Articles | Volume 16, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1195-2023
© Author(s) 2023. 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-16-1195-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 Mar 2023
Research article |
| 08 Mar 2023
| 08 Mar 2023
Optimizing cloud motion estimation on the edge with phase correlation and optical flow
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Paytsar Muradyan
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Rajesh Sankaran
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Robert C. Jackson
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Seongha Park
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Sean A. Shahkarami
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Dario Dematties
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Yongho Kim
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Joseph Swantek
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Neal Conrad
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Wolfgang Gerlach
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Sergey Shemyakin
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Pete Beckman
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Nicola J. Ferrier
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
Scott M. Collis
Northwestern-Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois, USA
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G. Alexander Sokolowsky, Sean W. Freeman, William K. Jones, Julia Kukulies, Fabian Senf, Peter J. Marinescu, Max Heikenfeld, Kelcy N. Brunner, Eric C. Bruning, Scott M. Collis, Robert C. Jackson, Gabrielle R. Leung, Nils Pfeifer, Bhupendra A. Raut, Stephen M. Saleeby, Philip Stier, and Susan C. van den Heever
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 5309–5330, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5309-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5309-2024, 2024
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Building on previous analysis tools developed for atmospheric science, the original release of the Tracking and Object-Based Analysis (tobac) Python package, v1.2, was open-source, modular, and insensitive to the type of gridded input data. Here, we present the latest version of tobac, v1.5, which substantially improves scientific capabilities and computational efficiency from the previous version. These enhancements permit new uses for tobac in atmospheric science and potentially other fields.
Christopher R. Williams, Joshua Barrio, Paul E. Johnston, Paytsar Muradyan, and Scott E. Giangrande
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2381–2398, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2381-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2381-2023, 2023
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This study uses surface disdrometer observations to calibrate 8 years of 915 MHz radar wind profiler deployed in the central United States in northern Oklahoma. This study had two key findings. First, the radar wind profiler sensitivity decreased approximately 3 to 4 dB/year as the hardware aged. Second, this drift was slow enough that calibration can be performed using 3-month intervals. Calibrated radar wind profiler observations and Python processing code are available on public repositories.
William J. Shaw, Larry K. Berg, Mithu Debnath, Georgios Deskos, Caroline Draxl, Virendra P. Ghate, Charlotte B. Hasager, Rao Kotamarthi, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Paytsar Muradyan, William J. Pringle, David D. Turner, and James M. Wilczak
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 2307–2334, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-2307-2022, 2022
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This paper provides a review of prominent scientific challenges to characterizing the offshore wind resource using as examples phenomena that occur in the rapidly developing wind energy areas off the United States. The paper also describes the current state of modeling and observations in the marine atmospheric boundary layer and provides specific recommendations for filling key current knowledge gaps.
Israel Silber, Robert C. Jackson, Ann M. Fridlind, Andrew S. Ackerman, Scott Collis, Johannes Verlinde, and Jiachen Ding
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 901–927, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-901-2022, 2022
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The Earth Model Column Collaboratory (EMC2) is an open-source ground-based (and air- or space-borne) lidar and radar simulator and subcolumn generator designed for large-scale models, in particular climate models, applicable also for high-resolution models. EMC2 emulates measurements while remaining faithful to large-scale models' physical assumptions implemented in their cloud or radiation schemes. We demonstrate the use of EMC2 to compare AWARE measurements with the NASA GISS ModelE3 and LES.
Robert Jackson, Scott Collis, Valentin Louf, Alain Protat, Die Wang, Scott Giangrande, Elizabeth J. Thompson, Brenda Dolan, and Scott W. Powell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 53–69, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-53-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-53-2021, 2021
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About 4 years of 2D video disdrometer data in Darwin are used to develop and validate rainfall retrievals for tropical convection in C- and X-band radars in Darwin. Using blended techniques previously used for Colorado and Manus and Gan islands, with modified coefficients in each estimator, provided the most optimal results. Using multiple radar observables to develop a rainfall retrieval provided a greater advantage than using a single observable, including using specific attenuation.
Laura Bianco, Irina V. Djalalova, James M. Wilczak, Joseph B. Olson, Jaymes S. Kenyon, Aditya Choukulkar, Larry K. Berg, Harindra J. S. Fernando, Eric P. Grimit, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Julie K. Lundquist, Paytsar Muradyan, Mikhail Pekour, Yelena Pichugina, Mark T. Stoelinga, and David D. Turner
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4803–4821, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4803-2019, 2019
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During the second Wind Forecast Improvement Project, improvements to the parameterizations were applied to the High Resolution Rapid Refresh model and its nested version. The impacts of the new parameterizations on the forecast of 80 m wind speeds and power are assessed, using sodars and profiling lidars observations for comparison. Improvements are evaluated as a function of the model’s initialization time, forecast horizon, time of the day, season, site elevation, and meteorological phenomena.
