPS, the best performance is obtained with 5 s clock products. These findings result from the short-timescale behavior of the onboard atomic clocks and are important given the impact of radio occultation measurements on numerical weather predictions and climate studies.
Chengli Ji, Qiankai Jin, Feilong Li, Yuyang Liu, Zhicheng Wang, Jiajia Mao, Xiaoyu Ren, Yan Xiang, Wanlin Jian, Zhenyi Chen, and Peitao Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3179–3191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3179-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3179-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the humidity measurements with a synergistic algorithm combining Raman lidar, microwave radiometer, and satellite. The results from 47 sites in China show the best correlation over 0.9 concerning the radiosonde measurements. This validates the relative humidity (RH) accuracy with various data integrations. Three representative sites present the different seasonal characteristics, indicating the geographic and height influences on the RH vertical distribution.
Erlend Øydvin, Renaud Gaban, Jafet Andersson, Remco (C. Z.) van de Beek, Mareile Astrid Wolff, Nils-Otto Kitterød, Christian Chwala, and Vegard Nilsen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2279–2293, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2279-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2279-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a novel method for classifying rain and snow by combining data from commercial microwave links (CMLs) with weather radar. We compare this to a reference method using dew point temperature for precipitation type classification. Evaluations with nearby disdrometers show that CMLs improve the classification of dry snow and rainfall, outperforming the reference method.
Juliëtte C. S. Anema, K. Folkert Boersma, Lieuwe G. Tilstra, Olaf N. E. Tuinder, and Willem W. Verstraeten
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1961–1979, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1961-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1961-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term records of plant fluorescence offer vital insights into changing vegetation activity. The GOME-2A sensor provides extensive global observations but suffers from calibration and instrument degradation, which affects data consistency. This study presents the SIFTER v3 algorithm, which effectively resolves these issues and includes other improvements, resulting in robust, accurate, and consistent GOME-2A fluorescence measurements from 2007 to 2017.
Nadia Smith and Christopher D. Barnet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1823–1839, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1823-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1823-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
CLIMCAPS extends the Aqua AIRS+AMSU record with retrievals from CrIS+ATMS on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) and Joint Polar Satellite System series (JPSS-1 to JPSS-4). With “continuous”, we mean a data record that is consistent in its characterization of natural variation despite changes in source instrumentation. Here we investigate how sounding continuity can improve across the full CLIMCAPS record (2002 to the present day), spanning multiple instruments and satellites.
Tianwen Wei, Mengya Wang, Kenan Wu, Jinlong Yuan, Haiyun Xia, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1841–1857, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1841-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1841-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study analyzes three years of wind lidar measurements to explore the dynamics of the urban planetary boundary layer in Hefei, China. Results reveal that nocturnal low-level jets are most frequent in spring and intensify in summer, significantly enhancing turbulence and shear near the surface, particularly at night. Additionally, cloud cover raises the mixing layer height by approximately 100 m at night due to the greenhouse effect but reduces it by up to 200 m in the afternoon.
Matthieu Vernay, Matthieu Lafaysse, and Clotilde Augros
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1731–1755, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1731-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1731-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of radar-based precipitation estimation in mountainous areas and presents a method to mitigate the main shortcomings identified. It then compares three different ensemble analysis methods that combine radar-based precipitation estimates with forecasts from an ensemble numerical weather prediction model.
Sabine Wüst, Lisa Küchelbacher, Franziska Trinkl, and Michael Bittner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1591–1607, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1591-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1591-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Information on the energy transported by atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) is crucial for improving atmosphere models. Most space-based studies report the potential energy. We use Aeolus wind data to estimate the kinetic energy (density). However, the data quality is a challenge for such analyses, as the accuracy of the data is in the range of typical GW amplitudes. We find a temporal coincidence between enhanced or breaking planetary waves and enhanced gravity wave kinetic energy density.
Martin Fencl and Marc Schleiss
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-487, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-487, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A novel disaggregation algorithm for commercial microwave links (CMLs), named CLEAR (CML Segments with Equal Amounts of Rain), is proposed. CLEAR utilizes a multiplicative random cascade generator to control the splitting of link segments. The evaluation performed both on virtual and real CML data shows that CLEAR outperforms a commonly used benchmark algorithm. Moreover, the stochastic nature of CLEAR allows it to represent uncertainty as an ensemble of rain rate distributions along CML paths.
Natalie E. Theeuwes, Janet F. Barlow, Antti Mannisenaho, Denise Hertwig, Ewan O'Connor, and Alan Robins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1355–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1355-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1355-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A Doppler lidar was placed in a highly built-up area in London to measure wakes from tall buildings during a period of 1 year. We were able to detect wakes and assess their dependence on wind speed, wind direction, and atmospheric stability.
