Articles | Volume 15, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5701-2022
© 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-15-5701-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
12 Oct 2022
Research article |
| 12 Oct 2022
| 12 Oct 2022
Ice water path retrievals from Meteosat-9 using quantile regression neural networks
Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Patrick Eriksson
Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Simon Pfreundschuh
Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
Related authors
Adrià Amell, Simon Pfreundschuh, and Patrick Eriksson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1953, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1953, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The representation of clouds in numerical weather and climate models remains a major challenge that is difficult to address because of the limited amount of observations of clouds that are currently available. Our work proposes to address this by using machine learning to extract novel information on ice clouds from a long record of satellite observations. Through extensive validation, we show that this novel approach provides surprisingly accurate estimates of clouds and their properties.
Karina McCusker, Anthony J. Baran, Chris Westbrook, Stuart Fox, Patrick Eriksson, Richard Cotton, Julien Delanoë, and Florian Ewald
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3533–3552, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3533-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3533-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Polarised radiative transfer simulations are performed using an atmospheric model based on in situ measurements. These are compared to large polarisation measurements to explore whether such measurements can provide information on cloud ice, e.g. particle shape and orientation. We find that using oriented particle models with shapes based on imagery generally allows for accurate simulations. However, results are sensitive to shape assumptions such as the choice of single crystals or aggregates.
Eleanor May, Bengt Rydberg, Inderpreet Kaur, Vinia Mattioli, Hanna Hallborn, and Patrick Eriksson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-829, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-829, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The upcoming Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) mission is set to improve measurements of atmospheric ice through passive microwave and sub-millimetre wave observations. In this study, we perform detailed simulations of ICI observations. Machine learning is used to characterise the atmospheric ice present for a given simulated observation. This study acts as a final pre-launch assessment of ICI's capability to measure atmospheric ice, providing valuable information to climate and weather applications.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Clément Guilloteau, Paula J. Brown, Christian D. Kummerow, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 515–538, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-515-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-515-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The latest version of the GPROF retrieval algorithm that produces global precipitation estimates using observations from the Global Precipitation Measurement mission is validated against ground-based radars. The validation shows that the algorithm accurately estimates precipitation on scales ranging from continental to regional. In addition, we validate candidates for the next version of the algorithm and identify principal challenges for further improving space-borne rain measurements.
Adrià Amell, Simon Pfreundschuh, and Patrick Eriksson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1953, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1953, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The representation of clouds in numerical weather and climate models remains a major challenge that is difficult to address because of the limited amount of observations of clouds that are currently available. Our work proposes to address this by using machine learning to extract novel information on ice clouds from a long record of satellite observations. Through extensive validation, we show that this novel approach provides surprisingly accurate estimates of clouds and their properties.
Michael Kiefer, Dale F. Hurst, Gabriele P. Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Holger Vömel, John Anderson, Faiza Azam, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Laurent Blanot, Klaus Bramstedt, John P. Burrows, Robert Damadeo, Bianca Maria Dinelli, Patrick Eriksson, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Mark Hervig, Yasuko Kasai, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Donal Murtagh, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Karen H. Rosenlof, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Takafumi Sugita, Thomas von Clarmann, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4589–4642, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4589-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4589-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify biases and drifts (and their uncertainties) between the stratospheric water vapor measurement records of 15 satellite-based instruments (SATs, with 31 different retrievals) and balloon-borne frost point hygrometers (FPs) launched at 27 globally distributed stations. These comparisons of measurements during the period 2000–2016 are made using robust, consistent statistical methods. With some exceptions, the biases and drifts determined for most SAT–FP pairs are < 10 % and < 1 % yr−1.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Ingrid Ingemarsson, Patrick Eriksson, Daniel A. Vila, and Alan J. P. Calheiros
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6907–6933, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6907-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6907-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We used methods from the field of artificial intelligence to train an algorithm to estimate rain from satellite observations. In contrast to other methods, our algorithm not only estimates rain, but also the uncertainty of the estimate. Using independent measurements from rain gauges, we show that our method performs better than currently available methods and that the provided uncertainty estimates are reliable. Our method makes satellite-based measurements of rain more accurate and reliable.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Paula J. Brown, Christian D. Kummerow, Patrick Eriksson, and Teodor Norrestad
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5033–5060, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5033-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5033-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Global Precipitation Measurement mission is an international satellite mission providing regular global rain measurements. We present two newly developed machine-learning-based implementations of one of the algorithms responsible for turning the satellite observations into rain measurements. We show that replacing the current algorithm with a neural network improves the accuracy of the measurements. A neural network that also makes use of spatial information unlocks further improvements.
William G. Read, Gabriele Stiller, Stefan Lossow, Michael Kiefer, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Dale Hurst, Holger Vömel, Karen Rosenlof, Bianca M. Dinelli, Piera Raspollini, Gerald E. Nedoluha, John C. Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Patrick Eriksson, Christopher E. Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, Katja Weigel, John P. Burrows, and Alexei Rozanov
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3377–3400, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3377-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper attempts to provide an assessment of the accuracy of 21 satellite-based instruments that remotely measure atmospheric humidity in the upper troposphere of the Earth's atmosphere. The instruments made their measurements from 1984 to the present time; however, most of these instruments began operations after 2000, and only a few are still operational. The objective of this study is to quantify the accuracy of each satellite humidity data set.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Stuart Fox, Patrick Eriksson, David Duncan, Stefan A. Buehler, Manfred Brath, Richard Cotton, and Florian Ewald
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 677–699, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-677-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We test a novel method to remotely measure ice particles in clouds. This is important because such measurements are required to improve climate and weather models. The method combines a radar with newly developed sensors measuring microwave radiation at very short wavelengths. We use observations made from aircraft flying above the cloud and compare them to real measurements from inside the cloud. This works well given that one can model the ice particles in the cloud sufficiently well.
Alan J. Geer, Peter Bauer, Katrin Lonitz, Vasileios Barlakas, Patrick Eriksson, Jana Mendrok, Amy Doherty, James Hocking, and Philippe Chambon
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7497–7526, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7497-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7497-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite observations of radiation from the earth can have strong sensitivity to cloud and precipitation in the atmosphere, with applications in weather forecasting and the development of models. Computing the radiation received at the satellite sensor using radiative transfer theory requires a simulation of the optical properties of a volume containing a large number of cloud and precipitation particles. This article describes the physics used to generate these
bulkoptical properties.
Jie Gong, Dong L. Wu, and Patrick Eriksson
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5369–5387, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5369-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5369-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Launched from the International Space Station, the IceCube radiometer orbited the Earth for 15 months and collected the first spaceborne radiance measurements at 874–883 GHz. This channel is uniquely important to fill in the sensitivity gap between operational visible–infrared and microwave remote sensing for atmospheric cloud ice and snow. This paper delivers the IceCube Level 1 radiance data processing algorithm and provides a data quality evaluation and discussion on its scientific merit.
Francesco Grieco, Kristell Pérot, Donal Murtagh, Patrick Eriksson, Bengt Rydberg, Michael Kiefer, Maya Garcia-Comas, Alyn Lambert, and Kaley A. Walker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5823–5857, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5823-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5823-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present improved Odin/SMR mesospheric H2O concentration and temperature data sets, reprocessed assuming a bigger sideband leakage of the instrument. The validation study shows how the improved SMR data sets agree better with other instruments' observations than the old SMR version did. Given their unique time extension and geographical coverage, and H2O being a good tracer of mesospheric circulation, the new data sets are valuable for the study of dynamical processes and multi-year trends.
Vasileios Barlakas, Alan J. Geer, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3427–3447, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3427-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Oriented nonspherical ice particles induce polarization that is ignored when cloud-sensitive satellite observations are used in numerical weather prediction systems. We present a simple approach for approximating particle orientation, requiring minor adaption of software and no additional calculation burden. With this approach, the system realistically simulates the observed polarization patterns, increasing the physical consistency between instruments with different polarizations.
Inderpreet Kaur, Patrick Eriksson, Simon Pfreundschuh, and David Ian Duncan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2957–2979, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2957-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2957-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Currently, cloud contamination in microwave humidity channels is addressed using filtering schemes. We present an approach to correct the cloud-affected microwave humidity radiances using a Bayesian machine learning technique. The technique combines orthogonal information from microwave channels to obtain a probabilistic prediction of the clear-sky radiances. With this approach, we are able to predict bias-free clear-sky radiances with well-represented case-specific uncertainty estimates.
Robin Ekelund, Patrick Eriksson, and Michael Kahnert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6933–6944, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6933-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6933-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Raindrops become flattened due to aerodynamic drag as they increase in mass and fall speed. This study calculated the electromagnetic interaction between microwave radiation and non-spheroidal raindrops. The calculations are made publicly available to the scientific community, in order to promote accurate representations of raindrops in measurements. Tests show that the drop shape can have a noticeable effect on microwave observations of heavy rainfall.
Francesco Grieco, Kristell Pérot, Donal Murtagh, Patrick Eriksson, Peter Forkman, Bengt Rydberg, Bernd Funke, Kaley A. Walker, and Hugh C. Pumphrey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5013–5031, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5013-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5013-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present a unique – by time extension and geographical coverage – dataset of satellite observations of carbon monoxide (CO) in the mesosphere which will allow us to study dynamical processes, since CO is a very good tracer of circulation in the mesosphere. Previously, the dataset was unusable due to instrumental artefacts that affected the measurements. We identify the cause of the artefacts, eliminate them and prove the quality of the results by comparing with other instrument measurements.
