Articles | Volume 15, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-521-2022
© 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-15-521-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
31 Jan 2022
Research article |
| 31 Jan 2022
| 31 Jan 2022
Improving thermodynamic profile retrievals from microwave radiometers by including radio acoustic sounding system (RASS) observations
Irina V. Djalalova
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Weather and Climate Dynamics, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Boulder, CO, USA
Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
David D. Turner
Global Systems Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
Laura Bianco
Weather and Climate Dynamics, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Boulder, CO, USA
Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
James M. Wilczak
Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
James Duncan
Weather and Climate Dynamics, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Boulder, CO, USA
Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
now at: WindESCo, Burlington, MA, USA
Bianca Adler
Weather and Climate Dynamics, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), Boulder, CO, USA
Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
Daniel Gottas
Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, CO, USA
Related authors
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation physical retrieval is used to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from various combinations of passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. The retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde in non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the retrievals to different input combinations. Case studies with cloudy conditions are also inspected.
Bianca Adler, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, and James M. Wilczak
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Profiles of temperature and humidity in the atmospheric boundary layer can be retrieved from passive ground-based remote sensors such as microwave radiometers and infrared spectrometers. In this work, we present improvements to the optimal estimation physical retrieval framework TROPoe, which increase the availability of retrieved profiles and temporal consistency and enhance the value of TROPoe for the study of atmospheric processes.
Bianca Adler, James M. Wilczak, Jaymes Kenyon, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Joseph B. Olson, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 597–619, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-597-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-597-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Rapid changes in wind speed make the integration of wind energy produced during persistent orographic cold-air pools difficult to integrate into the electrical grid. By evaluating three versions of NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model, we demonstrate how model developments targeted during the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project improve the forecast of a persistent cold-air pool event.
James B. Duncan Jr., Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Tyler Bell, Irina V. Djalalova, Laura Riihimaki, Joseph Sedlar, Elizabeth N. Smith, David D. Turner, Timothy J. Wagner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2479–2502, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2479-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2479-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, several ground-based remote sensing instruments are used to estimate the height of the convective planetary boundary layer, and their performance is compared against independent boundary layer depth estimates obtained from radiosondes launched as part of the CHEESEHEAD19 field campaign. The impact of clouds (particularly boundary layer clouds) on the estimation of the boundary layer depth is also investigated.
Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, James M. Wilczak, Joseph B. Olson, Jaymes S. Kenyon, Aditya Choukulkar, Larry K. Berg, Harindra J. S. Fernando, Eric P. Grimit, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Julie K. Lundquist, Paytsar Muradyan, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Mark T. Stoelinga, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4803–4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
During the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project, improvements to the parameterizations were applied to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh model and its nested version. The impacts of the new parameterizations on the forecast of 80 m wind speeds and power are assessed, using sodars and profiling lidars observations for comparison. Improvements are evaluated as a function of the model’s initialization time, forecast horizon, time of the day, season, site elevation, and meteorological phenomena.
Luca Delle Monache, Stefano Alessandrini, Irina Djalalova, James Wilczak, and Jason C. Knievel
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-1214, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-1214, 2018
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The authors demonstrate how the analog ensemble (AnEn) can efficiently generate deterministic and probabilistic forecasts of air quality. The method avoids the complexity and real-time computational expense of dynamical (i.e., model-based) ensembles. AnEn deterministic predictions have lower errors and are better correlated with observations. Probabilistic forecasts from AnEn are statistically consistent, reliable, and sharp, and they quantify the uncertainty of the underlying prediction.
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation physical retrieval is used to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from various combinations of passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. The retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde in non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the retrievals to different input combinations. Case studies with cloudy conditions are also inspected.
Christopher J. Cox, Janet M. Intrieri, Brian Butterworth, Gijs de Boer, Michael R. Gallagher, Jonathan Hamilton, Erik Hulm, Tilden Meyers, Sara M. Morris, Jackson Osborn, P. Ola G. Persson, Benjamin Schmatz, Matthew D. Shupe, and James M. Wilczak
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-158, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-158, 2024
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
Snow is an essential water resource in the intermountain western United States and predictions are made using models. We made observations to validate, constrain, and develop the models. The data is from the Study of Precipitation, the Lower Atmosphere, and Surface for Hydrometeorology (SPLASH) campaign in Colorado’s East River Valley, 2021–2023. The measurements include meteorology and variables that quantify energy transfer between the atmosphere and surface. The data are available publicly.
Bianca Adler, David D. Turner, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, and James M. Wilczak
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-714, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Profiles of temperature and humidity in the atmospheric boundary layer can be retrieved from passive ground-based remote sensors such as microwave radiometers and infrared spectrometers. In this work, we present improvements to the optimal estimation physical retrieval framework TROPoe, which increase the availability of retrieved profiles and temporal consistency and enhance the value of TROPoe for the study of atmospheric processes.
Nevio Babić, Bianca Adler, Alexander Gohm, Manuela Lehner, and Norbert Kalthoff
Weather Clim. Dynam., 5, 609–631, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-609-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-609-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Day-to-day weather over mountains remains a significant challenge in the domain of weather forecast. Using a combination of measurements from several instrument platforms, including Doppler lidars, aircraft, and radiosondes, we developed a method that relies primarily on turbulence characteristics of the lowest layers of the atmosphere. As a result, we identified new ways in which atmosphere behaves over mountains during daytime, which may serve to further improve forecasting capabilities.
Tessa Rosenberger, David D. Turner, Thijs Heus, Girish N. Raghunathan, Timothy J. Wagner, and Julia Simonson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-868, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work used model output to show that considering the changes in boundary layer depth over time in the calculations of variables such as fluxes and variance yields more accurate results than cases where calculations were done at a constant height. This work was done to improve future observations of these variables at the top of the boundary layer.
Volker Wulfmeyer, Christoph Senff, Florian Späth, Andreas Behrendt, Diego Lange, Robert M. Banta, W. Alan Brewer, Andreas Wieser, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1175–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A simultaneous deployment of Doppler, temperature, and water-vapor lidar systems is used to provide profiles of molecular destruction rates and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation in the convective boundary layer (CBL). The results can be used for the parameterization of turbulent variables, TKE budget analyses, and the verification of weather forecast and climate models.
Sunil Baidar, Timothy J. Wagner, David D. Turner, and W. Alan Brewer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3715–3726, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3715-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3715-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides a new method to retrieve wind profiles from coherent Doppler lidar (CDL) measurements. It takes advantage of layer-to-layer correlation in wind profiles to provide continuous profiles of up to 3 km by filling in the gaps where the CDL signal is too small to retrieve reliable results by itself. Comparison with the current method and collocated radiosonde wind measurements showed excellent agreement with no degradation in results where the current method gives valid results.
Maria P. Cadeddu, Virendra P. Ghate, David D. Turner, and Thomas E. Surleta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3453–3470, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3453-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3453-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze the variability in marine boundary layer moisture at the Eastern North Atlantic site on a monthly and daily temporal scale and examine its fundamental role in the control of boundary layer cloudiness and precipitation. The study also highlights the complex interaction between large-scale and local processes controlling the boundary layer moisture and the importance of the mesoscale spatial distribution of vapor to support convection and precipitation.
Bianca Adler, James M. Wilczak, Jaymes Kenyon, Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, Joseph B. Olson, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 597–619, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-597-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-597-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Rapid changes in wind speed make the integration of wind energy produced during persistent orographic cold-air pools difficult to integrate into the electrical grid. By evaluating three versions of NOAA’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh model, we demonstrate how model developments targeted during the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project improve the forecast of a persistent cold-air pool event.
Gianluca Di Natale, David D. Turner, Giovanni Bianchini, Massimo Del Guasta, Luca Palchetti, Alessandro Bracci, Luca Baldini, Tiziano Maestri, William Cossich, Michele Martinazzo, and Luca Facheris
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7235–7258, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7235-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we describe a new approach to test the consistency of the precipitating ice cloud optical and microphysical properties in Antarctica, Dome C, retrieved from hyperspectral measurements in the far-infrared, with the reflectivity detected by a co-located micro rain radar operating at 24 GHz. The retrieved ice crystal sizes were found in accordance with the direct measurements of an optical imager, also installed at Dome C, which can collect the falling ice particles.
William J. Shaw, Larry K. Berg, Mithu Debnath, Georgios Deskos, Caroline Draxl, Virendra P. Ghate, Charlotte B. Hasager, Rao Kotamarthi, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Paytsar Muradyan, William J. Pringle, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2307–2334, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides a review of prominent scientific challenges to characterizing the offshore wind resource using as examples phenomena that occur in the rapidly developing wind energy areas off the United States. The paper also describes the current state of modeling and observations in the marine atmospheric boundary layer and provides specific recommendations for filling key current knowledge gaps.