Ann M. Fridlind, Marcus van Lier-Walqui, Scott Collis, Scott E. Giangrande, Robert C. Jackson, Xiaowen Li, Toshihisa Matsui, Richard Orville, Mark H. Picel, Daniel Rosenfeld, Alexander Ryzhkov, Richard Weitz, and Pengfei Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2979–3000, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2979-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2979-2019, 2019
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Weather radars are offering improved capabilities to investigate storm physics, which remain poorly understood. We investigate enhanced use of such data near Houston, Texas, where pollution sources often provide a convenient contrast between polluted and clean air. We conclude that Houston is a favorable location to conduct a future field campaign during June through September because isolated storms are common and tend to last an hour, allowing frequent observations of a full life cycle.
Robert C. Jackson, Scott M. Collis, Valentin Louf, Alain Protat, and Leon Majewski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17687–17704, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17687-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17687-2018, 2018
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This paper looks at a 17 year database of echo top heights of thunderstorms in Darwin retrieved by CPOL. We find that the echo top heights are generally bimodal, corresponding to cumulus congestus and deep convection, and show a greater bimodality during an inactive MJO. Furthermore, we find that convective cell areas are larger in break conditions compared to monsoon conditions, but only during MJO-inactive conditions.
Robert Jackson, Jeffrey R. French, David C. Leon, David M. Plummer, Sonia Lasher-Trapp, Alan M. Blyth, and Alexei Korolev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15329–15344, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15329-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15329-2018, 2018
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This paper looks at microphysical observations of growing cumulus clouds in the southwest United Kingdom sampled during the COnvective Precipitation Experiment (COPE). Our results suggest that secondary ice production processes are contributing to the observed concentrations and that entrainment of particles from remnant cloud layers may have acted to aid in secondary ice production.
Spencer Faber, Jeffrey R. French, and Robert Jackson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3645–3659, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3645-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3645-2018, 2018
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Laboratory and in-flight evaluations of uncertainties of measurements from a cloud droplet probe are presented. This study extends results of earlier studies by examining instrument response over a greater range of droplet sizes throughout the entire sample volume. Errors in droplet sizing based on the laboratory measurements tend to be less than 10 %, significantly less than typically quoted sizing accuracy for this class of instrument.
Kirk W. North, Mariko Oue, Pavlos Kollias, Scott E. Giangrande, Scott M. Collis, and Corey K. Potvin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2785–2806, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2785-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2785-2017, 2017
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Vertical air motion retrievals from 3DVAR multiple distributed scanning Doppler radars are compared against collocated profiling radars and retrieved from an upward iteration integration iterative technique to characterize their veracity. The retrieved vertical air motions are generally within 1–2 m s−1 of agreement with profiling radars and better solution than the upward integration technique, and therefore can be used as a means to improve parameterizations in numerical models moving forward.