Thomas von Clarmann, Douglas A. Degenstein, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Stefan Bender, Amy Braverman, André Butz, Steven Compernolle, Robert Damadeo, Seth Dueck, Patrick Eriksson, Bernd Funke, Margaret C. Johnson, Yasuko Kasai, Arno Keppens, Anne Kleinert, Natalya A. Kramarova, Alexandra Laeng, Bavo Langerock, Vivienne H. Payne, Alexei Rozanov, Tomohiro O. Sato, Matthias Schneider, Patrick Sheese, Viktoria Sofieva, Gabriele P. Stiller, Christian von Savigny, and Daniel Zawada
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4393–4436, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4393-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4393-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Remote sensing of atmospheric state variables typically relies on the inverse solution of the radiative transfer equation. An adequately characterized retrieval provides information on the uncertainties of the estimated state variables as well as on how any constraint or a priori assumption affects the estimate. This paper summarizes related techniques and provides recommendations for unified error reporting.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Patrick Eriksson, Stefan A. Buehler, Manfred Brath, David Duncan, Richard Larsson, and Robin Ekelund
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4219–4245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4219-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4219-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The next generation of European operational weather satellites will carry a novel microwave sensor, the Ice Cloud Imager (ICI), which will provide observations of clouds at microwave frequencies that were not available before. We investigate the potential benefits of combining observations from ICI with that of a radar. We find that such combined observations provide additional information on the properties of the cloud and help to reduce uncertainties in retrieved mass and number densities.
Manfred Brath, Robin Ekelund, Patrick Eriksson, Oliver Lemke, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2309–2333, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2309-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2309-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave dual-polarization observations consistently show that larger atmospheric ice particles tend to have a preferred orientation. We provide a publicly available database of microwave and submillimeter wave scattering properties of oriented ice particles based on discrete dipole approximation scattering calculations. Detailed radiative transfer simulations, recreating observed polarization patterns, are additionally presented in this study.
Jonas Hagen, Klemens Hocke, Gunter Stober, Simon Pfreundschuh, Axel Murk, and Niklaus Kämpfer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2367–2386, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2367-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2367-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The middle atmosphere (30 to 70 km altitude) is stratified and, despite very strong horizontal winds, there is less mixing between the horizontal layers. An important driver for the energy exchange between the layers in this regime is atmospheric tides, which are waves that are driven by the diurnal cycle of solar heating. We measure these tides in the wind field for the first time using a ground-based passive instrument. Ultimately, such measurements could be used to improve atmospheric models.
Robin Ekelund, Patrick Eriksson, and Simon Pfreundschuh
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 501–520, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-501-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-501-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric ice particles (e.g. snow and ice crystals) are an important part of weather, climate, and the hydrological cycle. This study investigates whether combined satellite measurements by radar and radiometers at microwave wavelengths can be used to find the most likely shape of such ice particles. The method was limited when using only currently operating sensors (CloudSat radar and the GPM Microwave Imager) but shows promise if the upcoming Ice Cloud Imager is also considered.
Patrick Eriksson, Bengt Rydberg, Vinia Mattioli, Anke Thoss, Christophe Accadia, Ulf Klein, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 53–71, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-53-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-53-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) will be the first operational satellite sensor operating at sub-millimetre wavelengths and this novel mission will thus provide important new data to weather forecasting and climate studies. The series of ICI instruments will together cover about 20 years. This article presents the basic technical characteristics of the sensor and outlines the day-one operational retrievals. An updated estimation of the expected retrieval performance is also presented.
David Ian Duncan, Patrick Eriksson, and Simon Pfreundschuh
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6341–6359, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6341-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6341-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The overlapping beams of some satellite observations contain spatial information that is discarded by most data processing techniques. This study applies an established technique in a new way to improve the spatial resolution of retrieval targets, effectively using the overlapping information to achieve a higher ultimate resolution. It is argued that this is a more optimal use of the total information available from current microwave sensors, using AMSR2 as an example.
David Ian Duncan, Patrick Eriksson, Simon Pfreundschuh, Christian Klepp, and Daniel C. Jones
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6969–6984, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6969-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6969-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Raindrop size distributions have not been systematically studied over the oceans but are significant for remotely sensing, assimilating, and modeling rain. Here we investigate raindrop populations with new global in situ data, compare them against satellite estimates, and explore a new technique to classify the shapes of these distributions. The results indicate the inadequacy of a commonly assumed shape in some regions and the sizable impact of shape variability on satellite measurements.
Stefan Lossow, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Michael Kiefer, Kaley A. Walker, Jean-Loup Bertaux, Laurent Blanot, James M. Russell, Ellis E. Remsberg, John C. Gille, Takafumi Sugita, Christopher E. Sioris, Bianca M. Dinelli, Enzo Papandrea, Piera Raspollini, Maya García-Comas, Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Anu Dudhia, William G. Read, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Robert P. Damadeo, Joseph M. Zawodny, Katja Weigel, Alexei Rozanov, Faiza Azam, Klaus Bramstedt, Stefan Noël, John P. Burrows, Hideo Sagawa, Yasuko Kasai, Joachim Urban, Patrick Eriksson, Donal P. Murtagh, Mark E. Hervig, Charlotta Högberg, Dale F. Hurst, and Karen H. Rosenlof
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2693–2732, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2693-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2693-2019, 2019
Stuart Fox, Jana Mendrok, Patrick Eriksson, Robin Ekelund, Sebastian J. O'Shea, Keith N. Bower, Anthony J. Baran, R. Chawn Harlow, and Juliet C. Pickering
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1599–1617, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1599-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1599-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne observations of ice clouds are used to validate radiative transfer simulations using a state-of-the-art database of cloud ice optical properties. Simulations at these wavelengths are required to make use of future satellite instruments such as the Ice Cloud Imager. We show that they can generally reproduce observed cloud signals, but for a given total ice mass there is considerable sensitivity to the cloud microphysics, including the particle shape and distribution of ice mass.
Charlotta Högberg, Stefan Lossow, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Ralf Bauer, Kaley A. Walker, Patrick Eriksson, Donal P. Murtagh, Gabriele P. Stiller, Jörg Steinwagner, and Qiong Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2497–2526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2497-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2497-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Five δD (H2O) data sets obtained from satellite observations have been evaluated using profile-to-profile and climatological comparisons. The focus is on stratospheric altitudes, but results from the upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere are also provided. There are clear quantitative differences in the δD ratio in key areas of scientific interest, resulting in difficulties drawing robust conclusions on atmospheric processes affecting the water vapour budget and distribution.
Joonas Kiviranta, Kristell Pérot, Patrick Eriksson, and Donal Murtagh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13393–13410, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13393-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13393-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper investigates how the activity of the Sun affects the amount of nitric oxide (NO) in the upper atmosphere. If NO descends lower down in the atmosphere, it can destroy ozone. We analyze satellite measurements of NO to create a model that can simulate the amount of NO at any given time. This model can indeed simulate NO with reasonable accuracy and it can potentially be used as an input for a larger model of the atmosphere that attempts to explain how the Sun affects our atmosphere.
David Ian Duncan and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11205–11219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11205-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11205-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Ice cloud mass is assessed on a global scale using the latest satellite and reanalysis datasets. While ice cloud variability driven by large-scale circulations is an area of relative consensus, models and observations disagree strongly on the overall magnitude and finer-scale variability of atmospheric ice mass. The results reflect limitations of the current Earth observing system and indicate ice microphysical assumptions as the likely culprit of disagreement.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Patrick Eriksson, David Duncan, Bengt Rydberg, Nina Håkansson, and Anke Thoss
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4627–4643, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4627-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4627-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A novel neural-network-based retrieval method is proposed that combines the flexibility and computational efficiency of machine learning retrievals with the consistent treatment of uncertainties of Bayesian methods. Numerical experiments are presented that show the consistency of the proposed method with the Bayesian formulation as well as its ability to represent non-Gaussian retrieval errors. With this, the proposed method overcomes important limitations of traditional methods.
Philippe Baron, Donal Murtagh, Patrick Eriksson, Jana Mendrok, Satoshi Ochiai, Kristell Pérot, Hideo Sagawa, and Makoto Suzuki
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4545–4566, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4545-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4545-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This paper investigates with computer simulations the measurement performances of the satellite Stratospheric Inferred Winds (SIW) in the altitude range 10–90 km. SIW is a Swedish mission that will be launched close to 2022. It is intended to fill the current altitude gap between 30 and 70 km in wind measurements and to pursue the monitoring of temperature and key stratospheric constituents for better understanding climate change effects.
Farahnaz Khosrawi, Stefan Lossow, Gabriele P. Stiller, Karen H. Rosenlof, Joachim Urban, John P. Burrows, Robert P. Damadeo, Patrick Eriksson, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Yasuko Kasai, Michael Kiefer, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4435–4463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4435-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4435-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Time series of stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour using 33 data sets from 15 satellite instruments were compared in the framework of the second SPARC water vapour assessment. We find that most data sets can be considered in observational and modelling studies addressing, e.g. stratospheric and lower mesospheric water vapour variability and trends if data-set-specific characteristics (e.g. a drift) and restrictions (e.g. temporal and spatial coverage) are taken into account.