Heather Guy, David D. Turner, Von P. Walden, Ian M. Brooks, and Ryan R. Neely
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5095–5115, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5095-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5095-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Fog formation is highly sensitive to near-surface temperatures and humidity profiles. Passive remote sensing instruments can provide continuous measurements of the vertical temperature and humidity profiles and liquid water content, which can improve fog forecasts. Here we compare the performance of collocated infrared and microwave remote sensing instruments and demonstrate that the infrared instrument is especially sensitive to the onset of thin radiation fog.
James B. Duncan Jr., Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Tyler Bell, Irina V. Djalalova, Laura Riihimaki, Joseph Sedlar, Elizabeth N. Smith, David D. Turner, Timothy J. Wagner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2479–2502, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2479-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2479-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, several ground-based remote sensing instruments are used to estimate the height of the convective planetary boundary layer, and their performance is compared against independent boundary layer depth estimates obtained from radiosondes launched as part of the CHEESEHEAD19 field campaign. The impact of clouds (particularly boundary layer clouds) on the estimation of the boundary layer depth is also investigated.
Heather Guy, Ian M. Brooks, Ken S. Carslaw, Benjamin J. Murray, Von P. Walden, Matthew D. Shupe, Claire Pettersen, David D. Turner, Christopher J. Cox, William D. Neff, Ralf Bennartz, and Ryan R. Neely III
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15351–15374, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15351-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15351-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present the first full year of surface aerosol number concentration measurements from the central Greenland Ice Sheet. Aerosol concentrations here have a distinct seasonal cycle from those at lower-altitude Arctic sites, which is driven by large-scale atmospheric circulation. Our results can be used to help understand the role aerosols might play in Greenland surface melt through the modification of cloud properties. This is crucial in a rapidly changing region where observations are sparse.
Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob K. Newsom, Larry K. Berg, Heng Xiao, Po-Lun Ma, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4403–4424, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4403-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4403-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height is a critical parameter in atmospheric models. Continuous PBL height measurements from remote sensing measurements are important to understand various boundary layer mechanisms, especially during daytime and evening transition periods. Due to several limitations in existing methodologies to detect PBL height from a Doppler lidar, in this study, a machine learning (ML) approach is tested. The ML model is observed to improve the accuracy by over 50 %.
David D. Turner and Ulrich Löhnert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3033–3048, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3033-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3033-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Temperature and humidity profiles in the lowest couple of kilometers near the surface are very important for many applications. Passive spectral radiometers are commercially available, and observations from these instruments have been used to get these profiles. However, new active lidar systems are able to measure partial profiles of water vapor. This paper investigates how the derived profiles of water vapor and temperature are improved when the active and passive observations are combined.
Maurin Zouzoua, Fabienne Lohou, Paul Assamoi, Marie Lothon, Véronique Yoboue, Cheikh Dione, Norbert Kalthoff, Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, and Solène Derrien
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2027–2051, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2027-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2027-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Based on a field experiment conducted in June and July 2016, we analyzed the daytime breakup of continental low-level stratiform clouds over southern West Africa in order to provide complementary guidance for model evaluation during the monsoon season. Those clouds exhibit weaker temperature and moisture jumps at the top compared to marine stratiform clouds. Their lifetime and the transition towards shallow convective clouds during daytime hours depend on their coupling with the surface.
Caroline Draxl, Rochelle P. Worsnop, Geng Xia, Yelena Pichugina, Duli Chand, Julie K. Lundquist, Justin Sharp, Garrett Wedam, James M. Wilczak, and Larry K. Berg
Wind Energ. Sci., 6, 45–60, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-45-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-6-45-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Mountain waves can create oscillations in low-level wind speeds and subsequently in the power output of wind plants. We document such oscillations by analyzing sodar and lidar observations, nacelle wind speeds, power observations, and Weather Research and Forecasting model simulations. This research describes how mountain waves form in the Columbia River basin and affect wind energy production and their impact on operational forecasting, wind plant layout, and integration of power into the grid.
Barbara Altstädter, Konrad Deetz, Bernhard Vogel, Karmen Babić, Cheikh Dione, Federica Pacifico, Corinne Jambert, Friederike Ebus, Konrad Bärfuss, Falk Pätzold, Astrid Lampert, Bianca Adler, Norbert Kalthoff, and Fabienne Lohou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7911–7928, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7911-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7911-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present the high vertical variability of the black carbon (BC) mass concentration measured with the unmanned aerial system ALADINA during the field experiment of DACCIWA. The COSMO-ART model output was applied for the campaign period and is compared with the observational BC data during a case study on 14–15 July 2016. Enhanced BC concentrations were related to transport processes to the measurement site by maritime inflow and not to local emissions as initially expected.
Benjamin Fersch, Alfonso Senatore, Bianca Adler, Joël Arnault, Matthias Mauder, Katrin Schneider, Ingo Völksch, and Harald Kunstmann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2457–2481, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2457-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2457-2020, 2020
James B. Duncan Jr., Brian D. Hirth, and John L. Schroeder
Wind Energ. Sci., 5, 469–488, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-469-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-5-469-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Results highlight some of the complexities associated with executing and analyzing wind plant control at full scale using brief experimental control periods. Some difficulties include (1) the ability to accurately implement the desired control changes on smaller timescales, (2) identifying reliable data sources and methods to quantify these control changes, and (3) attributing variations in wake structure to turbine control changes rather than a response to the underlying atmospheric conditions.
Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, Stephan R. de Roode, Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Cheikh Dione, Norbert Kalthoff, Fabienne Lohou, Marie Lothon, and Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2735–2754, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2735-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2735-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Using a high-resolution model we simulate the transition from night to day clouds on southern West Africa using observations from the DACCIWA project. We find that the radiative effects of clouds help mantain a thick cloud layer in the night, while the mixing of cloud air with air above during the day, aided by moisture and heat fluxes at the surface, thins this layer and promotes its transition to other clouds. The effect of changing wind with height accelerates the transition.
Fabienne Lohou, Norbert Kalthoff, Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Cheikh Dione, Marie Lothon, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, and Maurin Zouzoua
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2263–2275, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2263-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2263-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A conceptual model of the low-level stratiform clouds (LLSCs), which develop almost every night in southern West Africa, is built with the dataset acquired during the DACCIWA (Dynamics Aerosol Chemistry Cloud Interactions in West Africa) ground-based field experiment. Several processes occur during the four phases composing this diurnal cycle: the cooling of the air until saturation (stable and jet phases), LLSC and low-level jet interactions (stratus phase), and LLSC breakup (convective phase).
Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, James M. Wilczak, Joseph B. Olson, Jaymes S. Kenyon, Aditya Choukulkar, Larry K. Berg, Harindra J. S. Fernando, Eric P. Grimit, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Julie K. Lundquist, Paytsar Muradyan, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Mark T. Stoelinga, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4803–4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
During the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project, improvements to the parameterizations were applied to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh model and its nested version. The impacts of the new parameterizations on the forecast of 80 m wind speeds and power are assessed, using sodars and profiling lidars observations for comparison. Improvements are evaluated as a function of the model’s initialization time, forecast horizon, time of the day, season, site elevation, and meteorological phenomena.
Karmen Babić, Norbert Kalthoff, Bianca Adler, Julian F. Quinting, Fabienne Lohou, Cheikh Dione, and Marie Lothon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 13489–13506, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13489-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-13489-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates differences in atmospheric conditions between nights with and without low-level stratus clouds (LLCs) over southern West Africa. We use high-quality observations collected during 2016 summer monsoon season and the ERA5 reanalysis data set. Our results show that the formation of LLCs depends on the interplay between the onset time and strength of the nocturnal low-level jet, horizontal cold-air advection, and the overall moisture level in the whole region.
Cheikh Dione, Fabienne Lohou, Marie Lothon, Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Norbert Kalthoff, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, Yannick Bezombes, and Omar Gabella
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8979–8997, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8979-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8979-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Low atmospheric dynamics and low-level cloud (LLC) macrophysical properties are analyzed using in situ and remote sensing data collected from 20 June to 30 July at Savè, Benin, during the DACCIWA field campaign in 2016. We find that the low-level jet (LLJ), LLCs, monsoon flow, and maritime inflow reveal a day-to-day variability. LLCs form at the same level as the jet core height. The cloud base height is stationary at night and remains below the jet. The cloud top height is found above the jet.
Peter C. Kalverla, James B. Duncan Jr., Gert-Jan Steeneveld, and Albert A. M. Holtslag
Wind Energ. Sci., 4, 193–209, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-193-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-4-193-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A common assumption in the design of wind turbines and wind farms is that the wind field is quite uniform. This assumption is violated during so-called low-level jet events, when there is a distinct peak in the wind speed. Low-level jets modify loads on the turbines and also affect power production. To understand their impact and facilitate better planning and design, we present a detailed climatology of these events over the North Sea, based on offshore measurements and meteorological models.
Karmen Babić, Bianca Adler, Norbert Kalthoff, Hendrik Andersen, Cheikh Dione, Fabienne Lohou, Marie Lothon, and Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 1281–1299, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1281-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1281-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The first detailed observational analysis of the complete diurnal cycle of low-level clouds (LLC) and associated atmospheric processes over southern West Africa is performed using the data gathered within the DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud-Interactions in West Africa) ground-based campaign. We find cooling related to the horizontal advection, which occurs in connection with the inflow of cool maritime air mass and a prominent low-level jet, to have the dominant role in LLC formation.
Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Norbert Kalthoff, Fabienne Lohou, Marie Lothon, Cheikh Dione, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, and Hendrik Andersen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 663–681, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-663-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-663-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study deals with nocturnal stratiform low-level clouds that frequently form in the atmospheric boundary layer over southern West Africa. We use observational data from 11 nights to characterize the clouds and intranight variability of boundary layer conditions as well as to assess the physical processes relevant for cloud formation. We find that cooling is crucial to reach saturation and a large part of the cooling is related to horizontal advection of cool air from the Gulf of Guinea.
Konrad Deetz, Heike Vogel, Peter Knippertz, Bianca Adler, Jonathan Taylor, Hugh Coe, Keith Bower, Sophie Haslett, Michael Flynn, James Dorsey, Ian Crawford, Christoph Kottmeier, and Bernhard Vogel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 9767–9788, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9767-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9767-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Highly resolved process study simulations for 2–3 July are conducted with COSMO-ART to assess the aerosol direct and indirect effect on meteorological conditions over southern West Africa. The meteorological phenomena of Atlantic inflow and stratus-to-cumulus transition are identified as highly susceptible to the aerosol direct effect, leading to a spatial shift of the Atlantic inflow front and a temporal shift of the stratus-to-cumulus transition with changes in the aerosol amount.
Florian Pantillon, Andreas Wieser, Bianca Adler, Ulrich Corsmeier, and Peter Knippertz
Adv. Sci. Res., 15, 91–97, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-15-91-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/asr-15-91-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The Wind and Storms Experiment (WASTEX) was conducted during the winter 2016–2017 in the Upper Rhine Valley to better understand the formation of wind gusts during the passage of storms. The key instrument of the field campaign was a scanning Doppler lidar, which provides accurate wind observations along its beam with high spatial and temporal resolutions and within a range of several km. Results from WASTEX should help improving the representation of wind gusts in weather and climate models.
Luca Delle Monache, Stefano Alessandrini, Irina Djalalova, James Wilczak, and Jason C. Knievel
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-1214, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-1214, 2018
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
The authors demonstrate how the analog ensemble (AnEn) can efficiently generate deterministic and probabilistic forecasts of air quality. The method avoids the complexity and real-time computational expense of dynamical (i.e., model-based) ensembles. AnEn deterministic predictions have lower errors and are better correlated with observations. Probabilistic forecasts from AnEn are statistically consistent, reliable, and sharp, and they quantify the uncertainty of the underlying prediction.
Claire Pettersen, Ralf Bennartz, Aronne J. Merrelli, Matthew D. Shupe, David D. Turner, and Von P. Walden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4715–4735, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4715-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4715-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A novel method for classifying Arctic precipitation using ground based remote sensors is presented. The classification reveals two distinct, primary regimes of precipitation over the central Greenland Ice Sheet: snowfall coupled to deep, fully glaciated ice clouds or to shallow, mixed-phase clouds. The ice clouds are associated with low-pressure storm systems from the southeast, while the mixed-phase clouds slowly propagate from the southwest along a quiescent flow.
Norbert Kalthoff, Fabienne Lohou, Barbara Brooks, Gbenga Jegede, Bianca Adler, Karmen Babić, Cheikh Dione, Adewale Ajao, Leonard K. Amekudzi, Jeffrey N. A. Aryee, Muritala Ayoola, Geoffrey Bessardon, Sylvester K. Danuor, Jan Handwerker, Martin Kohler, Marie Lothon, Xabier Pedruzo-Bagazgoitia, Victoria Smith, Lukman Sunmonu, Andreas Wieser, Andreas H. Fink, and Peter Knippertz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2913–2928, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2913-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2913-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Extended low-level stratus clouds (LLC) form frequently in southern West Africa during the night-time and persist long into the next day. They affect the radiation budget, atmospheric boundary-layer (BL) evolution and regional climate. The relevant processes governing their formation and dissolution are not fully understood. Thus, a field campaign was conducted in summer 2016, which provided a comprehensive data set for process studies, specifically of interactions between LLC and BL conditions.
Robert A. Stillwell, Ryan R. Neely III, Jeffrey P. Thayer, Matthew D. Shupe, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 835–859, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This work focuses on making unambiguous measurements of Arctic cloud phase and assessing those measurements within the context of cloud radiative effects. It is found that effects related to lidar data recording systems can cause retrieval ambiguities that alter the interpretation of cloud phase in as much as 30 % of the available data. This misinterpretation of cloud-phase data can cause a misinterpretation of the effect of cloud phase on the surface radiation budget by as much as 10 to 30 %.
Katherine McCaffrey, Laura Bianco, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2595–2611, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2595-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2595-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we use two wind profiling radars, operating along side a highly instrumented 300 m meteorological tower, to observe turbulence dissipation rates in the planetary boundary layer from an optimized performance setup. Analysis of post-processing techniques, including spectral averaging and moments' calculation methods, shows the optimal parameters which result in good agreement, especially after bias corrections, with sonic anemometers on the tall tower.
Yann Blanchard, Alain Royer, Norman T. O'Neill, David D. Turner, and Edwin W. Eloranta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2129–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2129-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2129-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Multiband thermal measurements of zenith sky radiance were used in a retrieval algorithm, to estimate cloud optical depth and effective particle diameter of thin ice clouds in the Canadian High Arctic. The retrieval technique was validated using a synergy lidar and radar data. Inversions were performed across three polar winters and results showed a significant correlation (R2 = 0.95) for cloud optical depth retrievals and an overall accuracy of 83 % for the classification of thin ice clouds.
Laura Bianco, Katja Friedrich, James M. Wilczak, Duane Hazen, Daniel Wolfe, Ruben Delgado, Steven P. Oncley, and Julie K. Lundquist
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1707–1721, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1707-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1707-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
XPIA is a study held in 2015 at NOAA's Boulder Atmospheric Observatory facility, aimed at assessing remote-sensing capabilities for wind energy applications. We use well-defined reference systems to validate temperature retrieved by two microwave radiometers (MWRs) and virtual temperature measured by wind profiling radars with radio acoustic sounding systems (RASSs). Water vapor density and relative humidity by the MWRs were also compared with similar measurements from the reference systems.
Rob K. Newsom, W. Alan Brewer, James M. Wilczak, Daniel E. Wolfe, Steven P. Oncley, and Julie K. Lundquist
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1229–1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1229-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1229-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Doppler lidars are remote sensing instruments that use infrared light to measure wind velocity in the lowest 2 to 3 km of the atmosphere. Quantifying the uncertainty in these measurements is crucial for applications ranging from wind resource assessment to model data assimilation. In this study, we evaluate three methods for estimating the random uncertainty by comparing the lidar wind measurements with nearly collocated in situ wind measurements at multiple levels on a tall tower.
Mithu Debnath, Giacomo Valerio Iungo, W. Alan Brewer, Aditya Choukulkar, Ruben Delgado, Scott Gunter, Julie K. Lundquist, John L. Schroeder, James M. Wilczak, and Daniel Wolfe
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1215–1227, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1215-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1215-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The XPIA experiment was conducted in 2015 at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory to estimate capabilities of various remote-sensing techniques for the characterization of complex atmospheric flows. Among different tests, XPIA provided the unique opportunity to perform simultaneous virtual towers with Ka-band radars and scanning Doppler wind lidars. Wind speed and wind direction were assessed against lidar profilers and sonic anemometer data, highlighting a good accuracy of the data retrieved.
Katherine McCaffrey, Laura Bianco, Paul Johnston, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 999–1015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-999-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-999-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Using an optimized turbulence mode of two wind profiling radars (449 MHz and 915 MHz) during the XPIA field campaign, we present improved measurements of vertical velocity variance at the resolved and unresolved scales, using first and second Doppler spectral moments, and the total variance over all scales. Comparisons with sonic anemometers gave strong results, particularly during the daytime convective period. Profiles up to 2 km are possible with the 449 MHz WPR and 1 km from the 915 MHz WPR.
Mithu Debnath, G. Valerio Iungo, Ryan Ashton, W. Alan Brewer, Aditya Choukulkar, Ruben Delgado, Julie K. Lundquist, William J. Shaw, James M. Wilczak, and Daniel Wolfe
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 431–444, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-431-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-431-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Triple RHI scans were performed with three simultaneous scanning Doppler wind lidars and assessed with lidar profiler and sonic anemometer data. This test is part of the XPIA experiment. The scan strategy consists in two lidars performing co-planar RHI scans, while a third lidar measures the transversal velocity component. The results show that horizontal velocity and wind direction are measured with good accuracy, while the vertical velocity is typically measured with a significant error.