Joshua Jeremias Müller, Michael Schäfer, Sophie Rosenburg, André Ehrlich, and Manfred Wendisch
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-3967, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-3967, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We retrieved high-resolution maps of Arctic surface temperature and type using airborne thermal infrared imagery from the HALO-(𝒜𝒞)3 campaign. Our study highlights small-scale surface variability, complementing satellite observations. Surface temperature was retrieved via radiative transfer simulations, while surface type was classified using machine learning. Additionally, we analyzed segment sizes of each surface type, presenting results based on their distance from the sea-ice edge.
Maurice Roots, John T. Sullivan, and Belay Demoz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1269–1282, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1269-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1269-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a supervised-machine-learning approach for the automatic isolation of nocturnal low-level jets (NLLJs) using observations from a radar wind profiler. This analysis isolated 90 southwesterly NLLJs observed from May to September 2017–2021, highlighting key features in the evolution and morphology of the mid-Atlantic NLLJ.
Linda Megner, Jörg Gumbel, Ole Martin Christensen, Björn Linder, Donal Patrick Murtagh, Nickolay Ivchenko, Lukas Krasauskas, Jonas Hedin, Joachim Dillner, Gabriel Giono, Georgi Olentsenko, Louis Kern, and Jacek Stegman
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-265, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-265, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The MATS satellite mission studies atmospheric gravity waves, crucial for momentum transport between atmospheric layers. Launched in November 2022, MATS uses a limb-viewing telescope to capture high-resolution images of Noctilucent clouds and airglow, visualizing wave patterns in the high atmosphere. This paper accompanies the public release of the level 1b data set, i.e. calibrated limb images. Later products will provide global maps of gravity wave properties, airglow and Noctilucent clouds.
Padmanabhan Thiruvengadam, Guillaume Lesage, Ambinintsoa Volatiana Ramanamahefa, and Joël Van Baelen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1185–1191, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1185-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores how the joints in a weather radar's protective cover affect its measurements. We developed a new method to correct these errors, improving the accuracy of the radar's data. Our method was tested during an intense cyclone on Réunion Island, demonstrating significant improvements in data accuracy. This research is crucial for enhancing weather predictions and understanding, particularly in challenging terrains.
Dong L. Wu, Valery A. Yudin, Kyu-Myong Kim, Mohar Chattopadhyay, Lawrence Coy, Ruth S. Lieberman, C. C. Jude H. Salinas, Jae N. Lee, Jie Gong, and Guiping Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 843–863, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-843-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-843-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation data help monitor climate and weather prediction but are affected by residual ionospheric errors (RIEs). A new excess-phase-gradient method detects and corrects RIEs, showing both positive and negative values, varying by latitude, time, and solar activity. Tests show that RIE impacts polar stratosphere temperatures in models, with differences up to 3–4 K. This highlights the need for RIE correction to improve the accuracy of data assimilation.
Miguel Aldana, Seppo Pulkkinen, Annakaisa von Lerber, Matthew R. Kumjian, and Dmitri Moisseev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 793–816, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-793-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-793-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate KDP estimates are crucial in radar-based applications. We quantify the uncertainties of several publicly available KDP estimation methods for multiple rainfall intensities. We use C-band weather radar observations and employed a self-consistency KDP, estimated from reflectivity and differential reflectivity, as a framework for the examination. Our study provides guidance for the performance, uncertainties, and optimisation of the methods, focusing mainly on accuracy and robustness.
Marco Coppola, Alessandro Battaglia, Frederic Tridon, and Pavlos Kollias
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-416, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-416, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The WIVERN conically scanning Doppler W-band radar, has the potential, for the first time, to map the mesoscale and synoptic variability of cloud dynamics, and precipitation microphysics. This study shows that the oblique angle of incidence will be advantageous compared to standard nadir-looking radars due to substantial clutter suppression over ocean surface. This feature will enable the detection and quantification of light and moderate precipitation, with improved proximity to the surface.
Rohith Thundathil, Florian Zus, Galina Dick, and Jens Wickert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-19, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-19, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Tropospheric gradients provide information on the moisture distribution, whereas ZTDs provide the absolute amount of moisture through integrated water vapor. When TGs are assimilated with ZTDs, it helps the model actuate the moisture fields, correcting its dynamics. In our research, we show evidence that in particular regions with very few GNSS stations, the assimilation of gradients on top of ZTDs can provide the same impact as the assimilation of only ZTDs with dense coverage of GNSS stations.