Patrick Eriksson, Robin Ekelund, Jana Mendrok, Manfred Brath, Oliver Lemke, and Stefan A. Buehler
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 10, 1301–1326, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1301-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-10-1301-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A main application of microwave remote sensing is to observe atmospheric particles consisting of ice. This application requires data on how particles with different shapes and sizes affect the observations. A database of such properties has been developed. The database is the most comprehensive of its type. Main strengths are a good representation of particles of aggregate type and broad frequency coverage.
Verena Grützun, Stefan A. Buehler, Lukas Kluft, Jana Mendrok, Manfred Brath, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4217–4237, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4217-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4217-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The global observation of ice clouds is crucial because they are important factors in the climate system but still are amongst the greatest uncertainties for estimating the Earth's energy budget in a changing climate. However, reliable global long-term measurements are scarce. Using atmospheric model data from the ICON model in combination with the radiative transfer simulator ARTS we explore the potential of passive millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength measurements to fill that gap.
Stefan A. Buehler, Jana Mendrok, Patrick Eriksson, Agnès Perrin, Richard Larsson, and Oliver Lemke
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 1537–1556, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1537-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-1537-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) is a public domain
software for simulating how radiation in the microwave to infrared
spectral range travels through an atmosphere. The program can simulate
satellite observations, in cloudy and clear atmospheres, and can also
be used to calculate radiative energy fluxes. The main feature of this
release is a planetary toolbox that allows simulations for the
planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, in addition to Earth.
Manfred Brath, Stuart Fox, Patrick Eriksson, R. Chawn Harlow, Martin Burgdorf, and Stefan A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 611–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
A method to estimate the amounts of ice, liquid water, and water vapor from aircraft radiation measurements at wavelengths just over and under 1 mm is presented and its performance is estimated. The method uses an ensemble of artificial neural networks. It strongly benefits from the submillimeter frequencies reducing the error for the estimated amount of ice by a factor of 2 compared to a traditional microwave method. The method was applied to measurement of a precipitating frontal system.
Stefan Lossow, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Gerald E. Nedoluha, Faiza Azam, Klaus Bramstedt, John. P. Burrows, Bianca M. Dinelli, Patrick Eriksson, Patrick J. Espy, Maya García-Comas, John C. Gille, Michael Kiefer, Stefan Noël, Piera Raspollini, William G. Read, Karen H. Rosenlof, Alexei Rozanov, Christopher E. Sioris, Gabriele P. Stiller, Kaley A. Walker, and Katja Weigel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1111–1137, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1111-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1111-2017, 2017
Richard Larsson, Mathias Milz, Patrick Eriksson, Jana Mendrok, Yasuko Kasai, Stefan Alexander Buehler, Catherine Diéval, David Brain, and Paul Hartogh
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 6, 27–37, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-6-27-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-6-27-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
By computer simulations, we explore and quantify how to use radiation emitted by molecular oxygen in the Martian atmosphere to measure the magnetic field from the crust of the planet. This crustal magnetic field is important to understand the past evolution of Mars. Our method can measure the magnetic field at lower altitudes than has so far been done, which could give important information on the characteristics of the crustal sources if a mission with the required instrument is launched.
Ole Martin Christensen, Susanne Benze, Patrick Eriksson, Jörg Gumbel, Linda Megner, and Donal P. Murtagh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12587–12600, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12587-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12587-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates the properties of ice clouds forming in the upper summer mesosphere known as polar mesospheric clouds, and their relationship with the background atmosphere combining two different satellite instruments. We find that temperature variations in the atmosphere of the order of some hours reduce the amount of ice in these clouds and see indications of strong vertical transport in these clouds.
Isaac Moradi, Philip Arkin, Ralph Ferraro, Patrick Eriksson, and Eric Fetzer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6913–6929, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6913-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6913-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements from the SAPHIR onboard Megha-Tropiques are used to evaluate the diurnal cycle of tropospheric humidity in the tropical region. The results show a large inhomogeneity in the amplitude and peak time of tropospheric humidity. The diurnal amplitude tends to be larger over convective regions than over subsidence regions. An early morning peak time is observed over most regions but there are substantial regions where the diurnal peak occurs at the other times of day.
Richard Larsson, Mathias Milz, Peter Rayer, Roger Saunders, William Bell, Anna Booton, Stefan A. Buehler, Patrick Eriksson, and Viju O. John
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 841–857, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-841-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-841-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
By modeling the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder's mesospheric measurements, inversions methods can be applied to retreive mesospheric temperatures. We compare the fast forward model used by Met Office with reference simulations and find that there is a reasonable agreement between both models and measurements. Thus we recommend that the fast model is used in data assimilation to improve mesospheric temperature retrievals.
P. Forkman, O. M. Christensen, P. Eriksson, B. Billade, V. Vassilev, and V. M. Shulga
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 5, 27–44, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-27-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-5-27-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Microwave radiometry is the only ground-based technique that can provide vertical profiles of gases in the middle atmosphere both day and night, and even during cloudy conditions. Today these measurements are performed at relatively few sites, more simple and reliable instruments are required to make the measurement technique more widely spread. In this study a compact double-sideband frequency-switched radiometer system for simultaneous observations of mesospheric CO and O3 is presented.
O. M. Christensen, P. Eriksson, J. Urban, D. Murtagh, K. Hultgren, and J. Gumbel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1981–1999, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1981-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1981-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Polar mesospheric clouds are clouds that form in the summer polar mesopause, 80km above the surface. In this study we present new measurements by the Odin satellite, which are able to determine water vapour, temperature and cloud coverage with a high resolution and a large geographical coverage. Using these data we can see structures in the clouds and background atmosphere that have not been detectable by previous measurements.
P. Eriksson, M. Jamali, J. Mendrok, and S. A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1913–1933, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1913-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1913-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
The optical properties of randomly oriented ice hydrometeors are reviewed from a perspective of microwave mass retrievals. The soft particle approximation is found to be highly problematic, and the alternative approach presented by Geer and Baordo (2014) should instead be used. We present a simplified version of this approach, and point out several critical limitations of existing DDA data.
F. Navas-Guzmán, N. Kämpfer, A. Murk, R. Larsson, S. A. Buehler, and P. Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1863–1874, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1863-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1863-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we study the Zeeman effect on stratospheric O2 using ground-based microwave radiometer measurements. The interaction of the Earth magnetic field with the oxygen dipole leads to a splitting of O2 energy states which polarizes the emission spectra. A special campaign was carried out in order to measure for the first time the polarization state of the radiation due to the Zeeman effect in the main isotopologue of oxygen from ground-based microwave measurements.
V. S. Galligani, C. Prigent, E. Defer, C. Jimenez, P. Eriksson, J.-P. Pinty, and J.-P. Chaboureau
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1605–1616, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1605-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1605-2015, 2015
R. Rüfenacht, A. Murk, N. Kämpfer, P. Eriksson, and S. A. Buehler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4491–4505, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4491-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4491-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
Only very few techniques for wind measurements in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere exist. Moreover, none of these instruments is running on a continuous basis. This paper describes the development of ground-based microwave Doppler radiometry. Time series of daily wind profile measurements from four different locations at polar, mid- and tropical latitudes are presented. The agreement with ECMWF model data is good in the stratosphere, but discrepancies were found in the mesosphere.
P. Eriksson, B. Rydberg, H. Sagawa, M. S. Johnston, and Y. Kasai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12613–12629, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12613-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12613-2014, 2014
Short summary
Short summary
The sub-millimetre wavelength region has been identified as very useful for measurements of cloud ice mass. The only satellite sensors operating in this wavelength region are so far limb sounders, and results from two such instruments are presented and sample applications are demonstrated. The results have high intrinsic value, but serve also as a practical preparation for planned dedicated sub-millimetre cloud missions.