Katherine McCaffrey, Paul T. Quelet, Aditya Choukulkar, James M. Wilczak, Daniel E. Wolfe, Steven P. Oncley, W. Alan Brewer, Mithu Debnath, Ryan Ashton, G. Valerio Iungo, and Julie K. Lundquist
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 393–407, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-393-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-393-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
During the eXperimental Planetary boundary layer Instrumentation Assessment (XPIA) field campaign, the wake and flow distortion from a 300-meter meteorological tower was identified using pairs of sonic anemometers mounted on opposite sides of the tower, as well as profiling and scanning lidars. Wind speed deficits up to 50% and TKE increases of 2 orders of magnitude were observed at wind directions in the wake, along with wind direction differences (flow deflection) outside of the wake.
Aditya Choukulkar, W. Alan Brewer, Scott P. Sandberg, Ann Weickmann, Timothy A. Bonin, R. Michael Hardesty, Julie K. Lundquist, Ruben Delgado, G. Valerio Iungo, Ryan Ashton, Mithu Debnath, Laura Bianco, James M. Wilczak, Steven Oncley, and Daniel Wolfe
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 247–264, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-247-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-247-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper discusses trade-offs among various wind measurement strategies using scanning Doppler lidars. It is found that the trade-off exists between being able to make highly precise point measurements versus covering large spatial extents. The highest measurement precision is achieved when multiple lidar systems make wind measurements at one point in space, while highest spatial coverage is achieved through using single lidar scanning measurements and using complex retrieval techniques.
Bianca Adler, Norbert Kalthoff, and Leonhard Gantner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 899–910, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-899-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-899-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study deals with the development of nocturnal low-level clouds, which frequently form over southern West Africa during the monsoon season. We performed numerical simulations with the COSMO model and identified processes possibly relevant to cloud formation. The study was made in preparation of a field campaign, which took place in summer 2016 within the DACCIWA project and the results contributed to the optimisation of the measurement strategy during the campaign.
Claire Pettersen, Ralf Bennartz, Mark S. Kulie, Aronne J. Merrelli, Matthew D. Shupe, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4743–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4743-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4743-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
We examined four summers of data from a ground-based atmospheric science instrument suite at Summit Station, Greenland, to isolate the signature of the ice precipitation. By using a combination of instruments with different specialities, we identified a passive microwave signature of the ice precipitation. This ice signature compares well to models using synthetic data characteristic of the site.
Andrew M. Dzambo, David D. Turner, and Eli J. Mlawer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1613–1626, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1613-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1613-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Radiosondes are used to characterize the humidity in the middle and upper troposphere, but suffer from a solar radiation induced dry bias. This work investigates the accuracy of two published correction algorithms using comparisons with other instruments.
K. Van Tricht, I. V. Gorodetskaya, S. Lhermitte, D. D. Turner, J. H. Schween, and N. P. M. Van Lipzig
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1153–1167, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1153-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1153-2014, 2014
G. Maschwitz, U. Löhnert, S. Crewell, T. Rose, and D. D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2641–2658, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2641-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2641-2013, 2013
M. P. Cadeddu, J. C. Liljegren, and D. D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2359–2372, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2359-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2359-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Others (Wind, Precipitation, Temperature, etc.) | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Unfiltering of the EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations: the BM-RAD product
Variance estimations in the presence of intermittent interference and their applications to incoherent scatter radar signal processing
A clustering-based method for identifying and tracking squall lines
A multi-instrument fuzzy logic boundary-layer-top detection algorithm
Sensitivity of thermodynamic profiles retrieved from ground-based microwave and infrared observations to additional input data from active remote sensing instruments and numerical weather prediction models
Scale separation for gravity wave analysis from 3D temperature observations in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region
Estimating the refractivity bias of FORMOSAT-7/COSMIC-2 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation in the deep troposphere
High Spectral Resolution Lidar – generation 2 (HSRL-2) retrievals of ocean surface wind speed: methodology and evaluation
Dual adaptive differential threshold method for automated detection of faint and strong echo features in radar observations of winter storms
Noise filtering options for conically scanning Doppler lidar measurements with low pulse accumulation
Measuring rainfall using microwave links: the influence of temporal sampling
Drone-based photogrammetry combined with deep learning to estimate hail size distributions and melting of hail on the ground
The High lAtitude sNowfall Detection and Estimation aLgorithm for ATMS (HANDEL-ATMS): a new algorithm for snowfall retrieval at high latitudes
Next-generation radiance unfiltering process for the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instrument
Improved rain event detection in commercial microwave link time series via combination with MSG SEVIRI data
A directional surface reflectance climatology determined from TROPOMI observations
Investigation of gravity waves using measurements from a sodium temperature/wind lidar operated in multi-direction mode
An improved BRDF hotspot model and its use in VLIDORT for studying the impact of atmospheric scattering on hotspot directional signatures in the atmosphere
A multi-decadal time series of upper stratospheric temperature profiles from Odin-OSIRIS limb-scattered spectra
Thermal tides in the middle atmosphere at mid-latitudes measured with a ground-based microwave Radiometer
CALOTRITON: a convective boundary layer height estimation algorithm from ultra-high-frequency (UHF) wind profiler data
Enhancing consistency of microphysical properties of precipitation across the melting layer in dual-frequency precipitation radar data
On the temperature stability requirements of free-running Nd:YAG lasers for atmospheric temperature profiling through the rotational Raman technique
A New Non-linearity Correction Method for Spectrum from GIIRS onboard Fengyun-4 Satellites and its Preliminary Assessments
Profiling the molecular destruction rates of temperature and humidity as well as the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation in the convective boundary layer
Improving the Gaussianity of Radar Reflectivity Departures between Observations and Simulations by Using the Symmetric Rain Rate
Forward operator for polarimetric radio occultation measurements
Assessing atmospheric gravity wave spectra in the presence of observational gaps
Determination of High-Precision Tropospheric Delays Using Crowdsourced Smartphone GNSS Data
Joint 1DVar retrievals of tropospheric temperature and water vapor from Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation (GNSS-RO) and microwave radiometer observations
Mispointing characterization and Doppler velocity correction for the conically scanning WIVERN Doppler radar
Radar and environment-based hail damage estimates using machine learning
A new power-law model for μ–Λ relationships in convective and stratiform rainfall
Global Sensitivity Analysis of simulated polarimetric remote sensing observations over snow
Suppression of precipitation bias in wind velocities from continuous-wave Doppler lidars
Difference spectrum fitting of the ion–neutral collision frequency from dual-frequency EISCAT measurements
Performance evaluation of three bio-optical models in aerosol and ocean color joint retrievals
Limitations in Wavelet Analysis of Non-Stationary Atmospheric Gravity Wave Signatures in Temperature Profiles
Observation of horizontal temperature variations by a spatial heterodyne interferometer using single-sided interferograms
Version 8 IMK–IAA MIPAS temperatures from 12–15 µm spectra: Middle and Upper Atmosphere modes
GNSS radio occultation excess-phase processing for climate applications including uncertainty estimation
Impact analysis of processing strategies for long-term GPS zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD)
Irradiance and cloud optical properties from solar photovoltaic systems
Single field-of-view sounder atmospheric product retrieval algorithm: establishing radiometric consistency for hyper-spectral sounder retrievals
Higher-order calibration on WindRAD (Wind Radar) scatterometer winds
On the polarimetric backscatter by a still or quasi-still wind turbine
OH airglow observations with two identical spectrometers: benefits of increased data homogeneity in the identification of variations induced by the 11-year solar cycle, the QBO, and other factors
Broadband radiative quantities for the EarthCARE mission: the ACM-COM and ACM-RT products
Long-term multi-source precipitation estimation with high resolution (RainGRS Clim)
Retrieval of snow layer and melt pond properties on Arctic sea ice from airborne imaging spectrometer observations
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.
Qihou Zhou, Yanlin Li, and Yun Gong
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4197–4209, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4197-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We discuss several robust estimators to compute the variance of a normally distributed random variable to deal with interference. Compared to rank-based estimators, the methods based on the geometric mean are more accurate and are computationally more efficient. We apply three robust estimators to incoherent scatter power and velocity processing, along with the traditional sample mean estimator. The best estimator is a hybrid estimator that combines the sample mean and a robust estimator.
Zhao Shi, Yuxiang Wen, and Jianxin He
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4121–4135, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4121-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4121-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The squall line is a type of convective system. Squall lines are often associated with damaging weather, so identifying and tracking squall lines plays an important role in early meteorological disaster warnings. A clustering-based method is proposed in this article. It can identify the squall lines within the radar scanning range with an accuracy rate of 95.93 %. It can also provide the three-dimensional structure and movement tracking results for each squall line.
Elizabeth N. Smith and Jacob T. Carlin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4087–4107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4087-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4087-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Boundary-layer height observations remain sparse in time and space. In this study we create a new fuzzy logic method for synergistically combining boundary-layer height estimates from a suite of instruments. These estimates generally compare well to those from radiosondes; plus, the approach offers near-continuous estimates through the entire diurnal cycle. Suspected reasons for discrepancies are discussed. The code for the newly presented fuzzy logic method is provided for the community to use.
