Evaluation of four ground-based retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration in marine stratocumulus with aircraft in situ measurements

Zhang, Damao; Vogelmann, Andrew M.; Yang, Fan; Luke, Edward; Kollias, Pavlos; Wang, Zhien; Wu, Peng; Gustafson Jr., William I.; Mei, Fan; Glienke, Susanne; Tomlinson, Jason; Desai, Neel

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023

Articles | Volume 16, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Special issue:

Marine aerosols, trace gases, and clouds over the North Atlantic...

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 23

Research article

|

06 Dec 2023

Research article |

| 06 Dec 2023

Evaluation of four ground-based retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration in marine stratocumulus with aircraft in situ measurements

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

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5827-2023-supplement

Data sets

Droplet number concentration (NDROPMFRSR) L. Riihimaki, S. McFarlane, C. Sivaraman, and D. Zhang https://doi.org/10.5439/1131339

Lidar-based cloud droplet number concentration retrievals at the ARM ENA observatory D. Zhang https://adc.arm.gov/discovery/#/results/s::droplet%20number%20concentration

Cloud and Aerosol Spectrometer aboard aircraft (AAFCAS) E. Cromwell, J. Tomlinson, and M. Pekour https://doi.org/10.5439/1438488

Fast Cloud Droplet Probe aboard aircraft (AAFFCDP) F. Mei, K. Burk, B. Ermold, and D. Zhang https://doi.org/10.5439/1417472

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.