M. S. Johnston, S. Eliasson, P. Eriksson, R. M. Forbes, A. Gettelman, P. Räisänen, and M. D. Zelinka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8701–8721, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8701-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8701-2014, 2014
M. S. Johnston, S. Eliasson, P. Eriksson, R. M. Forbes, K. Wyser, and M. D. Zelinka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12043–12058, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12043-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12043-2013, 2013
O. Stähli, A. Murk, N. Kämpfer, C. Mätzler, and P. Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 2477–2494, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2477-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-2477-2013, 2013
O. M. Christensen and P. Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1597–1609, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1597-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1597-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
The algorithm of microphysical-parameter profiles of aerosol and small cloud droplets based on the dual-wavelength lidar data
Bayesian cloud-top phase determination for Meteosat Second Generation
Lidar–radar synergistic method to retrieve ice, supercooled water and mixed-phase cloud properties
Deriving cloud droplet number concentration from surface-based remote sensors with an emphasis on lidar measurements
A random forest algorithm for the prediction of cloud liquid water content from combined CloudSat–CALIPSO observations
Identification of ice-over-water multilayer clouds using multispectral satellite data in an artificial neural network
A new approach to crystal habit retrieval from far-infrared spectral radiance measurements
Multiple-scattering effects on single-wavelength lidar sounding of multi-layered clouds
Simulation and detection efficiency analysis for polar mesospheric clouds measurements using a spaceborne wide field of view ultraviolet imager
A cloud-by-cloud approach for studying aerosol–cloud interaction in satellite observations
Information Content of Brightness Temperature Differences of Spaceborne Imagers with respect to Cloud Phase
Geometrical and optical properties of cirrus clouds in Barcelona, Spain: analysis with the two-way transmittance method of 4 years of lidar measurements
Determination of the vertical distribution of in-cloud particle shape using SLDR-mode 35 GHz scanning cloud radar
Artificial intelligence (AI)-derived 3D cloud tomography from geostationary 2D satellite data
The EarthCARE mission: science data processing chain overview
ampycloud: an algorithm to characterize cloud layers above aerodromes using ceilometer measurements
Cloud optical and physical properties retrieval from EarthCARE multi-spectral imager: the M-COP products
Cloud top heights and aerosol columnar properties from combined EarthCARE lidar and imager observations: the AM-CTH and AM-ACD products
Raman lidar-derived optical and microphysical properties of ice crystals within thin Arctic clouds during PARCS campaign
Evaluation of four ground-based retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration in marine stratocumulus with aircraft in situ measurements
The Chalmers Cloud Ice Climatology: Retrieval implementation and validation
Deep convective cloud system size and structure across the global tropics and subtropics
A neural-network-based method for generating synthetic 1.6 µm near-infrared satellite images
Numerical model generation of test frames for pre-launch studies of EarthCARE's retrieval algorithms and data management system
Segmentation of polarimetric radar imagery using statistical texture
Retrieval of surface solar irradiance from satellite imagery using machine learning: pitfalls and perspectives
Retrieving 3D distributions of atmospheric particles using Atmospheric Tomography with 3D Radiative Transfer – Part 2: Local optimization
Particle inertial effects on radar Doppler spectra simulation
Detection of aerosol and cloud features for the EarthCARE atmospheric lidar (ATLID): the ATLID FeatureMask (A-FM) product
A unified synergistic retrieval of clouds, aerosols, and precipitation from EarthCARE: the ACM-CAP product
Incorporating EarthCARE observations into a multi-lidar cloud climate record: the ATLID (Atmospheric Lidar) cloud climate product
Introduction to EarthCARE synthetic data using a global storm-resolving simulation
Validation of a camera-based intra-hour irradiance nowcasting model using synthetic cloud data
Liquid cloud optical property retrieval and associated uncertainties using multi-angular and bispectral measurements of the airborne radiometer OSIRIS
Global evaluation of Doppler velocity errors of EarthCARE cloud-profiling radar using a global storm-resolving simulation
Cloud and precipitation microphysical retrievals from the EarthCARE Cloud Profiling Radar: the C-CLD product
Cloud mask algorithm from the EarthCARE Multi-Spectral Imager: the M-CM products
Across-track extension of retrieved cloud and aerosol properties for the EarthCARE mission: the ACMB-3D product
Insights into 3D cloud radiative transfer effects for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory
Evaluation of polarimetric ice microphysical retrievals with OLYMPEX campaign data
Retrieving 3D distributions of atmospheric particles using Atmospheric Tomography with 3D Radiative Transfer – Part 1: Model description and Jacobian calculation
Simulation and sensitivity analysis for cloud and precipitation measurements via spaceborne millimeter-wave radar
The Virga-Sniffer – a new tool to identify precipitation evaporation using ground-based remote-sensing observations
Near-global distributions of overshooting tops derived from Terra and Aqua MODIS observations
Climatology of estimated liquid water content and scaling factor for warm clouds using radar–microwave radiometer synergy
Optimizing cloud motion estimation on the edge with phase correlation and optical flow
A semi-Lagrangian method for detecting and tracking deep convective clouds in geostationary satellite observations
The CHROMA cloud-top pressure retrieval algorithm for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite mission
High-spatial-resolution retrieval of cloud droplet size distribution from polarized observations of the cloudbow
Evaluation of the spectral misalignment on the Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer/multi-spectral imager cloud product
Huige Di, Xinhong Wang, Ning Chen, Jing Guo, Wenhui Xin, Shichun Li, Yan Guo, Qing Yan, Yufeng Wang, and Dengxin Hua
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4183–4196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4183-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4183-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study proposes an inversion method for atmospheric-aerosol or cloud microphysical parameters based on dual-wavelength lidar data. It is suitable for the inversion of uniformly mixed and single-property aerosol layers or small cloud droplets. For aerosol particles, the inversion range that this algorithm can achieve is 0.3–1.7 μm. For cloud droplets, it is 1.0–10 μm. This algorithm can quickly obtain the microphysical parameters of atmospheric particles and has better robustness.
Johanna Mayer, Luca Bugliaro, Bernhard Mayer, Dennis Piontek, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4015–4039, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4015-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4015-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
ProPS (PRObabilistic cloud top Phase retrieval for SEVIRI) is a method to detect clouds and their thermodynamic phase with a geostationary satellite, distinguishing between clear sky and ice, mixed-phase, supercooled and warm liquid clouds. It uses a Bayesian approach based on the lidar–radar product DARDAR. The method allows studying cloud phases, especially mixed-phase and supercooled clouds, rarely observed from geostationary satellites. This can be used for comparison with climate models.
Clémantyne Aubry, Julien Delanoë, Silke Groß, Florian Ewald, Frédéric Tridon, Olivier Jourdan, and Guillaume Mioche
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3863–3881, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3863-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3863-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Radar–lidar synergy is used to retrieve ice, supercooled water and mixed-phase cloud properties, making the most of the radar sensitivity to ice crystals and the lidar sensitivity to supercooled droplets. A first analysis of the output of the algorithm run on the satellite data is compared with in situ data during an airborne Arctic field campaign, giving a mean percent error of 49 % for liquid water content and 75 % for ice water content.
Gerald G. Mace
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3679–3695, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3679-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3679-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The number of cloud droplets per unit volume, Nd, in a cloud is important for understanding aerosol–cloud interaction. In this study, we develop techniques to derive cloud droplet number concentration from lidar measurements combined with other remote sensing measurements such as cloud radar and microwave radiometers. We show that deriving Nd is very uncertain, although a synergistic algorithm seems to produce useful characterizations of Nd and effective particle size.
Richard M. Schulte, Matthew D. Lebsock, John M. Haynes, and Yongxiang Hu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3583–3596, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3583-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a method to improve the detection of liquid clouds that are easily missed by the CloudSat satellite radar. To address this, we use machine learning techniques to estimate cloud properties (optical depth and droplet size) based on other satellite measurements. The results are compared with data from the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite, showing good correlations.
Sunny Sun-Mack, Patrick Minnis, Yan Chen, Gang Hong, and William L. Smith Jr.
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3323–3346, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3323-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3323-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Multilayer clouds (MCs) affect the radiation budget differently than single-layer clouds (SCs) and need to be identified in satellite images. A neural network was trained to identify MCs by matching imagery with lidar/radar data. This method correctly identifies ~87 % SCs and MCs with a net accuracy gain of 7.5 % over snow-free surfaces. It is more accurate than most available methods and constitutes a first step in providing a reasonable 3-D characterization of the cloudy atmosphere.
Gianluca Di Natale, Marco Ridolfi, and Luca Palchetti
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3171–3186, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3171-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3171-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This work aims to define a new approach to retrieve the distribution of the main ice crystal shapes occurring inside ice and cirrus clouds from infrared spectral measurements. The capability of retrieving these shapes of the ice crystals from satellites will allow us to extend the currently available climatologies to be used as physical constraints in general circulation models. This could could allow us to improve their accuracy and prediction performance.
Valery Shcherbakov, Frédéric Szczap, Guillaume Mioche, and Céline Cornet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3011–3028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3011-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3011-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We performed Monte Carlo simulations of single-wavelength lidar signals from multi-layered clouds with special attention focused on the multiple-scattering (MS) effect in regions of the cloud-free molecular atmosphere. The MS effect on lidar signals always decreases with the increasing distance from the cloud far edge. The decrease is the direct consequence of the fact that the forward peak of particle phase functions is much larger than the receiver field of view.
Ke Ren, Haiyang Gao, Shuqi Niu, Shaoyang Sun, Leilei Kou, Yanqing Xie, Liguo Zhang, and Lingbing Bu
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-186, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-186, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
Ultraviolet (UV) imaging technology has significantly advanced the research and development of polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs). In this study, we proposed the wide field-of-view ultraviolet imager (WFUI) and built a forward model to evaluate the detection capability and efficiency. The research results demonstrate that the WFUI performs well in PMCs detection and has high detection efficiency. The relationship between IWC and detection efficiency follows an exponential function distribution.
Fani Alexandri, Felix Müller, Goutam Choudhury, Peggy Achtert, Torsten Seelig, and Matthias Tesche
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1739–1757, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1739-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1739-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a novel method for studying aerosol–cloud interactions. It combines cloud-relevant aerosol concentrations from polar-orbiting lidar observations with the development of individual clouds from geostationary observations. Application to 1 year of data gives first results on the impact of aerosols on the concentration and size of cloud droplets and on cloud phase in the regime of heterogeneous ice formation. The method could enable the systematic investigation of warm and cold clouds.
Johanna Mayer, Bernhard Mayer, Luca Bugliaro, Ralf Meerkötter, and Christiane Voigt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-540, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-540, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses radiative transfer calculations to characterize the relation of two satellite channel combinations (namely infrared window brightness temperature differences (BTDs) of the SEVIRI imager) to the thermodynamic cloud phase. A sensitivity analysis reveals the complex interplay of cloud parameters and their contribution to the observed phase dependence of BTDs. This knowledge helps to design optimal cloud phase retrievals and to understand their potential and limitations.