Laura Bianco, Bianca Adler, Ludovic Bariteau, Irina V. Djalalova, Timothy Myers, Sergio Pezoa, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3933–3948, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3933-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Tropospheric Remotely Observed Profiling via Optimal Estimation physical retrieval is used to retrieve temperature and humidity profiles from various combinations of passive and active remote sensing instruments, surface platforms, and numerical weather prediction models. The retrieved profiles are assessed against collocated radiosonde in non-cloudy conditions to assess the sensitivity of the retrievals to different input combinations. Case studies with cloudy conditions are also inspected.
Björn Linder, Peter Preusse, Qiuyu Chen, Ole Martin Christensen, Lukas Krasauskas, Linda Megner, Manfred Ern, and Jörg Gumbel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3829–3841, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3829-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3829-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Swedish research satellite MATS (Mesospheric Airglow/Aerosol Tomography and Spectroscopy) is designed to study atmospheric waves in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. These waves perturb the temperature field, and thus, by observing three-dimensional temperature fluctuations, their properties can be quantified. This pre-study uses synthetic MATS data generated from a general circulation model to investigate how well wave properties can be retrieved.
Gia Huan Pham, Shu-Chih Yang, Chih-Chien Chang, Shu-Ya Chen, and Cheng Yung Huang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3605–3623, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3605-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3605-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This research examines the characteristics of low-level GNSS radio occultation (RO) refractivity bias over ocean and land and its dependency on the RO retrieval uncertainty, atmospheric temperature, and moisture. We propose methods for estimating the region-dependent refractivity bias. Our methods can be applied to calibrate the refractivity bias under different atmospheric conditions and thus improve the applications of the GNSS RO data in the deep troposphere.
Sanja Dmitrovic, Johnathan W. Hair, Brian L. Collister, Ewan Crosbie, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David B. Harper, Chris A. Hostetler, Yongxiang Hu, John A. Reagan, Claire E. Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, Taylor J. Shingler, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Holger Vömel, Xubin Zeng, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3515–3532, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3515-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study introduces and evaluates a new ocean surface wind speed product from the NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) airborne High-Spectral-Resolution Lidar – Generation 2 (HSRL-2) during the NASA ACTIVATE mission. We show that HSRL-2 surface wind speed data are accurate when compared to ground-truth dropsonde measurements. Therefore, the HSRL-2 instrument is able obtain accurate, high-resolution surface wind speed data in airborne field campaigns.
Laura M. Tomkins, Sandra E. Yuter, and Matthew A. Miller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3377–3399, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3377-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3377-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We have created a new method to better identify enhanced features in radar data from winter storms. Unlike the clear-cut features seen in warm-season storms, features in winter storms are often fuzzier with softer edges. Our technique is unique because it uses two adaptive thresholds that change based on the background radar values. It can identify both strong and subtle features in the radar data and takes into account uncertainties in the detection process.
Eileen Päschke and Carola Detring
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3187–3217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3187-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3187-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Little noise in radial velocity Doppler lidar measurements can contribute to large errors in retrieved turbulence variables. In order to distinguish between plausible and erroneous measurements we developed new filter techniques that work independently of the choice of a specific threshold for the signal-to-noise ratio. The performance of these techniques is discussed both by means of assessing the filter results and by comparing retrieved turbulence variables versus independent measurements.
Luuk D. van der Valk, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Rolf W. Hut, Aart Overeem, Bas Walraven, and Remko Uijlenhoet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2811–2832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2811-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave links, often part of mobile phone networks, can be used to measure rainfall along the link path by determining the signal loss caused by rainfall. We use high-frequency data of multiple microwave links to recreate commonly used sampling strategies. For time intervals up to 1 min, the influence of sampling strategies on estimated rainfall intensities is relatively little, while for intervals longer than 5–15 min, the sampling strategy can have significant influences on the estimates.
Martin Lainer, Killian P. Brennan, Alessandro Hering, Jérôme Kopp, Samuel Monhart, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Urs Germann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2539–2557, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2539-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses deep learning (the Mask R-CNN model) on drone-based photogrammetric data of hail on the ground to estimate hail size distributions (HSDs). Traditional hail sensors' limited areas complicate the full HSD retrieval. The HSD of a supercell event on 20 June 2021 is retrieved and contains > 18 000 hailstones. The HSD is compared to automatic hail sensor measurements and those of weather-radar-based MESHS. Investigations into ground hail melting are performed by five drone flights.
Andrea Camplani, Daniele Casella, Paolo Sanò, and Giulia Panegrossi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2195–2217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2195-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2195-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The paper describes a new machine-learning-based snowfall retrieval algorithm for Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder observations developed to retrieve high-latitude snowfall events. The main novelty of the approach is the radiometric characterization of the background surface at the time of the overpass, which is ancillary to the retrieval process. The algorithm shows a unique capability to retrieve snowfall in the environmental conditions typical of high latitudes.
Lusheng Liang, Wenying Su, Sergio Sejas, Zachary Eitzen, and Norman G. Loeb
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2147–2163, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2147-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2147-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes an updated process to obtain unfiltered radiation from CERES satellite instruments by incorporating the most recent developments in radiative transfer modeling and ancillary input datasets (e.g., realistic representation of land surface radiation and climatology of surface temperatures and aerosols) during the past 20 years. The resulting global mean of instantaneous SW and LW fluxes is changed by less than 0.5 W m−2 with regional differences as large as 2.0 W m−2.
Maximilian Graf, Andreas Wagner, Julius Polz, Llorenç Lliso, José Alberto Lahuerta, Harald Kunstmann, and Christian Chwala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2165–2182, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2165-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2165-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Commercial microwave links (CMLs) can be used for rainfall retrieval. The detection of rainy periods in their attenuation time series is a crucial processing step. We investigate the usage of rainfall data from MSG SEVIRI for this task, compare this approach with existing methods, and introduce a novel combined approach. The results show certain advantages for SEVIRI-based methods, particularly for CMLs where existing methods perform poorly. Our novel combination yields the best performance.
Lieuwe G. Tilstra, Martin de Graaf, Victor J. H. Trees, Pavel Litvinov, Oleg Dubovik, and Piet Stammes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2235–2256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2235-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper introduces a new surface albedo climatology of directionally dependent Lambertian-equivalent reflectivity (DLER) observed by TROPOMI on the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite. The database contains monthly fields of DLER for 21 wavelength bands at a relatively high spatial resolution of 0.125 by 0.125 degrees. The anisotropy of the surface reflection is handled by parameterisation of the viewing angle dependence.
Bing Cao and Alan Z. Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2123–2146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A narrow-band sodium lidar measures atmospheric waves but is limited to vertical variations. We propose to utilize phase shifts among observations from different laser beams to derive horizontal wave information. Two gravity wave packets were identified by this method. Both waves were found to interact with thin evanescent layers, partially reflected, but transmitted energy to higher altitudes. The method can detect more medium-frequency gravity waves for similar lidar systems worldwide.
Xiaozhen Xiong, Xu Liu, Robert Spurr, Ming Zhao, Qiguang Yang, Wan Wu, and Liqiao Lei
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1965–1978, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1965-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The term “hotspot” refers to the sharp increase in reflectance occurring when incident (solar) and reflected (viewing) directions coincide in the backscatter direction. The accurate simulation of hotspot directional signatures is important for many remote sensing applications, but current models typically require large values of computations to represent the hotspot accurately. This paper provides a numerically improved hotspot BRDF model that converges much faster and is used in VLIDORT.
Daniel Zawada, Kimberlee Dubé, Taran Warnock, Adam Bourassa, Susann Tegtmeier, and Douglas Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1995–2010, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1995-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1995-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
There remain large uncertainties in long-term changes of stratospheric–atmospheric temperatures. We have produced a time series of more than 20 years of satellite-based temperature measurements from the OSIRIS instrument in the upper–middle stratosphere. The dataset is publicly available and intended to be used for a better understanding of changes in stratospheric temperatures.
Witali Krochin, Axel Murk, and Gunter Stober
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-42, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-42, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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 manuscript, 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 20–50 km at the geographical location of Payerne (Switzerland).
Alban Philibert, Marie Lothon, Julien Amestoy, Pierre-Yves Meslin, Solène Derrien, Yannick Bezombes, Bernard Campistron, Fabienne Lohou, Antoine Vial, Guylaine Canut-Rocafort, Joachim Reuder, and Jennifer K. Brooke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1679–1701, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1679-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1679-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new algorithm, CALOTRITON, for the retrieval of the convective boundary layer depth with ultra-high-frequency radar measurements. CALOTRITON is partly based on the principle that the top of the convective boundary layer is associated with an inversion and a decrease in turbulence. It is evaluated using ceilometer and radiosonde data. It is able to qualify the complexity of the vertical structure of the low troposphere and detect internal or residual layers.
Kamil Mroz, Alessandro Battaglia, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1577–1597, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1577-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we examine the extent to which radar measurements from space can inform us about the properties of clouds and precipitation. Surprisingly, our analysis showed that the amount of ice turning into rain was lower than expected in the current product. To improve on this, we came up with a new way to extract information about the size and concentration of particles from radar data. As long as we use this method in the right conditions, we can even estimate how dense the ice is.