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Discriminating between “drizzle or rain” and sea salt aerosols in Cloudnet for measurements over the Barbados Cloud Observatory
Cancellation of cloud shadow effects in the absorbing aerosol index retrieval algorithm of TROPOMI
Optimal estimation of cloud properties from thermal infrared observations with a combination of deep learning and radiative transfer simulation
3D cloud masking across a broad swath using multi-angle polarimetry and deep learning
Dual-frequency (Ka-band and G-band) radar estimates of liquid water content profiles in shallow clouds
Retrieval of cloud fraction and optical thickness of liquid water clouds over the ocean from multi-angle polarization observations
Severe-hail detection with C-band dual-polarisation radars using convolutional neural networks
Retrieval of cloud fraction using machine learning algorithms based on FY-4A AGRI observations
Tomographic reconstruction algorithms for retrieving two-dimensional ice cloud microphysical parameters using along-track (sub)millimeter-wave radiometer observations
PEAKO and peakTree: tools for detecting and interpreting peaks in cloud radar Doppler spectra – capabilities and limitations
An advanced spatial coregistration of cloud properties for the atmospheric Sentinel missions: application to TROPOMI
Contrail altitude estimation using GOES-16 ABI data and deep learning
The Ice Cloud Imager: retrieval of frozen water column properties
Supercooled liquid water cloud classification using lidar backscatter peak properties
Marine cloud base height retrieval from MODIS cloud properties using machine learning
Wet-Radome Attenuation in ARM Cloud Radars and Its Utilization in Radar Calibration Using Disdrometer Measurements
How well can brightness temperature differences of spaceborne imagers help to detect cloud phase? A sensitivity analysis regarding cloud phase and related cloud properties
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Retrieving cloud base height and geometric thickness using the oxygen A-band channel of GCOM-C/SGLI
Simulation and detection efficiency analysis for measurements of polar mesospheric clouds using a spaceborne wide-field-of-view ultraviolet imager
The Chalmers Cloud Ice Climatology: retrieval implementation and validation
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
Mitigation of satellite OCO-2 CO2 biases in the vicinity of clouds with 3D calculations using the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR3T)
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
JAXA Level 2 cloud and precipitation microphysics retrievals based on EarthCARE CPR, ATLID and MSI
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
Peering into the heart of thunderstorm clouds: Insights from cloud radar and spectral polarimetry
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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
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
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
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Detection of aerosol and cloud features for the EarthCARE atmospheric lidar (ATLID): the ATLID FeatureMask (A-FM) product
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 487–508, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-487-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-487-2025, 2025
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We present a technique to discriminate between the Cloudnet target classification of "drizzle or rain" and sea salt aerosols that is applicable to marine Cloudnet sites. The method is crucial for investigating the occurrence of precipitation and significantly improves the Cloudnet target classification scheme for measurements over the Barbados Cloud Observatory (BCO). A first-ever analysis of the Cloudnet product including the new "haze echo" target over 2 years at the BCO is presented.
Victor J. H. Trees, Ping Wang, Piet Stammes, Lieuwe G. Tilstra, David P. Donovan, and A. Pier Siebesma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 73–91, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-73-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-73-2025, 2025
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Our study investigates the impact of cloud shadows on satellite-based aerosol index measurements over Europe by TROPOMI. Using a cloud shadow detection algorithm and simulations, we found that the overall effect on the aerosol index is minimal. Interestingly, we found that cloud shadows are significantly bluer than their shadow-free surroundings, but the traditional algorithm already (partly) automatically corrects for this increased blueness.
He Huang, Quan Wang, Chao Liu, and Chen Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7129–7141, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7129-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7129-2024, 2024
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This study introduces a cloud property retrieval method which integrates traditional radiative transfer simulations with a machine learning method. Retrievals from a machine learning algorithm are used to provide a priori states, and a radiative transfer model is used to create lookup tables for later iteration processes. The new method combines the advantages of traditional and machine learning algorithms, and it is applicable to both daytime and nighttime conditions.
Sean R. Foley, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Andrew M. Sayer, Meng Gao, James Hays, and Judy Hoffman
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7027–7047, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7027-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7027-2024, 2024
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Measuring the shape of clouds helps scientists understand how the Earth will continue to respond to climate change. Satellites measure clouds in different ways. One way is to take pictures of clouds from multiple angles and to use the differences between the pictures to measure cloud structure. However, doing this accurately can be challenging. We propose a way to use machine learning to recover the shape of clouds from multi-angle satellite data.
Juan M. Socuellamos, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Matthew D. Lebsock, Ken B. Cooper, and Pavlos Kollias
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6965–6981, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6965-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6965-2024, 2024
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This article presents a novel technique to estimate liquid water content (LWC) profiles in shallow warm clouds using a pair of collocated Ka-band (35 GHz) and G-band (239 GHz) radars. We demonstrate that the use of a G-band radar allows retrieving the LWC with 3 times better accuracy than previous works reported in the literature, providing improved ability to understand the vertical profile of LWC and characterize microphysical and dynamical processes more precisely in shallow clouds.
Claudia Emde, Veronika Pörtge, Mihail Manev, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6769–6789, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6769-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6769-2024, 2024
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We introduce an innovative method to retrieve the cloud fraction and optical thickness of liquid water clouds over the ocean based on polarimetry. This is well suited for satellite observations providing multi-angle polarization measurements. Cloud fraction and cloud optical thickness can be derived from measurements at two viewing angles: one within the cloudbow and one in the sun glint region.
Vincent Forcadell, Clotilde Augros, Olivier Caumont, Kévin Dedieu, Maxandre Ouradou, Cloé David, Jordi Figueras i Ventura, Olivier Laurantin, and Hassan Al-Sakka
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6707–6734, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6707-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6707-2024, 2024
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This study demonstrates the potential of enhancing severe-hail detection through the application of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to dual-polarization radar data. It is shown that current methods can be calibrated to significantly enhance their performance for severe-hail detection. This study establishes the foundation for the solution of a more complex problem: the estimation of the maximum size of hailstones on the ground using deep learning applied to radar data.