Cristina Gil-Díaz, Michäel Sicard, Adolfo Comerón, Daniel Camilo Fortunato dos Santos Oliveira, Constantino Muñoz-Porcar, Alejandro Rodríguez-Gómez, Jasper R. Lewis, Ellsworth J. Welton, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1197–1216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1197-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, a statistical study of cirrus geometrical and optical properties based on 4 years of continuous ground-based lidar measurements with the Barcelona (Spain) Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) is analysed. The cloud optical depth, effective column lidar ratio and linear cloud depolarisation ratio have been calculated by a new approach to the two-way transmittance method, which is valid for both ground-based and spaceborne lidar systems. Their associated errors are also provided.
Audrey Teisseire, Patric Seifert, Alexander Myagkov, Johannes Bühl, and Martin Radenz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 999–1016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-999-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-999-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The vertical distribution of particle shape (VDPS) method, introduced in this study, aids in characterizing the density-weighted shape of cloud particles from scanning slanted linear depolarization ratio (SLDR)-mode cloud radar observations. The VDPS approach represents a new, versatile way to study microphysical processes by combining a spheroidal scattering model with real measurements of SLDR.
Sarah Brüning, Stefan Niebler, and Holger Tost
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 961–978, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-961-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-961-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We apply the Res-UNet to derive a comprehensive 3D cloud tomography from 2D satellite data over heterogeneous landscapes. We combine observational data from passive and active remote sensing sensors by an automated matching algorithm. These data are fed into a neural network to predict cloud reflectivities on the whole satellite domain between 2.4 and 24 km height. With an average RMSE of 2.99 dBZ, we contribute to closing data gaps in the representation of clouds in observational data.
Michael Eisinger, Fabien Marnas, Kotska Wallace, Takuji Kubota, Nobuhiro Tomiyama, Yuichi Ohno, Toshiyuki Tanaka, Eichi Tomita, Tobias Wehr, and Dirk Bernaerts
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 839–862, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-839-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-839-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) is an ESA–JAXA satellite mission to be launched in 2024. We presented an overview of the EarthCARE processors' development, with processors developed by teams in Europe, Japan, and Canada. EarthCARE will allow scientists to evaluate the representation of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and radiative flux in weather forecast and climate models, with the objective to better understand cloud processes and improve weather and climate models.
Frédéric P. A. Vogt, Loris Foresti, Daniel Regenass, Néstor Tarin Burriel, Mervyn Bibby, Przemysław Juda, Simone Balmelli, Tobias Hanselmann, and Pieter du Preez
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-254, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-254, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
Short summary
Short summary
ampycloud is new algorithm developed at MeteoSwiss to characterize the height and sky coverage fraction of cloud layers above aerodromes via ceilometer measurements. This algorithm was devised as part of a larger effort to fully automate the creation of Meteorological Aerodrome Reports (METARs) at Swiss civil airports. The ampycloud algorithm was implemented as a Python package, that is made publicly available to the community under the 3-Clause BSD license.
Anja Hünerbein, Sebastian Bley, Hartwig Deneke, Jan Fokke Meirink, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, and Andi Walther
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 261–276, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-261-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-261-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The ESA cloud, aerosol and radiation mission EarthCARE will provide active profiling and passive imaging measurements from a single satellite platform. The passive multi-spectral imager (MSI) will add information in the across-track direction. We present the cloud optical and physical properties algorithm, which combines the visible to infrared MSI channels to determine the cloud top pressure, optical thickness, particle size and water path.
Moritz Haarig, Anja Hünerbein, Ulla Wandinger, Nicole Docter, Sebastian Bley, David Donovan, and Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5953–5975, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5953-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5953-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The atmospheric lidar (ATLID) and Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) will be carried by the EarthCARE satellite. The synergistic ATLID–MSI Column Products (AM-COL) algorithm described in the paper combines the strengths of ATLID in vertically resolved profiles of aerosol and clouds (e.g., cloud top height) with the strengths of MSI in observing the complete scene beside the satellite track and in extending the lidar information to the swath. The algorithm is validated against simulated test scenes.
Patrick Chazette and Jean-Christophe Raut
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5847–5861, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5847-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5847-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The vertical profiles of the effective radii of ice crystals and ice water content in Arctic semi-transparent stratiform clouds were assessed using quantitative ground-based lidar measurements. The field campaign was part of the Pollution in the ARCtic System (PARCS) project which took place from 13 to 26 May 2016 in Hammerfest (70° 39′ 48″ N, 23° 41′ 00″ E). We show that under certain cloud conditions, lidar measurement combined with a dedicated algorithmic approach is an efficient tool.
Damao Zhang, Andrew M. Vogelmann, Fan Yang, Edward Luke, Pavlos Kollias, Zhien Wang, Peng Wu, William I. Gustafson Jr., Fan Mei, Susanne Glienke, Jason Tomlinson, and Neel Desai
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5827–5846, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud droplet number concentration can be retrieved from remote sensing measurements. Aircraft measurements are used to validate four ground-based retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration. We demonstrate that retrieved cloud droplet number concentrations align well with aircraft measurements for overcast clouds, but they may substantially differ for broken clouds. The ensemble of various retrievals can help quantify retrieval uncertainties and identify reliable retrieval scenarios.
Adrià Amell, Simon Pfreundschuh, and Patrick Eriksson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1953, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1953, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The representation of clouds in numerical weather and climate models remains a major challenge that is difficult to address because of the limited amount of observations of clouds that are currently available. Our work proposes to address this by using machine learning to extract novel information on ice clouds from a long record of satellite observations. Through extensive validation, we show that this novel approach provides surprisingly accurate estimates of clouds and their properties.
Eric M. Wilcox, Tianle Yuan, and Hua Song
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5387–5401, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5387-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5387-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A new database is constructed from over 20 years of satellite records that comprises millions of deep convective clouds and spans the global tropics and subtropics. The database is a collection of clouds ranging from isolated cells to giant cloud systems. The cloud database provides a means of empirically studying the factors that determine the spatial structure and coverage of convective cloud systems, which are strongly related to the overall radiative forcing by cloud systems.
Florian Baur, Leonhard Scheck, Christina Stumpf, Christina Köpken-Watts, and Roland Potthast
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5305–5326, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5305-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5305-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Near-infrared satellite images have information on clouds that is complementary to what is available from the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum. Using this information for data assimilation and model evaluation requires a fast, accurate forward operator to compute synthetic images from numerical weather prediction model output. We discuss a novel, neural-network-based approach for the 1.6 µm near-infrared channel that is suitable for this purpose and also works for other solar channels.
Zhipeng Qu, David P. Donovan, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, Mark W. Shephard, and Vincent Huijnen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4927–4946, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4927-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The EarthCARE satellite mission Level 2 algorithm development requires realistic 3D cloud and aerosol scenes along the satellite orbits. One of the best ways to produce these scenes is to use a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model to simulate atmospheric conditions at 250 m horizontal resolution. This paper describes the production and validation of three EarthCARE test scenes.
Adrien Guyot, Jordan P. Brook, Alain Protat, Kathryn Turner, Joshua Soderholm, Nicholas F. McCarthy, and Hamish McGowan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4571–4588, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4571-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4571-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We propose a new method that should facilitate the use of weather radars to study wildfires. It is important to be able to identify the particles emitted by wildfires on radar, but it is difficult because there are many other echoes on radar like clear air, the ground, sea clutter, and precipitation. We came up with a two-step process to classify these echoes. Our method is accurate and can be used by fire departments in emergencies or by scientists for research.
Hadrien Verbois, Yves-Marie Saint-Drenan, Vadim Becquet, Benoit Gschwind, and Philippe Blanc
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4165–4181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4165-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4165-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Solar surface irradiance (SSI) estimations inferred from satellite images are essential to gain a comprehensive understanding of the solar resource, which is crucial in many fields. This study examines the recent data-driven methods for inferring SSI from satellite images and explores their strengths and weaknesses. The results suggest that while these methods show great promise, they sometimes dramatically underperform and should probably be used in conjunction with physical approaches.
Jesse Loveridge, Aviad Levis, Larry Di Girolamo, Vadim Holodovsky, Linda Forster, Anthony B. Davis, and Yoav Y. Schechner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3931–3957, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3931-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3931-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We test a new method for measuring the 3D spatial variations of water within clouds, using measurements of reflections of the Sun's light observed at multiple angles by satellites. This is a great improvement on older methods, which typically assume that clouds occur in a slab shape. Our study used computer modeling to show that our 3D method will work well in cumulus clouds, where older slab methods do not. Our method will inform us about these clouds and their role in our climate.
Zeen Zhu, Pavlos Kollias, and Fan Yang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3727–3737, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3727-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3727-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We show that large rain droplets, with large inertia, are unable to follow the rapid change of velocity field in a turbulent environment. A lack of consideration for this inertial effect leads to an artificial broadening of the Doppler spectrum from the conventional simulator. Based on the physics-based simulation, we propose a new approach to generate the radar Doppler spectra. This simulator provides a valuable tool to decode cloud microphysical and dynamical properties from radar observation.
Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, and Ping Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3631–3651, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3631-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3631-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation (EarthCARE) satellite mission features the UV lidar ATLID. The ATLID FeatureMask algorithm provides a high-resolution detection probability mask which is used to guide smoothing strategies within the ATLID profile retrieval algorithm, one step further in the EarthCARE level-2 processing chain, in which the microphysical retrievals and target classification are performed.