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. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-32, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-32, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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 1 K for the uncertainty in the atmospheric temperature be kept below 1 K. The study is carried out through spectroscopy simulations.
Qiang Guo, Yuning Liu, Xin Wang, and Wen Hui
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-242, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-242, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Non-linearity (NL) correction is a critical procedure to guarantee the calibration accuracy of a spaceborne sensor to approach a good level. Different from the classical NL correction 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 the NL correction, an iteration algorithm is established which is suitable for NL correction of both infrared and microwave sensors.
Volker Wulfmeyer, Christoph Senff, Florian Späth, Andreas Behrendt, Diego Lange, Robert M. Banta, W. Alan Brewer, Andreas Wieser, and David D. Turner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1175–1196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1175-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A simultaneous deployment of Doppler, temperature, and water-vapor lidar systems is used to provide profiles of molecular destruction rates and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) dissipation in the convective boundary layer (CBL). The results can be used for the parameterization of turbulent variables, TKE budget analyses, and the verification of weather forecast and climate models.
Yudong Gao, Lidou Huyan, Zheng Wu, and Bojun Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-15, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-15, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses the rain rate data to build the symmetric error model for radar reflectivity. The result shows the symmetric error model can improve the Gaussianity of radar reflectivity error, which is more consistent with most current data assimilation algorithms.
Daisuke Hotta, Katrin Lonitz, and Sean Healy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1075–1089, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1075-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1075-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) is a new type of GNSS observations that can detect heavy precipitation along the ray path between the emitter and receiver satellites. As a first step towards using these observations in numerical weather prediction (NWP), we developed a computer code that simulates GNSS-PRO observations from forecast fields produced by an NWP model. The quality of the developed simulator is evaluated with a number of case studies.
Mohamed Mossad, Irina Strelnikova, Robin Wing, and Gerd Baumgarten
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 783–799, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-783-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-783-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This numerical study addresses observational gaps' impact on atmospheric gravity wave spectra. Three methods, fast Fourier transform (FFT), generalized Lomb–Scargle periodogram (GLS), and Haar structure function (HSF), were tested on synthetic data. HSF is best for spectra with negative slopes. GLS excels for flat and positive slopes and identifying dominant frequencies. Accurately estimating these aspects is crucial for understanding gravity wave dynamics and energy transfer in the atmosphere.
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
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-66, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-66, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The crowdsourced smartphone GNSS data were processed with a dedicated data processing pipeline and could produce mm-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.
Kuo-Nung Wang, Chi O. Ao, Mary G. Morris, George A. Hajj, Marcin J. Kurowski, Francis J. Turk, and Angelyn W. Moore
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 583–599, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-583-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this article, we described a joint retrieval approach combining two techniques, RO and MWR, to obtain high vertical resolution and solve for temperature and moisture independently. The results show that the complicated structure in the lower troposphere can be better resolved with much smaller biases, and the RO+MWR combination is the most stable scenario in our sensitivity analysis. This approach is also applied to real data (COSMIC-2/Suomi-NPP) to show the promise of joint RO+MWR retrieval.
Filippo Emilio Scarsi, Alessandro Battaglia, Frederic Tridon, Paolo Martire, Ranvir Dhillon, and Anthony Illingworth
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 499–514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-499-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-499-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The WIVERN mission, one of the two candidates to be the ESA's Earth Explorer 11 mission, aims at providing measurements of horizontal winds in cloud and precipitation systems through a conically scanning W-band Doppler radar. This work discusses four methods that can be used to characterize and correct the Doppler velocity error induced by the antenna mispointing. The proposed methodologies can be extended to other Doppler concepts featuring conically scanning or slant viewing Doppler systems.
Luis Ackermann, Joshua Soderholm, Alain Protat, Rhys Whitley, Lisa Ye, and Nina Ridder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 407–422, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-407-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-407-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The paper addresses the crucial topic of hail damage quantification using radar observations. We propose a new radar-derived hail product that utilizes a large dataset of insurance hail damage claims and radar observations. A deep neural network was employed, trained with local meteorological variables and the radar observations, to better quantify hail damage. Key meteorological variables were identified to have the most predictive capability in this regard.
Christos Gatidis, Marc Schleiss, and Christine Unal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 235–245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-235-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
A common method to retrieve important information about the microphysical structure of rain (DSD retrievals) requires a constrained relationship between the drop size distribution parameters. The most widely accepted empirical relationship is between μ and Λ. The relationship shows variability across the different types of rainfall (convective or stratiform). The new proposed power-law model to represent the μ–Λ relation provides a better physical interpretation of the relationship coefficients.
Gabriel Harris Myers, Nan Chen, and Matteo Ottaviani
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3023, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3023, 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 critical to estimate snow albedo for use in climate models.
Liqin Jin, Jakob Mann, Nikolas Angelou, and Mikael Sjöholm
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6007–6023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6007-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6007-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
By sampling the spectra from continuous-wave Doppler lidars very fast, the rain-induced Doppler signal can be suppressed and the bias in the wind velocity estimation can be reduced. The method normalizes 3 kHz spectra by their peak values before averaging them down to 50 Hz. Over 3 h, we observe a significant reduction in the bias of the lidar data relative to the reference sonic data when the largest lidar focus distance is used. The more it rains, the more the bias is reduced.
Florian Günzkofer, Gunter Stober, Dimitry Pokhotelov, Yasunobu Miyoshi, and Claudia Borries
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5897–5907, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5897-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Electric currents in the ionosphere can impact both satellite and ground-based infrastructure. These currents depend strongly on the collisions of ions and neutral particles. Measuring ion–neutral collisions is often only possible via certain assumptions. The direct measurement of ion–neutral collision frequencies is possible with multifrequency incoherent scatter radar measurements. This paper presents one analysis method of such measurements and discusses its advantages and disadvantages.
Neranga K. Hannadige, Peng-Wang Zhai, Meng Gao, Yongxiang Hu, P. Jeremy Werdell, Kirk Knobelspiesse, and Brian Cairns
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5749–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the impact of three ocean optical models with different numbers of free parameters on the performance of an aerosol and ocean color remote sensing algorithm using the multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) measurements. It was demonstrated that the three- and seven-parameter bio-optical models can be used to accurately represent both open and coastal waters, whereas the one-parameter model has smaller retrieval uncertainty over open water.
Robert Reichert, Natalie Kaifler, and Bernd Kaifler
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-240, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-240, 2023
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Imagine you want to determine how quickly the pitch of a passing ambulance’s siren changes. If the car 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 wind may be at maximum so that the change in wavelength can still be determined with the help the wavelet transformation.
Konstantin Ntokas, Jörn Ungermann, Martin Kaufmann, Tom Neubert, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5681–5696, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5681-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5681-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A nanosatellite was developed to obtain 1-D vertical temperature profiles in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, which can be used to derive wave parameters needed for atmospheric models. A new processing method is shown, which allows one to extract two 1-D temperature profiles. The location of the two profiles is analyzed, as it is needed for deriving wave parameters. We show that this method is feasible, which however will increase the requirements of an accurate calibration and processing.
Maya García-Comas, Bernd Funke, Manuel López-Puertas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Andrea Linden, Belén Martínez-Mondéjar, Gabriele P. Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5357–5386, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5357-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We have released version 8 of MIPAS IMK–IAA temperatures and pointing information retrieved from MIPAS Middle and Upper Atmosphere mode version 8.03 calibrated spectra, covering 20–115 km altitude. We considered non-local thermodynamic equilibrium emission explicitly for each limb scan, essential to retrieve accurate temperatures above the mid-mesosphere. Comparisons of this temperature dataset with SABER measurements show excellent agreement, improving those of previous MIPAS versions.
Josef Innerkofler, Gottfried Kirchengast, Marc Schwärz, Christian Marquardt, and Yago Andres
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5217–5247, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5217-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5217-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmosphere remote sensing using GNSS radio occultation provides a highly valuable basis for atmospheric and climate science. For the highest-quality demands, the Wegener Center set up a rigorous system for processing low-level measurement data. This excess-phase processing setup includes integrated quality control and uncertainty estimation. It was successfully evaluated and inter-compared, ensuring the capability of producing reliable long-term data records for climate applications.
Jingna Bai, Yidong Lou, Weixing Zhang, Yaozong Zhou, Zhenyi Zhang, Chuang Shi, and Jingnan Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5249–5259, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5249-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5249-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Homogenized atmospheric water vapor data are an important prerequisite for climate analysis. Compared to other techniques, GPS has an inherent homogeneity advantage but requires reprocessing and homogenization to eliminate impacts of applied strategy and observation environmental changes. The low-elevation cut-off angles are suggested for the best estimates of zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) reprocessing time series when compared to homogenized radiosonde data or ERA5 reference time series.