Lei Liu, Natalia Bliankinshtein, Yi Huang, John R. Gyakum, Philip M. Gabriel, Shiqi Xu, and Mengistu Wolde
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 471–485, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-471-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-471-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates and compares a new microwave hyperspectrometer with an infrared hyperspectrometer for clear-sky temperature and water vapor retrievals. The analysis reveals that the information content of the infrared hyperspectrometer exceeds that of the microwave hyperspectrometer and provides higher vertical resolution in ground-based zenith measurements. Leveraging the ground–airborne synergy between the two instruments yielded optimal sounding results.
Shuai Zhang, Haoran Li, and Dmitri Moisseev
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-194, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-194, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
The data quality of weather radar near coastlines can be affected by echoes from ships, and this interference is exacerbated when pulse compression technology is used. This study developed a hybrid ship clutter identification algorithm based on artificial intelligence and heuristic criteria, effectively mitigating the issue. The successful reproduction of ship tracks in the Gulf of Finland supports this conclusion.
Endrit Shehaj, Stephen Leroy, Kerri Cahoy, Alain Geiger, Laura Crocetti, Gregor Moeller, Benedikt Soja, and Markus Rothacher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 57–72, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-57-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-57-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This work investigates whether machine learning (ML) can offer an alternative to existing methods to map radio occultation (RO) products, allowing the extraction of information not visible in direct observations. ML can further improve the results of Bayesian interpolation, a state-of-the-art method to map RO observations. The results display improvements in horizontal and temporal domains, at heights ranging from the planetary boundary layer up to the lower stratosphere, and for all seasons.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Oscar K. Hartogensis, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2974, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2974, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Commercial microwave links (CMLs), part of mobile phone networks, transmit comparable signals as instruments specially designed to estimate evaporation. Therefore, we investigate if CMLs could be used to estimate evaporation, even though they have not been designed for this purpose. Our results illustrate the potential of using CMLs to estimate evaporation, especially given their global coverage, but also outline some major drawbacks, often a consequence of unfavourable design choices for CMLs.
Andreas Foth, Moritz Lochmann, Pablo Saavedra Garfias, and Heike Kalesse-Los
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7169–7181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7169-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7169-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave radiometers are usually not able to provide atmospheric quantities such as temperature profiles during rain. We present a method based on a selection of specific frequencies and elevation angles from microwave radiometer observations. A comparison with a numerical weather prediction model shows the presented method allows low-level temperature profiles during rain to be resolved, with rain rates of up to 2.5 mm h−1,, which was not possible before with state-of-the-art retrievals.
Lev D. Labzovskii, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, Jos de Kloe, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, Ad Stoffelen, Damien Josset, and Piet Stammes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7183–7208, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7183-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7183-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) on the Aeolus satellite was the first of its kind to measure high-resolution vertical profiles of aerosols and cloud properties from space. We present an algorithm that produces Aeolus lidar surface returns (LSRs), containing useful information for measuring UV reflectivity. Aeolus LSRs matched well with existing UV reflectivity data from other satellites, like GOME-2 and TROPOMI, and demonstrated excellent sensitivity to modeled snow cover.
Thomas Hocking, Thorsten Mauritsen, and Linda Megner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7077–7095, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7077-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7077-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The imbalance between the energy the Earth absorbs from the Sun and the energy the Earth emits back into space gives rise to climate change, but measuring the small imbalance is challenging. We simulate satellites in various orbits to investigate how well they sample the imbalance and find that the best option is to combine at least two satellites that see complementary parts of the Earth and cover the daily and annual cycles. This information is useful when planning future satellite missions.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Carlos Domenech, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, Carla Salas Molar, and Nils Madenach
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7007–7026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7007-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7007-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper focuses on the BMA-FLX processor, in which thermal and solar top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes are obtained from longwave and shortwave radiances measured along track by the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR). The BBR measurements, at three fixed viewing angles (fore, nadir, aft), are co-registered either at the surface or at a reference level. A combined flux from the three BRR views is obtained. The algorithm has been successfully validated against test scenes.
Wolf Knöller, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Philipp von Olshausen, and Michael Wilczek
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6913–6931, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6913-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Three-dimensional (3D) wind velocity measurements are of major importance for the characterization of atmospheric turbulence. This paper presents a detailed study of the measurement uncertainty of a three-beam wind lidar designed for mounting on airborne platforms. Considering the geometrical constraints, the analysis provides quantitative estimates for the measurement uncertainty of all components of the 3D wind vector. As a result, we propose optimized post-processing for error reduction.