Shannon L. Mason, Robin J. Hogan, Alessio Bozzo, and Nicola L. Pounder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3459–3486, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3459-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3459-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a method for accurately estimating the contents and properties of clouds, snow, rain, and aerosols through the atmosphere, using the combined measurements of the radar, lidar, and radiometer instruments aboard the upcoming EarthCARE satellite, and evaluate the performance of the retrieval, using test scenes simulated from a numerical forecast model. When EarthCARE is in operation, these quantities and their estimated uncertainties will be distributed in a data product called ACM-CAP.
Artem G. Feofilov, Hélène Chepfer, Vincent Noël, and Frederic Szczap
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3363–3390, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3363-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3363-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The response of clouds to human-induced climate warming remains the largest source of uncertainty in model predictions of climate. We consider cloud retrievals from spaceborne observations, the existing CALIOP lidar and future ATLID lidar; show how they compare for the same scenes; and discuss the advantage of adding a new lidar for detecting cloud changes in the long run. We show that ATLID's advanced technology should allow for better detecting thinner clouds during daytime than before.
Woosub Roh, Masaki Satoh, Tempei Hashino, Shuhei Matsugishi, Tomoe Nasuno, and Takuji Kubota
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3331–3344, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3331-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3331-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
JAXA EarthCARE synthetic data (JAXA L1 data) were compiled using the global storm-resolving model (GSRM) NICAM (Nonhydrostatic ICosahedral
Atmospheric Model) simulation with 3.5 km horizontal resolution and the Joint-Simulator. JAXA L1 data are intended to support the development of JAXA retrieval algorithms for the EarthCARE sensor before launch of the satellite. The expected orbit of EarthCARE and horizontal sampling of each sensor were used to simulate the signals.
Philipp Gregor, Tobias Zinner, Fabian Jakub, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3257–3271, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3257-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3257-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This work introduces MACIN, a model for short-term forecasting of direct irradiance for solar energy applications. MACIN exploits cloud images of multiple cameras to predict irradiance. The model is applied to artificial images of clouds from a weather model. The artificial cloud data allow for a more in-depth evaluation and attribution of errors compared with real data. Good performance of derived cloud information and significant forecast improvements over a baseline forecast were found.
Christian Matar, Céline Cornet, Frédéric Parol, Laurent C.-Labonnote, Frédérique Auriol, and Marc Nicolas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3221–3243, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3221-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3221-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The optimal estimation formalism is applied to OSIRIS airborne high-resolution multi-angular measurements to retrieve COT and Reff. The corresponding uncertainties related to measurement errors, which are up to 6 and 12 %, the non-retrieved parameters, which are less than 0.5 %, and the cloud model assumptions show that the heterogeneous vertical profiles and the 3D radiative transfer effects lead to average uncertainties of 5 and 4 % for COT and 13 and 9 % for Reff.
Yuichiro Hagihara, Yuichi Ohno, Hiroaki Horie, Woosub Roh, Masaki Satoh, and Takuji Kubota
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3211–3219, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3211-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3211-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The CPR on the EarthCARE satellite is the first satellite-borne Doppler radar. We evaluated the effectiveness of horizontal integration and the unfolding method for the reduction of the Doppler error (the standard deviation of the random error) in the CPR_ECO product. The error was higher in the tropics than in the other latitudes due to frequent rain echo occurrence and limitation of its unfolding correction. If we use low-mode operation (high PRF), the errors become small enough.
Kamil Mroz, Bernat Puidgomènech Treserras, Alessandro Battaglia, Pavlos Kollias, Aleksandra Tatarevic, and Frederic Tridon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2865–2888, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2865-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2865-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present the theoretical basis of the algorithm that estimates the amount of water and size of particles in clouds and precipitation. The algorithm uses data collected by the Cloud Profiling Radar that was developed for the upcoming Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite mission. After the satellite launch, the vertical distribution of cloud and precipitation properties will be delivered as the C-CLD product.
Anja Hünerbein, Sebastian Bley, Stefan Horn, Hartwig Deneke, and Andi Walther
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2821–2836, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2821-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2821-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) on board the EarthCARE satellite will provide the information needed for describing the cloud and aerosol properties in the cross-track direction, complementing the measurements from the Cloud Profiling Radar, Atmospheric Lidar and Broad-Band Radiometer. The accurate discrimination between clear and cloudy pixels is an essential first step. Therefore, the cloud mask algorithm provides a cloud flag, cloud phase and cloud type product for the MSI observations.
Zhipeng Qu, Howard W. Barker, Jason N. S. Cole, and Mark W. Shephard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2319–2331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2319-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes EarthCARE’s L2 product ACM-3D. It includes the scene construction algorithm (SCA) used to produce the indexes for reconstructing 3D atmospheric scene based on satellite nadir retrievals. It also provides the information about the buffer zone sizes of 3D assessment domains and the ranking scores for selecting the best 3D assessment domains. These output variables are needed to run 3D radiative transfer models for the radiative closure assessment of EarthCARE’s L2 retrievals.
Steven T. Massie, Heather Cronk, Aronne Merrelli, Sebastian Schmidt, and Steffen Mauceri
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2145–2166, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2145-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2145-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper provides insights into the effects of clouds on Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) measurements of CO2. Calculations are carried out that indicate the extent to which this satellite experiment underestimates CO2, due to these cloud effects, as a function of the distance between the surface observation footprint and the nearest cloud. The paper discusses how to lessen the influence of these cloud effects.
Armin Blanke, Andrew J. Heymsfield, Manuel Moser, and Silke Trömel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2089–2106, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2089-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2089-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present an evaluation of current retrieval techniques in the ice phase applied to polarimetric radar measurements with collocated in situ observations of aircraft conducted over the Olympic Mountains, Washington State, during winter 2015. Radar estimates of ice properties agreed most with aircraft observations in regions with pronounced radar signatures, but uncertainties were identified that indicate issues of some retrievals, particularly in warmer temperature regimes.
Jesse Loveridge, Aviad Levis, Larry Di Girolamo, Vadim Holodovsky, Linda Forster, Anthony B. Davis, and Yoav Y. Schechner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1803–1847, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1803-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1803-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We describe a new method for measuring the 3D spatial variations in water within clouds using the reflected light of the Sun viewed at multiple different angles by satellites. This is a great improvement over older methods, which typically assume that clouds occur in a slab shape. Our study used computer modeling to show that our 3D method will work well in cumulus clouds, where older slab methods do not. Our method will inform us about these clouds and their role in our climate.
Leilei Kou, Zhengjian Lin, Haiyang Gao, Shujun Liao, and Piman Ding
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1723–1744, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1723-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1723-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Forward modeling of spaceborne millimeter-wave radar composed of eight submodules is presented. We quantify the uncertainties in radar reflectivity that may be caused by the physical model parameters via a sensitivity analysis. The simulations with improved and conventional settings are compared with CloudSat data, and the simulation results are evaluated and analyzed. The results are instructive to the optimization of forward modeling and microphysical parameter retrieval.
Heike Kalesse-Los, Anton Kötsche, Andreas Foth, Johannes Röttenbacher, Teresa Vogl, and Jonas Witthuhn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1683–1704, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1683-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1683-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Virga-Sniffer, a new modular open-source Python package tool to characterize full precipitation evaporation (so-called virga) from ceilometer cloud base height and vertically pointing cloud radar reflectivity time–height fields, is described. Results of its first application to RV Meteor observations during the EUREC4A field experiment in January–February 2020 are shown. About half of all detected clouds with bases below the trade inversion height were found to produce virga.
Yulan Hong, Stephen W. Nesbitt, Robert J. Trapp, and Larry Di Girolamo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1391–1406, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1391-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Deep convective updrafts form overshooting tops (OTs) when they extend into the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. An OT often indicates hazardous weather conditions. The global distribution of OTs is useful for understanding global severe weather conditions. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on Aqua and Terra satellites provides 2 decades of records on the Earth–atmosphere system with stable orbits, which are used in this study to derive 20-year OT climatology.
Pragya Vishwakarma, Julien Delanoë, Susana Jorquera, Pauline Martinet, Frederic Burnet, Alistair Bell, and Jean-Charles Dupont
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1211–1237, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1211-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1211-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud observations are necessary to characterize the cloud properties at local and global scales. The observations must be translated to cloud geophysical parameters. This paper presents the estimation of liquid water content (LWC) using radar and microwave radiometer (MWR) measurements. Liquid water path from MWR scales LWC and retrieves the scaling factor (ln a). The retrievals are compared with in situ observations. A climatology of ln a is built to estimate LWC using only radar information.
Bhupendra A. Raut, Paytsar Muradyan, Rajesh Sankaran, Robert C. Jackson, Seongha Park, Sean A. Shahkarami, Dario Dematties, Yongho Kim, Joseph Swantek, Neal Conrad, Wolfgang Gerlach, Sergey Shemyakin, Pete Beckman, Nicola J. Ferrier, and Scott M. Collis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1195–1209, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1195-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1195-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We studied the stability of a blockwise phase correlation (PC) method to estimate cloud motion using a total sky imager (TSI). Shorter frame intervals and larger block sizes improve stability, while image resolution and color channels have minor effects. Raindrop contamination can be identified by the rotational motion of the TSI mirror. The correlations of cloud motion vectors (CMVs) from the PC method with wind data vary from 0.38 to 0.59. Optical flow vectors are more stable than PC vectors.
William K. Jones, Matthew W. Christensen, and Philip Stier
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1043–1059, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1043-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1043-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Geostationary weather satellites have been used to detect storm clouds since their earliest applications. However, this task remains difficult as imaging satellites cannot observe the strong vertical winds that are characteristic of storm clouds. Here we introduce a new method that allows us to detect the early development of storms and continue to track them throughout their lifetime, allowing us to study how their early behaviour affects subsequent weather.