James Barry, Stefanie Meilinger, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Anna Herman-Czezuch, Nicola Kimiaie, Christopher Schirrmeister, Rone Yousif, Tina Buchmann, Johannes Grabenstein, Hartwig Deneke, Jonas Witthuhn, Claudia Emde, Felix Gödde, Bernhard Mayer, Leonhard Scheck, Marion Schroedter-Homscheidt, Philipp Hofbauer, and Matthias Struck
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4975–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4975-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4975-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Measured power data from solar photovoltaic (PV) systems contain information about the state of the atmosphere. In this work, power data from PV systems in the Allgäu region in Germany were used to determine the solar irradiance at each location, using state-of-the-art simulation and modelling. The results were validated using concurrent measurements of the incoming solar radiation in each case. If applied on a wider scale, this algorithm could help improve weather and climate models.
Wan Wu, Xu Liu, Liqiao Lei, Xiaozhen Xiong, Qiguang Yang, Qing Yue, Daniel K. Zhou, and Allen M. Larar
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4807–4832, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4807-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4807-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new operational physical retrieval algorithm that is used to retrieve atmospheric properties for each single field-of-view measurement of hyper-spectral IR sounders. The physical scheme includes a cloud-scattering calculation in its forward-simulation part. The data product generated using this algorithm has an advantage over traditional IR sounder data production algorithms in terms of improved spatial resolution and minimized error due to cloud contamination.
Zhen Li, Ad Stoffelen, Anton Verhoef, Zhixiong Wang, Jian Shang, and Honggang Yin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4769–4783, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4769-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4769-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
WindRAD (Wind Radar) is the first dual-frequency rotating fan-beam scatterometer in orbit. We observe non-linearity in the backscatter distribution. Therefore, higher-order calibration (HOC) is proposed, which removes the non-linearities per incidence angle. The combination of HOC and NOCant is discussed. It can remove not only the non-linearity but also the anomalous harmonic azimuth dependencies caused by the antenna rotation; hence the optimal winds can be achieved with this combination.
Marco Gabella, Martin Lainer, Daniel Wolfensberger, and Jacopo Grazioli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4409–4422, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4409-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4409-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A still wind turbine observed with a fixed-pointing radar antenna has shown distinctive polarimetric signatures: the correlation coefficient between the two orthogonal polarization states was persistently equal to 1. The differential reflectivity and the radar reflectivity factors were also stable in time. Over 2 min (2000 Hz, 128 pulses were used; consequently, the sampling time was 64 ms), the standard deviation of the differential backscattering phase shift was only a few degrees.
Carsten Schmidt, Lisa Küchelbacher, Sabine Wüst, and Michael Bittner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4331–4356, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4331-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4331-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Two identical instruments in a parallel setup were used to observe the mesospheric OH airglow for more than 10 years (2009–2020) at 47.42°N, 10.98°E. This allows unique analyses of data quality aspects and their impact on the obtained results. During solar cycle 24 the influence of the sun was strong (∼6 K per 100 sfu). A quasi-2-year oscillation (QBO) of ±1 K is observed mainly during the maximum of the solar cycle. Unlike the stratospheric QBO the variation has a period of or below 24 months.
Jason N. S. Cole, Howard W. Barker, Zhipeng Qu, Najda Villefranque, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4271–4288, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4271-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements from the EarthCARE satellite mission will be used to retrieve profiles of cloud and aerosol properties. These retrievals are combined with auxiliary information about surface properties and atmospheric state, e.g., temperature and water vapor. This information allows computation of 1D and 3D solar and thermal radiative transfer for small domains, which are compared with coincident radiometer observations to continually assess EarthCARE retrievals.
Anna Jurczyk, Katarzyna Ośródka, Jan Szturc, Magdalena Pasierb, and Agnieszka Kurcz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4067–4079, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4067-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4067-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A data-processing algorithm, RainGRS Clim, has been developed to work on precipitation accumulations such as daily or monthly totals. The algorithm makes the most of additional opportunities: access to high-quality data that are not operationally available and greater efficiency of the algorithms for data quality control and merging for longer accumulations. Monthly accumulations estimated by RainGRS Clim were found to be significantly more reliable than accumulations generated operationally.
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.
Cited articles
Adachi, A. and Hashiguchi, H.: Application of parametric speakers to radio acoustic sounding system, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5699–5715, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5699-2019, 2019.
Adler, B., Wilczak, J. M., Bianco, L., Djalalova, I., Duncan Jr., J. B., and Turner, D. D.: Observational case study of a persistent cold air pool and gap flow in the Columbia River Basin, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 60, 1071–1090,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-21-0013.1, 2021.
Banta, R. M., Pichugina, Y. L., Brewer, W. A., Choukulkar, A., Lantz, K. O., Olson, J. B., Kenyon, J., Fernando, H. J. S., Krishnamurthy, R., Stoelinga, M. J., Sharp, J., Darby, L. S., Turner, D. D., Baidar, S. L., and Sandberg, S. P.: Characterizing NWP model errors using Doppler
lidar measurements of recurrent regional diurnal flows: Marine-air
intrusions into the Columbia River Basin, Mon. Weather. Rev., 148, 927–953, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0188.1, 2020.
Bianco L., Cimini, D., Marzano, F. S., and Ware, R.: Combining microwave
radiometer and wind profiler radar measurements for high-resolution
atmospheric humidity profiling, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 22, 949–965, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH1771.1, 2005.
Bianco, L., Friedrich, K., Wilczak, J. M., Hazen, D., Wolfe, D., Delgado, R., Oncley, S. P., and Lundquist, J. K.: Assessing the accuracy of microwave radiometers and radio acoustic sounding systems for wind energy applications, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1707–1721, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1707-2017, 2017.
Cadeddu, M. P., Liljegren, J. C., and Turner, D. D.: The Atmospheric radiation measurement (ARM) program network of microwave radiometers: instrumentation, data, and retrievals, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2359–2372, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2359-2013, 2013.
Cimini, D., Hewison, T. J., Martin, L., Guldner, J., Gaffard, C., and Marzano, F. S.:
Temperature and humidity profile retrievals from ground-based microwave
radiometers during TUC, Meteorol. Z., 15, 45–56, https://doi.org/10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0099, 2006.
Cimini, D., Campos, E., Ware, R., Albers, S., Giuliani, G., Oreamuno, J., Joe, P., Koch, S. E., Cober, S., and Westwater, E.: Thermodynamic Atmospheric Profiling during the 2010 Winter Olympics Using Ground-based Microwave Radiometry, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote Se., 49, 12, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2011.2154337, 2011.
Cimini, D., Rosenkranz, P. W., Tretyakov, M. Y., Koshelev, M. A., and Romano, F.: Uncertainty of atmospheric microwave absorption model: impact on ground-based radiometer simulations and retrievals, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15231–15259, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15231-2018, 2018.
Cimini, D., Haeffelin, M., Kotthaus, S., Löhnert, U., Martinet, P.,
O'Connor, E., Walden, C., Collaud Coen, M., and Preissler, J.: Towards the
profiling of the atmospheric boundary layer at European scale – introducing
the COST Action PROBE, Bulletin of Atmospheric Science and Technology, 1,
23–42, https://doi.org/10.1007/s42865-020-00003-8, 2020.
Clough, S.A., Shephard, M. W., Mlawer, E. J., Delamere, J. S., Iacono, M.,
Cady-Pereira, K. E., Boukabara, S., and Brown, P. D.: Atmospheric radiative transfer modeling: A summary of the AER codes, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 91, 233–244, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2004.05.058, 2005.
Crewell, S. and Löhnert, U.: Accuracy of Boundary Layer Temperature Profiles
Retrieved With Multifrequency Multiangle Microwave Radiometry, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote Se., 45, 2195–2201, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2006.888434, 2007.
European cooperation in science and technology: Integrated Ground-Based Remote-Sensing Stations for Atmospheric Profiling, edited by: Engelbart, D., Monna, W., and Nash, J., COST Action 720 Final Report, Publications Office, European Communities, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 24172, https://doi.org/10.2831/10752, 2009.
Görsdorf, U. and Lehmann, V.: Enhanced Accuracy of RASS-Measured
Temperatures Due to an Improved Range Correction, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 17, 406–416, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(2000)017<0406:EAORMT>2.0.CO;2, 2000.
Han, Y. and Westwater, E. R.: Remote sensing of tropospheric water vapor and
cloud liquid water by integrated ground-based sensors, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 12, 1050–1059, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(1995)012<1050:RSOTWV>2.0.CO;2, 1995.
Hewison, T.: 1D-VAR Retrieval of Temperature and Humidity Profiles From a
Ground-Based Microwave Radiometer, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote. Se., 45, 2163–2168, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2007.898091, 2007.
Horst, T. W., Semmer, S. R., and Bogoev, I.: Evaluation of
Mechanically-Aspirated Temperature/Relative Humidity Radiation Shields, 18th
Symposium on Meteorological Observation and Instrumentation, AMS Annual
Meeting, New Orleans, LA, USA, available at: https://ams.confex.com/ams/96Annual/webprogram/Paper286839.html (last access: 20 January 2022), 2016.