Jinyi Xia and Li Guan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6697–6706, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6697-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6697-2024, 2024
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This study presents a method for estimating cloud cover from FY-4A AGRI observations using random forest (RF) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) algorithms. The results demonstrate excellent performance in distinguishing clear-sky scenes and reducing errors in cloud cover estimation. It shows significant improvements compared to existing methods.
Yuli Liu and Ian S. Adams
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-188, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-188, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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This paper presents our latest development in tomographic cloud reconstruction algorithms that use multi-angle TB observations to reconstruct the spatial distribution of ice clouds. Compared to nadir-only retrievals, the tomographic technique provides a detailed reconstruction of ice clouds’ inner structure with high spatial resolution and significantly improves retrieval accuracy. Also, the tomography technique effectively increases detection sensitivity for small ice cloud particles.
Teresa Vogl, Martin Radenz, Fabiola Ramelli, Rosa Gierens, and Heike Kalesse-Los
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6547–6568, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6547-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6547-2024, 2024
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In this study, we present a toolkit of two Python algorithms to extract information from Doppler spectra measured by ground-based cloud radars. In these Doppler spectra, several peaks can be formed due to populations of droplets/ice particles with different fall velocities coexisting in the same measurement time and height. The two algorithms can detect peaks and assign them to certain particle types, such as small cloud droplets or fast-falling ice particles like graupel.
Athina Argyrouli, Diego Loyola, Fabian Romahn, Ronny Lutz, Víctor Molina García, Pascal Hedelt, Klaus-Peter Heue, and Richard Siddans
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6345–6367, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6345-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6345-2024, 2024
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This paper describes a new treatment of the spatial misregistration of cloud properties for Sentinel-5 Precursor, when the footprints of different spectral bands are not perfectly aligned. The methodology exploits synergies between spectrometers and imagers, like TROPOMI and VIIRS. The largest improvements have been identified for heterogeneous scenes at cloud edges. This approach is generic and can also be applied to future Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 instruments.
Vincent R. Meijer, Sebastian D. Eastham, Ian A. Waitz, and Steven R. H. Barrett
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6145–6162, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6145-2024, 2024
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Aviation's climate impact is partly due to contrails: the clouds that form behind aircraft and which can linger for hours under certain atmospheric conditions. Accurately forecasting these conditions could allow aircraft to avoid forming these contrails and thus reduce their environmental footprint. Our research uses deep learning to identify three-dimensional contrail locations in two-dimensional satellite imagery, which can be used to assess and improve these forecasts.
Eleanor May, Bengt Rydberg, Inderpreet Kaur, Vinia Mattioli, Hanna Hallborn, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5957–5987, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5957-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5957-2024, 2024
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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.
Luke Edgar Whitehead, Adrian James McDonald, and Adrien Guyot
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5765–5784, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5765-2024, 2024
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Supercooled liquid water cloud is important to represent in weather and climate models, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere. Previous work has developed a new machine learning method for measuring supercooled liquid water in Antarctic clouds using simple lidar observations. We evaluate this technique using a lidar dataset from Christchurch, New Zealand, and develop an updated algorithm for accurate supercooled liquid water detection at mid-latitudes.
Julien Lenhardt, Johannes Quaas, and Dino Sejdinovic
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5655–5677, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5655-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5655-2024, 2024
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Clouds play a key role in the regulation of the Earth's climate. Aspects like the height of their base are of essential interest to quantify their radiative effects but remain difficult to derive from satellite data. In this study, we combine observations from the surface and satellite retrievals of cloud properties to build a robust and accurate method to retrieve the cloud base height, based on a computer vision model and ordinal regression.
Min Deng, Scott E. Giangrande, Michael P. Jensen, Karen Johnson, Christopher R. Williams, Jennifer M. Comstock, Ya-Chien Feng, Alyssa Matthews, Iosif A. Lindenmaier, Timothy G. Wendler, Marquette Rocque, Aifang Zhou, Zeen Zhu, Edward Luke, and Die Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2615, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2615, 2024
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A relative calibration technique is developed for the cloud radar by monitoring the intercept of the wet-radome attenuation (WRA) logarithmic behavior as a function of rainfall rates in light and moderate rain conditions. This WRA technique is applied to the measurements during the ARM TRACER campaign and reports Ze offsets that compare favorably with results from other traditional calibration methods.