Bianca Adler, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6603–6624, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6603-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Continuous profile observations of temperature and humidity in the lowest part of the atmosphere are essential for the evaluation of numerical weather prediction models and data assimilation for better weather forecasts. Such profiles can be retrieved from passive ground-based remote sensing instruments like infrared spectrometers and microwave radiometers. In this study, we describe three recent modifications to the retrieval framework TROPoe for improved temperature and humidity profiles.
Yunfan Yang, Wei Han, Haofei Sun, Jun Li, Jiapeng Yan, and Zhiqiu Gao
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-175, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-175, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Our research improves satellite-based precipitation monitoring by using deep learning to reconstruct radar observations from passive microwave radiances. Active radar is costly, so we focus on a more accessible approach. Using data from the FengYun-3G satellite, we successfully tracked severe weather like Typhoon Khanun and heavy rainfall in Beijing in 2023. This method enhances global precipitation data and helps better understand extreme weather.
Bernat Puigdomènech Treserras and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6301–6314, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6301-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6301-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The paper presents a comprehensive approach to improve the geolocation accuracy of spaceborne radar and lidar systems, crucial for the successful interpretation of data from the upcoming EarthCARE mission. The paper details the technical background of the presented methods and various examples of geolocation analyses, including a short period of CloudSat observations when the star tracker was not operating properly and lifetime statistics from the CloudSat and CALIPSO missions.
Andreas Walbröl, Hannes J. Griesche, Mario Mech, Susanne Crewell, and Kerstin Ebell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6223–6245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6223-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6223-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We developed retrievals of integrated water vapour (IWV), temperature profiles, and humidity profiles from ground-based passive microwave remote sensing measurements gathered during the MOSAiC expedition. We demonstrate and quantify the benefit of combining low- and high-frequency microwave radiometers to improve humidity profiling and IWV estimates by comparing the retrieved quantities to single-instrument retrievals and reference datasets (radiosondes).
Tessa E. Rosenberger, Thijs Heus, Girish N. Raghunathan, David D. Turner, Timothy J. Wagner, and Julia M. Simonson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2894, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2894, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Entrainment is key in understanding temperature and moisture changes within the boundary layer, but it is difficult to observe using ground-based observations. This work used simulations to verify an assumption that simplifies entrainment estimations from ground-based observational data, recognizing that entrainment is the combination of the transfer of heat and moisture from above the boundary layer into it and the change in concentration of heat and moisture as boundary layer depth changes.
Giulia Roccetti, Luca Bugliaro, Felix Gödde, Claudia Emde, Ulrich Hamann, Mihail Manev, Michael Fritz Sterzik, and Cedric Wehrum
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6025–6046, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6025-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6025-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The amount of sunlight reflected by the Earth’s surface (albedo) is vital for the Earth's radiative system. While satellite instruments offer detailed spatial and temporal albedo maps, they only cover seven wavelength bands. We generate albedo maps that fully span the visible and near-infrared range using a machine learning algorithm. These maps reveal how the reflectivity of different land surfaces varies throughout the year. Our dataset enhances the understanding of the Earth's energy balance.
Ollie Lewis, Chris Brunt, Malcolm Kitchen, Neill E. Bowler, and Edmund K. Stone
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2273, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2273, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Humidity observations are crucial for an accurate weather forecast. We propose a new way to measure humidity by measuring how radio signals from commercial aircraft are refracted by the atmosphere. Humidity affects the refractive index of air, allowing its presence to be detected. With thousands of flights in the airspace over the United Kingdom every day, there is the potential for a large increase in the number of humidity measurements for use in weather forecasting models.
Dianrun Zhao, Shanshan Du, Chu Zou, Longfei Tian, Meng Fan, Yulu Du, and Liangyun Liu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3118, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The TanSat-2 satellite is designed for global carbon monitoring. It provides high-resolution, dual-band observations of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, a key indicator of plant photosynthesis. Through simulations, we optimized the satellite's data processing and found it can retrieve this fluorescence with great accuracy. These findings suggest that TanSat-2 will enhance global monitoring of carbon cycles and vegetation health, offering valuable insights for climate change research.
Sebastian Rhode, Peter Preusse, Jörn Ungermann, Inna Polichtchouk, Kaoru Sato, Shingo Watanabe, Manfred Ern, Karlheinz Nogai, Björn-Martin Sinnhuber, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5785–5819, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5785-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5785-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the capabilities of a proposed satellite mission, CAIRT, for observing gravity waves throughout the middle atmosphere and present the necessary methodology for in-depth wave analysis. Our findings suggest that such a satellite mission is highly capable of resolving individual wave parameters and could give new insights into the role of gravity waves in general atmospheric circulation and atmospheric processes.