Andrew M. Sayer, Luca Lelli, Brian Cairns, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Amir Ibrahim, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Sergey Korkin, and P. Jeremy Werdell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 969–996, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-969-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-969-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a method to estimate the height of the top of clouds above Earth's surface using satellite measurements. It is based on light absorption by oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, which darkens the signal that a satellite will see at certain wavelengths of light. Clouds "shield" the satellite from some of this darkening, dependent on cloud height (and other factors), because clouds scatter light at these wavelengths. The method will be applied to the future NASA PACE mission.
Veronika Pörtge, Tobias Kölling, Anna Weber, Lea Volkmer, Claudia Emde, Tobias Zinner, Linda Forster, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 645–667, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-645-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-645-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we analyze polarized cloudbow observations by the airborne camera system specMACS to retrieve the cloud droplet size distribution defined by the effective radius (reff) and the effective variance (veff). Two case studies of trade-wind cumulus clouds observed during the EUREC4A field campaign are presented. The results are combined into maps of reff and veff with a very high spatial resolution (100 m × 100 m) that allow new insights into cloud microphysics.
Minrui Wang, Takashi Y. Nakajima, Woosub Roh, Masaki Satoh, Kentaroh Suzuki, Takuji Kubota, and Mayumi Yoshida
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 603–623, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-603-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-603-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
SMILE (a spectral misalignment in which a shift in the center wavelength appears as a distortion in the spectral image) was detected during our recent work. To evaluate how it affects the cloud retrieval products, we did a simulation of EarthCARE-MSI forward radiation, evaluating the error in simulated scenes from a global cloud system-resolving model and a satellite simulator. Our results indicated that the error from SMILE was generally small and negligible for oceanic scenes.
Cited articles
AERIS/ICARE Data and Services Center: ICARE On-line Data Archive,
ftp://ftp.icare.univ-lille1.fr/SPACEBORNE/MULTI_SENSOR/DARDAR_CLOUD.v2.1.1 (last access: 29 September 2022), 2019. a
Amell, A.: Ice water path retrievals from Meteosat-9 with quantile regression neural networks: code and models, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6570587, 2022a. a
Amell, A.: Ice water path retrievals from Meteosat-9 with quantile regression neural networks: video supplement, Zenodo [video], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6639443, 2022b. a
Aminou, D. M. A., Jacquet, B., and Pasternak, F.: Characteristics of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) radiometer/imager: SEVIRI, in: Sensors, Systems, and Next-Generation Satellites, edited by: Fujisada, H., International Society for Optics and Photonics, SPIE, 3221, 19–31, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.298084, 1997. a
Benas, N., Finkensieper, S., Stengel, M., van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Hanschmann, T., Hollmann, R., and Meirink, J. F.: The MSG-SEVIRI-based cloud property data record CLAAS-2, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 9, 415–434, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-9-415-2017, 2017. a, b, c, d
Brath, M., Fox, S., Eriksson, P., Harlow, R. C., Burgdorf, M., and Buehler, S. A.: Retrieval of an ice water path over the ocean from ISMAR and MARSS millimeter and submillimeter brightness temperatures, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 611–632, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-611-2018, 2018. a
Cazenave, Q., Ceccaldi, M., Delanoë, J., Pelon, J., Groß, S., and Heymsfield, A.: Evolution of DARDAR-CLOUD ice cloud retrievals: new parameters and impacts on the retrieved microphysical properties, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2819–2835, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2819-2019, 2019. a, b
Chollet, F.: Xception: Deep Learning with Depthwise Separable Convolutions, in: 2017 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR),
Honolulu, HI, USA, 21–26 July 2017, 1800–1807, https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR.2017.195, 2017. a
CM SAF: SEVIRI Cloud Physical Products CLAAS Edition 2, Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document SAF/CM/KNMI/ATBD/SEVIRI/CPP 2.2, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF), https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/CLAAS/V002, 2016. a
CM SAF: SEVIRI cloud products CLAAS Edition 2.1, Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document SAF/CM/KNMI/ATBD/SEV/CLD 2.5, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF), https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/CLAAS/V002_01, 2020a. a, b
CM SAF: SEVIRI cloud products CLAAS Edition 2.1, Validation Report SAF/CM/KNMI/VAL/SEV/CLD 2.3, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF), https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/CLAAS/V002_01, 2020b. a, b, c
Delanoë, J. and Hogan, R. J.: Combined CloudSat-CALIPSO-MODIS retrievals of the properties of ice clouds, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 115, D00H29, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JD012346, 2010. a
Delanoë, J., Protat, A., Testud, J., Bouniol, D., Heymsfield, A. J., Bansemer, A., Brown, P. R. A., and Forbes, R. M.: Statistical properties of the normalized ice particle size distribution, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 110, D10201, https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JD005405, 2005. a
Delanoë, J. M. E., Heymsfield, A. J., Protat, A., Bansemer, A., and Hogan, R. J.: Normalized particle size distribution for remote sensing application, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 4204–4227, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020700, 2014. a, b
Duncan, D. I. and Eriksson, P.: An update on global atmospheric ice estimates from satellite observations and reanalyses, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11205–11219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11205-2018, 2018. a, b
Eliasson, S., Buehler, S. A., Milz, M., Eriksson, P., and John, V. O.: Assessing observed and modelled spatial distributions of ice water path using satellite data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 375–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-375-2011, 2011. a
Eriksson, P., Rydberg, B., Sagawa, H., Johnston, M. S., and Kasai, Y.: Overview and sample applications of SMILES and Odin-SMR retrievals of upper tropospheric humidity and cloud ice mass, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12613–12629, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12613-2014, 2014. a
Eriksson, P., Rydberg, B., Mattioli, V., Thoss, A., Accadia, C., Klein, U., and Buehler, S. A.: Towards an operational Ice Cloud Imager (ICI) retrieval product, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 53–71, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-53-2020, 2020. a, b, c
EUMETSAT: High Rate SEVIRI Level 1.5 Image Data - MSG - 0 degree, EUMETSAT [data set], https://data.eumetsat.int/product/EO:EUM:DAT:MSG:HRSEVIRI (last access: 29 September 2022), 2009. a
EUMETSAT: Meteosat orbital parameters, EUMETSAT, https://www.eumetsat.int/meteosat-orbital-parameters, last access: 2 May 2022. a
Finkensieper, S., Meirink, J.-F., van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Hanschmann, T., Benas, N., Stengel, M., Fuchs, P., Hollmann, R., Kaiser, J., and Werscheck, M.: CLAAS-2.1: CM SAF CLoud property dAtAset using SEVIRI – Edition 2.1, Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM SAF) [data set], https://doi.org/10.5676/EUM_SAF_CM/CLAAS/V002_01, 2020. a, b, c
Forster, P., Storelvmo, T., Armour, K., Collins, W., Dufresne, J.-L., Frame, D., Lunt, D. J., Mauritsen, T., Palmer, M. D., Watanabe, M., Wild, M., and Zhang, H.: The Earth’s Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks, and Climate Sensitivity, Chapter 7, IPCC, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_Chapter07.pdf (last access: 29 September 2022), 2021. a
GCOS: The Global Climate Observing System 2021: The GCOS Status Report, GCOS-240, World Meteorological Organization, https://gcos.wmo.int/en/gcos-status-report-2021 (last access: 3 May 2022), 2021. a
Hendrycks, D. and Gimpel, K.: Gaussian Error Linear Units (GELUs), arXiv [preprint], https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1606.08415, 8 July 2020. a
Holl, G., Eliasson, S., Mendrok, J., and Buehler, S. A.: SPARE-ICE: Synergistic ice water path from passive operational sensors, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 1504–1523, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD020759, 2014. a
Ioffe, S. and Szegedy, C.: Batch normalization: Accelerating deep network training by reducing internal covariate shift, in: International conference on machine learning, Lille, France, 7–9 July 2015, PMLR, 448–456, 2015. a
IPCC: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, in press, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_WGI_FullReport.pdf (last access 29 September 2022), 2021. a
Islam, T. and Srivastava, P. K.: Synergistic multi-sensor and multi-frequency retrieval of cloud ice water path constrained by CloudSat collocations, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 161, 21–34, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2015.03.022, 2015. a
Jiang, J. H., Su, H., Zhai, C., Shen, T. J., Wu, T., Zhang, J., Cole, J. N. S., von Salzen, K., Donner, L. J., Seman, C., Genio, A. D., Nazarenko, L. S., Dufresne, J.-L., Watanabe, M., Morcrette, C., Koshiro, T., Kawai, H., Gettelman, A., Millán, L., Read, W. G., Livesey, N. J., Kasai, Y., and Shiotani, M.: Evaluating the Diurnal Cycle of Upper-Tropospheric Ice Clouds in Climate Models Using SMILES Observations, J. Atmos. Sci., 72, 1022–1044, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-14-0124.1, 2015. a