Kaimal, J. C. and Gaynor, J. E.: The Boulder Atmospheric Observatory, J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol., 22, 863–880, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1983)022<0863:TBAO>2.0.CO;2, 1983.
Küchler, N., Turner, D. D., Löhnert, U., and Crewell, S.: Calibrating
ground-based microwave radiometers: Uncertainty and drifts, Radio Sci., 51,
311–327, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015RS005826, 2016.
Löhnert, U. and Maier, O.: Operational profiling of temperature using ground-based microwave radiometry at Payerne: prospects and challenges, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 1121–1134, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-1121-2012, 2012.
Lundquist, J. K., Wilczak, J. M., Ashton, R., Bianco, L., Brewer, W. A.,
Choukulkar, A., Clifton, A., Debnath, M., Delgado, R., Friedrich, K., Gunter, S., Hamidi, A., Iungo, G. V., Kaushik, A., Kosović, B., Langan, P., Lass, A., Lavin, E., Lee, J. C.-Y., McCaffrey, K. L., Newsom, R. K., Noone, D. C.,
Oncley, S. P., Quelet, P. T., Sandberg, S. P., Schroeder, J. L., Shaw, W. J., Sparling, L., St. Martin, C., St. Pe, A., Strobach, E., Tay, K., Vanderwende, B. J., Weickmann, A., Wolfe, D., and Worsnop, R.: Assessing state-of-the-art
capabilities for probing the atmospheric boundary layer: the XPIA field
campaign, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 98, 289–314, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00151.1, 2017.
Maahn, M., Turner, D. D.Löhnert, U., Posselt, D. J., Ebell, K.,
Mace, G. G., and Comstock, J. M.: Optimal estimation retrievals and their
uncertainties: What every atmospheric scientist should know, B. Am. Meteorol.
Soc., 101, E1512–E1523, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-19-0027.1, 2020.
Maddy, E. S. and Barnet, C. D.: Vertical Resolution Estimates in Version 5 of
AIRS Operational Retrievals, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote Se., 46, 2375–2384, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2008.917498, 2008.
Martinet, P., Dabas, A., Donier, J.-M., Douffet, T., Garrouste, O., and
Guillot, R.: 1D-Var temperature retrievals from microwave radiometer and
convective scale model, Tellus A, 67, 27925, https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusa.v67.27925, 2015.
Martinet, P., Cimini, D., Burnet, F., Ménétrier, B., Michel, Y., and Unger, V.: Improvement of numerical weather prediction model analysis during fog conditions through the assimilation of ground-based microwave radiometer observations: a 1D-Var study, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6593–6611, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6593-2020, 2020.
Masiello, G., Serio, C., and Antonelli, P.: Inversion for atmospheric
thermodynamical parameters of IASI data in the principal components space, Q.
J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 138, 103–117, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.909, 2012.
May, P. T. and Wilczak, J. M.: Diurnal and Seasonal Variations of
Boundary-Layer Structure Observed with a Radar Wind Profiler and RASS, Mon.
Weather Rev., 121, 673–682, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0493(1993)121<0673:DASVOB>2.0.CO;2, 1993.
Merrelli, A. M. and Turner, D. D.: Comparing information content of
upwelling far infrared and midinfrared radiance spectra for clear atmosphere
profiling, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 29, 510–526, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-11-00113.1, 2012.
Neiman, P. J., Gottas, D. J., and White, A. B.: A Two-Cool-Season Wind
Profiler-Based Analysis of Westward-Directed Gap Flow through the Columbia
River Gorge, Mon. Weather Rev., 147, 4653–4680, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0026.1, 2019.
North, E. M., Peterson, A. M., and Parry, H. D.: RASS, a remote sensing system for measuring low-level temperature profiles, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 54, 912–919, 1973.
Payne, V. H., Delamere, J. S., Cady-Pereira, K. E., Gamache, R. R.,
Moncet, J.-L., Mlawer, E. J., and Clough, S. A.: Air-broadened half-widths of the 22- and 183-GHz water-vapor lines, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote Se., 46, 3601–3617, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2008.2002435, 2008.
Payne, V. H., Mlawer, E. J., Cady-Pereira, K. E., and Moncet, J.-L.: Water
vapor continuum absorption in the microwave, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 49,
2194–2208, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2010.2091416, 2011.
Rodgers, C. D.: Inverse Methods for Atmospheric Sounding: Theory and
Practice, Series on Atmospheric, Ocean. Planet. Phys., 2, 238 pp., 2000.
Rosenkranz, P. W.: Water vapour microwave continuum absorption: A comparison
of measurements and models, Radio Sci., 33, 919–928, https://doi.org/10.1029/98RS01182, 1998.
Shaw, W., Berg, L. K., Cline, J., Draxl, C., Djalalova, I., Grimit, E. P., Lundquist, J. K., Marquis, M., McCaa, J., Olson, J. B., Sivaraman, C., Sharp, J., and Wilczak, J. M.: The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project (WFIP
2): General Overview, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100, 1687–1699, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0036.1, 2019.
Solheim, F., Godwin, J. R., and Ware, R.: Passive ground-based remote
sensing of atmospheric temperature, water vapor, and cloud liquid profiles
by a frequency synthesized microwave radiometer, Meteorol. Z., 7, 370–376,
1998a.
Solheim F., Godwin, J. R., Westwater, E. R., Han, Y., Keihm, S. J., Marsh, K., and Ware, R.: Radiometric profiling of temperature, water vapor and cloud liquid water using various inversion methods, Radio Sci., 33, 393–404, https://doi.org/10.1029/97RS03656, 1998b.
Stankov, B. B., Westwater, E. R., and Gossard, E. E.: Use of wind profiler
estimates of significant moisture gradients to improve humidity profile
retrieval, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 13, 1285–1290, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(1996)013<1285:UOWPEO>2.0.CO;2, 1996.
Strauch, R. G., Merritt, D. A., Moran, K. P., Earnshaw, K. B., and De
Kamp, D. V.: The Colorado wind-profiling network, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 1, 37–49, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(1984)001<0037:tcwpn>2.0.co;2, 1984.
Turner, D. D.: Improved ground-based liquid water path retrievals using a
combined infrared and microwave approach, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 112, D15204, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008530, 2007.
Turner, D. D. and Blumberg, W. G.: Improvements to the AERIoe thermodynamic
profile retrieval algorithm, IEEE J.-Stars., 12, 1339–1354, https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2874968, 2019.
Turner, D. D. and Löhnert, U.: Information content and uncertainties in
thermodynamic profiles and liquid cloud properties retrieved from the
ground-based Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI), J. Appl.
Meteorol. Clim., 53, 752–771, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-13-0126.1, 2014.
Turner, D. D. and Löhnert, U.: Ground-based temperature and humidity profiling: combining active and passive remote sensors, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3033–3048, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3033-2021, 2021.
U.S. Department of Energy: Experimental Planetary Boundary Layer Instrumentation Assessment, U.S. Department of Energy [data set], https://a2e.energy.gov/projects/xpia (last access: 20 January 2022), 2015.
Ware, R., Carpenter, R., Güldner, J., Liljegren, J., Nehrkorn, T., Solheim, F., and Vandenberghe, F.: A multi-channel
radiometric profiler of temperature, humidity and cloud liquid, Radio Sci.,
38, 8079, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002RS002856, 2003.
Weber, B. L., Wuertz, D. B., Welsh, D. C., and Mcpeek, R.: Quality controls for profiler measurements of winds and RASS temperatures, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 10, 452–464, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0426(1993)010<0452:qcfpmo>2.0.co;2, 1993.
Wilczak, J. M., Stoelinga, M., Berg, L. K., Sharp, J., Draxll, C., McCaffrey, K., Banta, R. M., Bianco, L., Djalalova, I., Lundquist, J. K., Muradyan, P., Choukulkar, A., Leo, L., Bonin, T., Pichugina, Y., Eckman, R., Long, C. N., Lantz, K., Worsnop, R. P., Bickford, J., Bodini, N., Chand, D., Clifton, A., Cline, J., Cook, D. R., Fernando, H. J. S., Friedrich, K., Krishnamurthy, R., Marquis, M., McCaa, J., Olsonn, J. B., Otarola-Bustos, S., Scott, G., Shaw, W. J., Wharton S., and White, A. B.: The Second Wind Forecast Improvement Project
(WFIP2): Observational Field Campaign, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 100,
1701–1723, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0035.1, 2019.
Wolfe, D. E. and Lataitis, R. J.: Boulder Atmospheric Observatory:
1977–2016: The end of an era and lessons learned, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 99,
1345–1358, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-17-0054.1, 2018.
Short summary
In this paper we investigate the synergy obtained by combining active (radio acoustic sounding system – RASS) and passive (microwave radiometer) remote sensing observations to obtain temperature vertical profiles through a radiative transfer model. Inclusion of the RASS observations leads to more accurate temperature profiles from the surface to 5 km above ground, well above the maximum height of the RASS observations themselves (2000 m), when compared to the microwave radiometer used alone.
In this paper we investigate the synergy obtained by combining active (radio acoustic sounding...