Suyoung Sim, Sungwon Choi, Daeseong Jung, Jongho Woo, Nayeon Kim, Sungwoo Park, Honghee Kim, Ukkyo Jeong, Hyunkee Hong, and Kyung-Soo Han
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5601–5618, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5601-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5601-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates the use of background surface reflectance (BSR) derived from a semi-empirical bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model based on GEMS satellite images. Analysis shows that BSR provides improved accuracy and stability compared to Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (LER). These results indicate that BSR can significantly enhance climate analysis and air quality monitoring, making it a promising tool for accurate environmental satellite applications.
Daniel Durbin, Yadong Wang, and Pao-Liang Chang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5397–5411, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5397-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5397-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A method for determining drop size distributions (DSDs) for rain using radar measurements from two frequencies at two polarizations is presented. Following some preprocessing and quality control, radar measurements are incorporated into a model that uses swarm intelligence to seek the most suitable DSD to produce the input measurements.
Witali Krochin, Axel Murk, and Gunter Stober
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5015–5028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5015-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5015-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric tides are global-scale oscillations with periods of a fraction of a day. Their observation in the middle atmosphere is challenging and rare, as it requires continuous measurements with a high temporal resolution. In this paper, temperature time series of a ground-based microwave radiometer were analyzed with a spectral filter to derive thermal tide amplitudes and phases in an altitude range of 25–50 km at the geographical locations of Payerne and Bern (Switzerland).
Matteo Ottaviani, Gabriel Harris Myers, and Nan Chen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4737–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4737-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4737-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze simulated polarization observations over snow to investigate the capabilities of remote sensing to determine surface and atmospheric properties in snow-covered regions. Polarization measurements are demonstrated to aid in the determination of snow grain shape, ice crystal roughness, and the vertical distribution of impurities in the snow–atmosphere system, data that are critical for estimating snow albedo for use in climate models.
Yudong Gao, Lidou Huyan, Zheng Wu, and Bojun Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4675–4686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4675-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4675-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A symmetric error model built by symmetric rain rates handles the non-Gaussian error structure of the reflectivity error. The accuracy and linearization of rain rates can further improve the Gaussianity.
José Alex Zenteno-Hernández, Adolfo Comerón, Federico Dios, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Michaël Sicard, Noemi Franco, Andreas Behrendt, and Paolo Di Girolamo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4687–4694, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4687-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We study how the spectral characteristics of a solid-state laser in an atmospheric temperature profiling lidar using the Raman technique impact the temperature retrieval accuracy. We find that the spectral widening, with respect to a seeded laser, has virtually no impact, while crystal-rod temperature variations in the laser must be kept within a range of 1 K for the uncertainty in the atmospheric temperature below 1 K. The study is carried out through spectroscopy simulations.
Robert Reichert, Natalie Kaifler, and Bernd Kaifler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4659–4673, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4659-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4659-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Imagine you want to determine how quickly the pitch of a passing ambulance’s siren changes. If the vehicle is traveling slowly, the pitch changes only slightly, but if it is traveling fast, the pitch also changes rapidly. In a similar way, the wind in the middle atmosphere modulates the wavelength of atmospheric gravity waves. We have investigated the question of how strong the maximum wind may be so that the change in wavelength can still be determined with the help of wavelet transformation.
Qiang Guo, Yuning Liu, Xin Wang, and Wen Hui
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4613–4627, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4613-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4613-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Non-linearity (NL) correction is a critical procedure to guarantee that the calibration accuracy of a spaceborne sensor approaches a reasonable level. Different from the classical method, a new NL correction method for a spaceborne Fourier transform spectrometer is proposed. To overcome the inaccurate linear coefficient from two-point calibration influencing NL correction, an iteration algorithm is established that is suitable for NL correction of both infrared and microwave sensors.
Yuanxin Pan, Grzegorz Kłopotek, Laura Crocetti, Rudi Weinacker, Tobias Sturn, Linda See, Galina Dick, Gregor Möller, Markus Rothacher, Ian McCallum, Vicente Navarro, and Benedikt Soja
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4303–4316, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4303-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4303-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data were processed with a dedicated data processing pipeline and could produce millimeter-level accurate estimates of zenith total delay (ZTD) – a critical atmospheric variable. This breakthrough not only demonstrates the feasibility of using ubiquitous devices for high-precision atmospheric monitoring but also underscores the potential for a global, cost-effective tropospheric monitoring network.
Almudena Velázquez Blázquez, Edward Baudrez, Nicolas Clerbaux, and Carlos Domenech
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4245–4256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4245-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4245-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Broadband Radiometer measures shortwave and total-wave radiances filtered by the spectral response of the instrument. To obtain unfiltered solar and thermal radiances, the effect of the spectral response needs to be corrected for, done within the BM-RAD processor. Errors in the unfiltering are propagated into fluxes; thus, accurate unfiltering is required for their proper estimation (within BMA-FLX). Unfiltering errors are estimated to be <0.5 % for the shortwave and <0.1 % for the longwave.