Kingma, D. P. and Ba, J. L.: Adam: A method for stochastic gradient descent, in: ICLR: International Conference on Learning Representations, San Diego, CA, USA, 7–9 May 2015, arXiv, 1–15, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1412.6980 2015. a
Kox, S., Bugliaro, L., and Ostler, A.: Retrieval of cirrus cloud optical thickness and top altitude from geostationary remote sensing, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3233–3246, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3233-2014, 2014. a
Mastro, P., Masiello, G., Serio, C., Cimini, D., Ricciardelli, E., Di Paola, F., Hultberg, T., August, T., and Romano, F.: Combined IASI-NG and MWS observations for the retrieval of cloud liquid and ice water path: a deep learning artificial intelligence approach, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl., 15, 3313–3322, https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2022.3166992, 2022. a
Minnis, P., Nguyen, L., Palikonda, R., Heck, P. W., Spangenberg, D. A., Doelling, D. R., Ayers Jr., J. K., W. L. S., Khaiyer, M. M., Trepte, Q. Z., Avey, L. A., Chang, F.-L., Yost, C. R., Chee, T. L., and Szedung, S.-M.: Near-real time cloud retrievals from operational and research meteorological satellites, in: Remote Sensing of Clouds and the Atmosphere XIII, edited by: Picard, R. H., Comeron, A., Schäfer, K., Amodeo, A., and van Weele, M., International Society for Optics and Photonics, SPIE, 7107, 19–26, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.800344, 2008. a
Minnis, P., Sun-Mack, S., Young, D. F., Heck, P. W., Garber, D. P., Chen, Y.,
Spangenberg, D. A., Arduini, R. F., Trepte, Q. Z., Smith, W. L., Ayers,
J. K., Gibson, S. C., Miller, W. F., Hong, G., Chakrapani, V., Takano, Y.,
Liou, K.-N., Xie, Y., and Yang, P.: CERES Edition-2 Cloud Property Retrievals Using TRMM VIRS and Terra and Aqua MODIS Data – Part I: Algorithms, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 49, 4374–4400, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2011.2144601, 2011. a, b
Minnis, P., Bedka, K., Trepte, Q., Yost, C. R., Bedka, S. T., Scarino, B. A., Khlopenkov, K., and Khaiyer, M. M.: A Consistent Long-Term Cloud and Clear-Sky Radiation Property Dataset from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Climate Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document CDRP-ATBD-0826 01B-30b 1, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, https://doi.org/10.7289/V5HT2M8T, 2016a. a
Minnis, P., Hong, G., Sun-Mack, S., Smith Jr., W. L., Chen, Y., and Miller, S. D.: Estimating nocturnal opaque ice cloud optical depth from MODIS multispectral infrared radiances using a neural network method, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 121, 4907–4932, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024456, 2016b. a
Minnis, P., Sun-Mack, S., Chen, Y., Chang, F.-L., Yost, C. R., Smith, W. L., Heck, P. W., Arduini, R. F., Bedka, S. T., Yi, Y., Hong, G., Jin, Z., Painemal, D., Palikonda, R., Scarino, B. R., Spangenberg, D. A., Smith, R. A., Trepte, Q. Z., Yang, P., and Xie, Y.: CERES MODIS Cloud Product Retrievals for Edition 4 – Part I: Algorithm Changes, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 59, 2744–2780, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2020.3008866, 2021. a
Nakajima, T. and King, M. D.: Determination of the Optical Thickness and Effective Particle Radius of Clouds from Reflected Solar Radiation Measurements. Part I: Theory, J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 1878–1893, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1990)047<1878:DOTOTA>2.0.CO;2, 1990. a
Nayak, M., Witkowski, M., Vane, D., Livermore, T., Rokey, M., Barthuli, M., Gravseth, I. J., Pieper, B., Rodzinak, A., Silva, S., and Woznick, P.: CloudSat Anomaly Recovery and Operational Lessons Learned, in: SpaceOps 2012 Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 11–15 June 2012, https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2012-1295798, 2012. a
Pfreundschuh, S.: quantnn, Version v0.0.4dev, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7127652, 2022. a
Pfreundschuh, S., Eriksson, P., Duncan, D., Rydberg, B., Håkansson, N., and Thoss, A.: A neural network approach to estimating a posteriori distributions of Bayesian retrieval problems, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4627–4643, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4627-2018, 2018. a, b
Pfreundschuh, S., Eriksson, P., Buehler, S. A., Brath, M., Duncan, D., Larsson, R., and Ekelund, R.: Synergistic radar and radiometer retrievals of ice hydrometeors, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4219–4245, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4219-2020, 2020. a
Platnick, S., Meyer, K. G., King, M. D., Wind, G., Amarasinghe, N., Marchant, B., Arnold, G. T., Zhang, Z., Hubanks, P. A., Holz, R. E., Yang, P., Ridgway, W. L., and Riedi, J.: The MODIS Cloud Optical and Microphysical Products: Collection 6 Updates and Examples From Terra and Aqua, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 55, 502–525, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2016.2610522, 2017. a
Raspaud, M., Hoese, D., Lahtinen, P., Finkensieper, S., Holl, G., Dybbroe, A., Proud, S., Meraner, A., Zhang, X., Joro, S., Feltz, J., Roberts, W., Ørum Rasmussen, L., Méndez, J. H. B., Zhu, Y., BENR0, strandgren, Daruwala, R., Jasmin, T., Kliche, C., Barnie, T., Sigurðsson, E., Garcia, R. K., Leppelt, T., ColinDuff, Egede, U., LTMeyer, Itkin, M., Goodson, R., and jkotro: pytroll/satpy: Version 0.29.0, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4904606, 2021. a, b, c
Roebeling, R. A., Feijt, A. J., and Stammes, P.: Cloud property retrievals for climate monitoring: Implications of differences between Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) on METEOSAT-8 and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on NOAA-17, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D20210, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006990, 2006. a
Ronneberger, O., Fischer, P., and Brox, T.: U-Net: Convolutional Networks for Biomedical Image Segmentation, in: Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention – MICCAI 2015, edited by: Navab, N., Hornegger, J., Wells, W. M., and Frangi, A. F., Springer International Publishing, Cham, 234–241, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24574-4_28,
ISBN: 978-3-319-24574-4, 2015. a
Schmetz, J., Pili, P., Tjemkes, S., Just, D., Kerkmann, J., Rota, S., and Ratier, A.: An introduction to Meteosat second generation (MSG), B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 83, 977–992, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2002)083<0977:AITMSG>2.3.CO;2, 2002. a
Schmid, J.: The SEVIRI instrument, in: Proceedings of the 2000 EUMETSAT meteorological satellite data user's conference, Bologna, Italy,
29 May–2 June 2000, 13–32, https://www-cdn.eumetsat.int/files/2020-04/pdf_ten_msg_seviri_instrument.pdf (last access: 30 September 2022), 2000. a
Stephens, G. L.: Radiation Profiles in Extended Water Clouds. II: Parameterization Schemes, J. Atmos. Sci., 35, 2123–2132, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1978)035<2123:RPIEWC>2.0.CO;2, 1978. a, b
Stephens, G. L., Vane, D. G., Boain, R. J., Mace, G. G., Sassen, K., Wang, Z., Illingworth, A. J., O'connor, E. J., Rossow, W. B., Durden, S. L., Miller, S. D., Austin, R. T., Benedetti, A., Mitrescu, C., and the CloudSat Science Team: THE CLOUDSAT MISSION AND THE A-TRAIN: A New Dimension of Space-Based Observations of Clouds and Precipitation, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 83, 1771–1790, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-83-12-1771, 2002. a
Strandgren, J., Bugliaro, L., Sehnke, F., and Schröder, L.: Cirrus cloud retrieval with MSG/SEVIRI using artificial neural networks, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3547–3573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3547-2017, 2017.
a
Waliser, D. E., Li, J.-L. F., Woods, C. P., Austin, R. T., Bacmeister, J., Chern, J., Del Genio, A., Jiang, J. H., Kuang, Z., Meng, H., Minnis, P., Platnick, S., Rossow, W. B., Stephens, G. L., Sun-Mack, S., Tao, W.-K., Tompkins, A. M., Vane, D. G., Walker, C., and Wu, D.: Cloud ice: A climate model challenge with signs and expectations of progress, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D00A21, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010015, 2009. a
Walther, A. and Heidinger, A. K.: Implementation of the Daytime Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties Algorithm (DCOMP) in PATMOS-x, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 51, 1371–1390, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-11-0108.1, 2012. a
WMO: Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool, Satellite: Meteosat-9, WMO, https://space.oscar.wmo.int/satellites/view/meteosat_9, last access: 3 May 2022. a
Wolf, R.: LRIT/HRIT Global Specification, CGMS 03 2.6, Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites, https://www.cgms-info.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/pdf_cgms_03.pdf (last access: 30 September 2022) 1999. a
Yin, J. and Porporato, A.: Diurnal Cloud Cycle Biases in Climate Models, Nat. Commun., 8, 2269, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02369-4, 2017. a
Yost, C. R., Minnis, P., Sun-Mack, S., Chen, Y., and Smith, W. L.: CERES MODIS Cloud Product Retrievals for Edition 4 – Part II: Comparisons to CloudSat and CALIPSO, IEEE T. Geosci. Remote, 59, 3695–3724, https://doi.org/10.1109/TGRS.2020.3015155, 2021. a
Short summary
Geostationary satellites continuously image a given location on Earth, a feature that satellites designed to characterize atmospheric ice lack. However, the relationship between geostationary images and atmospheric ice is complex. Machine learning is used here to leverage such images to characterize atmospheric ice throughout the day in a probabilistic manner. Using structural information from the image improves the characterization, and this approach compares favourably to traditional methods.
Geostationary satellites continuously image a given location on Earth, a feature that satellites...