Johanna Mayer, Bernhard Mayer, Luca Bugliaro, Ralf Meerkötter, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5161–5185, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5161-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5161-2024, 2024
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This study uses radiative transfer calculations to characterize the relation of two satellite channel combinations (namely infrared window brightness temperature differences – BTDs – of SEVIRI) 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.
Frédéric P. A. Vogt, Loris Foresti, Daniel Regenass, Sophie Réthoré, Néstor Tarin Burriel, Mervyn Bibby, Przemysław Juda, Simone Balmelli, Tobias Hanselmann, Pieter du Preez, and Dirk Furrer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4891–4914, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4891-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4891-2024, 2024
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ampycloud is a new algorithm developed at MeteoSwiss to characterize the height and sky coverage fraction of cloud layers above aerodromes via ceilometer data. 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 is implemented as a Python package that is made publicly available to the community under the 3-Clause BSD license.
Takashi M. Nagao, Kentaroh Suzuki, and Makoto Kuji
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-141, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-141, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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In satellite remote sensing, estimating cloud base height (CBH) is more challenging than estimating cloud top height because the cloud base is obscured by the cloud itself. We developed an algorithm using the specific channel (known as the oxygen A-band channel) of the SGLI instrument on JAXA’s GCOM-C satellite to estimate CBH together with other cloud properties. This algorithm can provide global distributions of CBH across various cloud types, including liquid, ice, and mixed-phase clouds.
Ke Ren, Haiyang Gao, Shuqi Niu, Shaoyang Sun, Leilei Kou, Yanqing Xie, Liguo Zhang, and Lingbing Bu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4825–4842, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4825-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4825-2024, 2024
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Ultraviolet 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 results demonstrate that the WFUI performs well in PMC detection and has high detection efficiency. The relationship between ice water content and detection efficiency follows an exponential function distribution.
Adrià Amell, Simon Pfreundschuh, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4337–4368, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4337-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4337-2024, 2024
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The representation of clouds in numerical weather and climate models remains a major challenge that is difficult to address because of the limitations of currently available data records of cloud properties. In this work, we address this issue 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.
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
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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
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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.
Yu-Wen Chen, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Steven T. Massie, Susan S. Kulawik, and Hironobu Iwabuchi
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1936, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1936, 2024
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Retrievals of CO2 column-averaged dry air mole fractions from space can be done with spaceborne spectrometers such as OCO-2. Clouds in the vicinity of a footprint lead to spectral perturbations that bias those retrievals well beyond the required accuracy for global assessments of CO2 sources and sinks. This paper presents two physics-based mitigation techniques for these biases based on accompanying imagery, which can be used operationally.
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
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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
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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
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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.
Kaori Sato, Hajime Okamoto, Tomoaki Nishizawa, Yoshitaka Jin, Takashi Nakajima, Minrui Wang, Masaki Satoh, Woosub Roh, Hiroshi Ishimoto, and Rei Kudo
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-99, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-99, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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This study introduces the JAXA EarthCARE L2 cloud product using satellite observations and simulated EarthCARE data. The outputs from the product feature a 3D global view of the dominant ice habit categories and corresponding microphysics. Habit and size distribution transitions from cloud to precipitation will be quantified by the L2 cloud algorithms. With Doppler data, the products can be beneficial for further understanding of the coupling of cloud microphysics, radiation, and dynamics.
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
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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
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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
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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.
Ho Yi Lydia Mak and Christine Unal
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1232, 2024
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The dynamics of thunderclouds is studied using cloud radar. Supercooled liquid water and conical graupel are likely present, while chain-like ice crystals may occur at cloud top. Ice crystals are vertically aligned seconds before lightning and resume their usual horizontal alignment afterwards in some cases. Updrafts and downdrafts are found near cloud core and edges respectively. Turbulence is strong. Radar measurement modes that are more suited for investigating thunderstorms are recommended.
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
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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.
Kélian Sommer, Wassim Kabalan, and Romain Brunet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-101, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-101, 2024
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Our research introduces a novel deep-learning approach for classifying and segmenting ground-based infrared thermal images, a crucial step in cloud monitoring. Tests on self-captured data showcase its excellent accuracy in distinguishing image types and in structure segmentation. With potential applications in astronomical observations, our work pioneers a robust solution for ground-based sky quality assessment, promising advancements in the photometric observations experiments.
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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
We studied the stability of a blockwise phase correlation (PC) method to estimate cloud motion...