Cited articles
Aoki, T., Aoki, T., Fukabori, M., Hachikubo, A., Tachibana, Y., and Nishio, F.: Effects of snow physical parameters on spectral albedo and bidirectional reflectance of snow surface, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 105, 10219–10236, https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JD901122, 2000. a
Bierwirth, E., Wendisch, M., Ehrlich, A., Heese, B., Tesche, M., Althausen, D., Schladitz, A., Mueller, D., Otto, S., Trautmann, T., Dinter, T., von Hoyningen-Huene, W., and Kahn, R.: Spectral surface albedo over Morocco and its impact on radiative forcing of Saharan dust, Tellus B, 61, 252–269, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2008.00395.x, 2009. a
Bourgeois, C. S., Ohmura, A., Schroff, K., Frei, H.-J., and Calanca, P.: IAC ETH goniospectrometer: A tool for hyperspectral HDRF measurements, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 23, 573–584, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH1870.1, 2006.
a, b, c, d
Carlsen, T.,
Birnbaum, G., Ehrlich, A., Helm, V., Jäkel, E., Schäfer, M.,
and Wendisch, M.: Parameterizing anisotropic reflectance of snow
surfaces from airborne digital camera observations in Antarctica,
The Cryosphere, 14, 3959–3978, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3959-2020, 2020. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l
Ehrlich, A., Bierwirth, E., Wendisch, M., Herber, A., and Gayet, J.-F.: Airborne hyperspectral observations of surface and cloud directional reflectivity using a commercial digital camera, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 3493–3510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-3493-2012, 2012. a, b, c
Ehrlich, A., Wendisch, M., Lüpkes, C., Buschmann, M., Bozem, H., Chechin, D., Clemen, H.-C., Dupuy, R., Eppers, O., Hartmann, J., Herber, A., Jäkel, E., Järvinen, E., Jourdan, O., Kästner, U., Kliesch, L.-L., Köllner, F., Mech, M., Mertes, S., Neuber, R., Ruiz-Donoso, E., Schnaiter, M., Schneider, J., Stapf, J., and Zanatta, M.: A comprehensive in situ and remote sensing data set from the Arctic CLoud Observations Using airborne measurements during polar Day (ACLOUD) campaign, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 1853–1881, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1853-2019, 2019. a, b, c, d
Emde, C., Buras-Schnell, R., Kylling, A., Mayer, B., Gasteiger, J., Hamann, U., Kylling, J., Richter, B., Pause, C., Dowling, T., and Bugliaro, L.: The libRadtran software package for radiative transfer calculations (version 2.0.1), Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1647–1672, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1647-2016, 2016. a
Feng, Y., Liu, Q., Qu, Y., and Liang, S.: Estimation of the Ocean Water Albedo From Remote Sensing and Meteorological Reanalysis Data, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 54, 850–868, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2015.2468054, 2016. a
Gatebe, C. K. and King, M. D.: Airborne spectral BRDF of various surface types (ocean, vegetation, snow, desert, wetlands, cloud decks, smoke layers) for remote sensing applications, Remote Sens. Environ., 179, 131–148, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.03.029, 2016. a
Gatebe, C., King, M., Platnick, S., Arnold, G., Vermote, E., and Schmid, B.: Airborne spectral measurements of surface-atmosphere anisotropy for several surfaces and ecosystems over southern Africa, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8489, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002397, 2003. a, b, c, d
Gatebe, C. K., King, M. D., Lyapustin, A. I., Arnold, G. T., and Redemann, J.: Airborne spectral measurements of ocean directional reflectance, J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 1072–1092, 2005. a
Goyens, C., Marty, S., Leymarie, E., Antoine, D., Babin, M., and Bélanger, S.: High angular and spectral directional reflectance dataset of snow and sea-ice, SEANOE [data set], https://doi.org/10.17882/55352, 2015. a
Hartmann, J., Lüpkes, C., and Chechin, D.: 1Hz resolution aircraft measurements of wind and temperature during the ACLOUD campaign in 2017, Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.902849, 2019. a
Hoffman, J. P., Ackerman, S. A., Liu, Y., and Key, J. R.: The Detection and Characterization of Arctic Sea Ice Leads with Satellite Imagers, Remote Sens., 11, 521, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11050521, 2019. a
Ivanova, N., Rampal, P., and Bouillon, S.: Error assessment of satellite-derived lead fraction in the Arctic, The Cryosphere, 10, 585–595, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-10-585-2016, 2016. a
Jackson, C. and Alpers, W.: The role of the critical angle in brightness reversals on sunglint images of the sea surface, J. Geophys. Res., 115, C09019, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JC006037, 2010. a, b
Jafariserajehlou, S., Rozanov, V. V., Vountas, M., Gatebe, C. K., and Burrows, J. P.: Simulated reflectance above snow constrained by airborne measurements of solar radiation: implications for the snow grain morphology in the Arctic, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 369–389, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-369-2021, 2021. a
Jäkel, E. and Ehrlich, A.: Radiance fields of clouds and the Arctic surface measured by a digital camera during ACLOUD 2017, Leipzig Institute for Meteorology, University of Leipzig, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.901024, 2019. a, b
Jäkel, E., Ehrlich, A., Schäfer, M., and Wendisch, M.: Aircraft measurements of spectral solar up- and downward irradiances in the Arctic during the ACLOUD campaign 2017, Universität Leipzig, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899177, 2019a. a, b
Jäkel, E., Stapf, J., Wendisch, M., Nicolaus, M., Dorn, W., and Rinke, A.: Validation of the sea ice surface albedo scheme of the regional climate model HIRHAM–NAOSIM using aircraft measurements during the ACLOUD/PASCAL campaigns, The Cryosphere, 13, 1695–1708, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-1695-2019, 2019b. a
Jiang, K.: Calibrate fisheye lens using OpenCV – part 1, https://medium.com/@kennethjiang/calibrate-fisheye-lens-using-opencv-333b05afa0b0 (last access: 18 August 2020), 2017. a
Jin, Z., Charlock, T., Smith, W., and Rutledge, K.: A parameterization of ocean surface albedo, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L22301, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021180, 2004. a
Kashiwase, H., Ohshima, K. I., Nihashi, S., and Eicken, H.: Evidence for ice-ocean albedo feedback in the Arctic Ocean shifting to a seasonal ice zone, Sci. Rep., 7, 8170, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-08467-z, 2017. a
Kohout, A. L., Meylan, M. H., and Plew, D. R.: Wave attenuation in a marginal ice zone due to the bottom roughness of ice floes, Ann. Glaciol., 52, 118–122, https://doi.org/10.3189/172756411795931525, 2011. a, b, c
Kwok, R.: Arctic sea ice thickness, volume, and multiyear ice coverage: losses and coupled variability (1958–2018), Environ. Res. Lett., 13, 105005, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aae3ec, 2018. a
Marks, A., Fragiacomo, C., MacArthur, A., Zibordi, G., Fox, N., and King, M. D.: Characterisation of the HDRF (as a proxy for BRDF) of snow surfaces at Dome C, Antarctica, for the inter-calibration and inter-comparison of satellite optical data, Remote Sens. Environ., 158, 407–416, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2014.11.013, 2015.
a
Maturilli, M.: High resolution radiosonde measurements from station Ny-Ålesund (2017-06), Alfred Wegener Institute – Research Unit Potsdam, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.879822, 2017. a
Mayer, B. and Kylling, A.: Technical note: The libRadtran software package for radiative transfer calculations – description and examples of use, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 1855–1877, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-1855-2005, 2005. a, b
Perovich, D., Meier, W., Tschudi, M., Farrell, S., Hendricks, S., Gerlach, S., Haas, C., Krumpen, T., Polashenski, C., Ricker, R., and Webster, M.: Sea Ice, in: Arctic Report Card 2018, 25–32, https://arctic.noaa.gov/Report-Card/Report-Card-2018 (last access: 4 May 2022), 2018. a
Pithan, F. and Mauritsen, T.: Arctic amplification dominated by temperature feedbacks in contemporary climate models, Nature, 7, 181–184, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2071, 2014. a
Qu, Y., Liang, S., Liu, Q., Li, X., Feng, Y., and Liu, S.: Estimating Arctic sea-ice shortwave albedo from MODIS data, Remote Sens. Environ., 186, 32–46, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.08.015, 2016. a
Ricchiazzi, P. and Gautier, C.: Investigation of the effect of surface heterogeneity and topography on the radiation environment of Palmer Station, Antarctica, with a hybrid 3-D radiative transfer model, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 103, 6161–6176, https://doi.org/10.1029/97jd03629, 1998. a
Rolph, R. J., Feltham, D. L., and Schröder, D.: Changes of the Arctic marginal ice zone during the satellite era, The Cryosphere, 14, 1971–1984, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-1971-2020, 2020. a
Schaaf, C. B., Gao, F., Strahler, A. H., Lucht, W., Li, X. W., Tsang, T., Strugnell, N. C., Zhang, X. Y., Jin, Y. F., Muller, J. P., Lewis, P., Barnsley, M., Hobson, P., Disney, M., Roberts, G., Dunderdale, M., Doll, C., d'Entremont, R. P., Hu, B. X., Liang, S. L., Privette, J. L., and Roy, D.: First operational BRDF, albedo nadir reflectance products from MODIS, Remote Sens. Environ., 83, 135–148, 2002. a
Schäfer, M., Bierwirth, E., Ehrlich, A., Jäkel, E., and Wendisch, M.: Airborne observations and simulations of three-dimensional radiative interactions between Arctic boundary layer clouds and ice floes, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 8147–8163, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8147-2015, 2015. a, b
Stapf, J., Ehrlich, A., Jäkel, E., Lüpkes, C., and Wendisch, M.: Reassessment of shortwave surface cloud radiative forcing in the Arctic: consideration of surface-albedo–cloud interactions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9895–9914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9895-2020, 2020. a
Strong, C. and Rigor, I. G.: Arctic marginal ice zone trending wider in summer and narrower in winter, Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 4864–4868, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50928, 2013. a, b, c
Urquhart, B., Kurtz, B., and Kleissl, J.: Sky camera geometric calibration using solar observations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4279–4294, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4279-2016, 2016. a
Warren, S., Brandt, R., and Hinton, P.: Effect of surface roughness on bidirectional reflectance of Antarctic snow, J. Geophys. Res.-Planets, 103, 25789–25807, https://doi.org/10.1029/98JE01898, 1998. a, b
Wendisch, M., Müller, D., Schell, D., and Heintzenberg, J.: An airborne spectral albedometer with active horizontal stabilization, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 18, 1856–1866, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2001)018<1856:AASAWA>2.0.CO;2, 2001. a
Wendisch, M., Brückner, M., Burrows, J. P., Crewell, S., Dethloff, K., Ebell, K., Lüpkes, C., Macke, A., Notholt, J., Quaas, J., Rinke, A., and Tegen, I.: Understanding causes and effects of rapid warming in the Arctic, Eos, 98, 22–26, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO064803, 2017. a
Wendisch, M., Macke, A., Ehrlich, A., Lüpkes, C., Mech, M., Chechin, D., Dethloff, K., Velasco, C. B., Bozem, H., Brückner, M., Clemen, H.-C., Crewell, S., Donth, T., Dupuy, R., Ebell, K., Egerer, U., Engelmann, R., Engler, C., Eppers, O., Gehrmann, M., Gong, X., Gottschalk, M., Gourbeyre, C., Griesche, H., Hartmann, J., Hartmann, M., Heinold, B., Herber, A., Herrmann, H., Heygster, G., Hoor, P., Jafariserajehlou, S., Jäkel, E., Järvinen, E., Jourdan, O., Kästner, U., Kecorius, S., Knudsen, E. M., Köllner, F., Kretzschmar, J., Lelli, L., Leroy, D., Maturilli, M., Mei, L., Mertes, S., Mioche, G., Neuber, R., Nicolaus, M., Nomokonova, T., Notholt, J., Palm, M., van Pinxteren, M., Quaas, J., Richter, P., Ruiz-Donoso, E., Schäfer, M., Schmieder, K., Schnaiter, M., Schneider, J., Schwarzenböck, A., Seifert, P., Shupe, M. D., Siebert, H., Spreen, G., Stapf, J., Stratmann, F., Vogl, T., Welti, A., Wex, H., Wiedensohler, A., Zanatta, M., and Zeppenfeld, S.: The Arctic Cloud Puzzle: Using ACLOUD/PASCAL Multiplatform Observations to Unravel the Role of Clouds and Aerosol Particles in Arctic Amplification, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100, 841–871, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0072.1, 2019.
a
Wesche, C., Steinhage, D., and Nixdorf, U.: Polar aircraft Polar5 and Polar6 operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute, J. Large-Scale Res. Facilities, 2, A87, https://doi.org/10.17815/jlsrf-2-153, 2016. a
Wiscombe, W.: Improved Mie scattering algorithms, Appl. Optics, 19, 1505–1509, 1980. a
Short summary
Airborne radiation measurements are used to characterize the solar directional reflection of a mixture of Arctic sea ice and open-ocean surfaces in the transition zone between both surface types. The mixture reveals reflection properties of both surface types. It is shown that the directional reflection of the mixture can be reconstructed from the directional reflection of the individual surfaces, accounting for the special conditions present in the transition zone.
Airborne radiation measurements are used to characterize the solar directional reflection of a...
