Articles | Volume 17, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3171-2024
© Author(s) 2024. 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-17-3171-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
27 May 2024
Research article |
| 27 May 2024
| 27 May 2024
A new approach to crystal habit retrieval from far-infrared spectral radiance measurements
Gianluca Di Natale
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
CNR-INO, National Institute of Optics, Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
Marco Ridolfi
CNR-INO, National Institute of Optics, Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
Luca Palchetti
CNR-INO, National Institute of Optics, Via Madonna del Piano 10, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy
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FIRMOS (Far-Infrared Radiation Mobile Observation System) is a spectroradiometer measuring in the far-infrared, developed to support the preparation of the FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) satellite mission. In this paper, we describe the instrument, its data products, and the results of the comparison with a suite of observations made from a high-altitude site during a field campaign, in winter 2018–2019.
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Luca Sgheri, Claudio Belotti, Maya Ben-Yami, Giovanni Bianchini, Bernardo Carnicero Dominguez, Ugo Cortesi, William Cossich, Samuele Del Bianco, Gianluca Di Natale, Tomás Guardabrazo, Dulce Lajas, Tiziano Maestri, Davide Magurno, Hilke Oetjen, Piera Raspollini, and Cristina Sgattoni
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 573–604, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-573-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-573-2022, 2022
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Gianluca Di Natale, Marco Barucci, Claudio Belotti, Giovanni Bianchini, Francesco D'Amato, Samuele Del Bianco, Marco Gai, Alessio Montori, Ralf Sussmann, Silvia Viciani, Hannes Vogelmann, and Luca Palchetti
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William Cossich, Tiziano Maestri, Davide Magurno, Michele Martinazzo, Gianluca Di Natale, Luca Palchetti, Giovanni Bianchini, and Massimo Del Guasta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13811–13833, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13811-2021, 2021
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The presence of clouds over Concordia, in the Antarctic Plateau, is investigated. Results are obtained by applying a machine learning algorithm to measurements of the infrared radiation emitted by the atmosphere toward the surface. The clear-sky, ice cloud, and mixed-phase cloud occurrence at different timescales is studied. A comparison with satellite measurements highlights the ability of the algorithm to identify multiple cloud conditions and study their variability at different timescales.
Luca Palchetti, Marco Barucci, Claudio Belotti, Giovanni Bianchini, Bertrand Cluzet, Francesco D'Amato, Samuele Del Bianco, Gianluca Di Natale, Marco Gai, Dina Khordakova, Alessio Montori, Hilke Oetjen, Markus Rettinger, Christian Rolf, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Ralf Sussmann, Silvia Viciani, Hannes Vogelmann, and Frank Gunther Wienhold
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The FIRMOS far-infrared (IR) prototype, developed for the preparation of the ESA FORUM mission, was deployed for the first time at Mt. Zugspitze at 3000 m altitude to measure the far-IR spectrum of atmospheric emissions. The measurements, including co-located radiometers, lidars, radio soundings, weather, and surface properties, provide a unique dataset to study radiative properties of water vapour, cirrus clouds, and snow emissivity over the IR emissions, including the under-explored far-IR.
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Federico Donat, Tiziano Maestri, Elisa Fabbri, Michele Martinazzo, Giovanni Bianchini, Massimo Del Guasta, Gianluca Di Natale, Luca Palchetti, Guido Masiello, Carmine Serio, and Giuliano Liuzzi
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Luca Sgheri, Claudio Belotti, Maya Ben-Yami, Giovanni Bianchini, Bernardo Carnicero Dominguez, Ugo Cortesi, William Cossich, Samuele Del Bianco, Gianluca Di Natale, Tomás Guardabrazo, Dulce Lajas, Tiziano Maestri, Davide Magurno, Hilke Oetjen, Piera Raspollini, and Cristina Sgattoni
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Gianluca Di Natale, Marco Barucci, Claudio Belotti, Giovanni Bianchini, Francesco D'Amato, Samuele Del Bianco, Marco Gai, Alessio Montori, Ralf Sussmann, Silvia Viciani, Hannes Vogelmann, and Luca Palchetti
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William Cossich, Tiziano Maestri, Davide Magurno, Michele Martinazzo, Gianluca Di Natale, Luca Palchetti, Giovanni Bianchini, and Massimo Del Guasta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13811–13833, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13811-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13811-2021, 2021
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Luca Palchetti, Marco Barucci, Claudio Belotti, Giovanni Bianchini, Bertrand Cluzet, Francesco D'Amato, Samuele Del Bianco, Gianluca Di Natale, Marco Gai, Dina Khordakova, Alessio Montori, Hilke Oetjen, Markus Rettinger, Christian Rolf, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Ralf Sussmann, Silvia Viciani, Hannes Vogelmann, and Frank Gunther Wienhold
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Christophe Bellisario, Helen E. Brindley, Simon F. B. Tett, Rolando Rizzi, Gianluca Di Natale, Luca Palchetti, and Giovanni Bianchini
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 7927–7937, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7927-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7927-2019, 2019
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Giovanni Bianchini, Francesco Castagnoli, Gianluca Di Natale, and Luca Palchetti
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 619–635, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-619-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-619-2019, 2019
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The characterization of infrared radiation emitted by the atmosphere is a crucial task in the study of the Earth's climate. The Radiation Explorer in the Far Infrared (REFIR) spectroradiometer allows us to perform this task adding the capability of resolving, through spectroscopy, the atmospheric components responsible for the measured radiative effects. The analysis of the measurements also allows us to retrieve the atmospheric structure, making REFIR a complete tool for atmospheric studies.
Gianluca Di Natale, Luca Palchetti, Giovanni Bianchini, and Massimo Del Guasta
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 825–837, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-825-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-825-2017, 2017
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We evaluate the simultaneous remote sensing of atmospheric vertical profiles of water vapour and temperature along with some micro-physical parameters, such as ice-particle effective diameter and ice water content of cirrus clouds, using far infrared spectral measurements of the downwelling longwave radiation. The developed methodology allows to retrieve the atmospheric state with good accuracy and high repetition rate, about 12 min, opening the capability to identify fast atmospheric events.
Massimo Carlotti, Bianca Maria Dinelli, Giada Innocenti, and Luca Palchetti
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5853–5867, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5853-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5853-2016, 2016
Short summary
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We introduce a strategy for the measurement of CO2 in the stratosphere. We use an orbiting limb sounder to measure both the thermal infrared (TIR) and far-infrared (FIR) atmospheric emissions. The rotational transitions of O2 in the FIR are exploited to derive the temperature and pressure fields that are needed to retrieve the CO2 from its spectrum in the TIR. The proposed experiment can determine two-dimensional distributions of the CO2 with precision of 1 ppm at altitudes between 10 and 50 km.
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Subject: Clouds | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
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Contrails, the clouds formed by aircraft, are have a substantial climate impact. Determining which flight formed each contrail is a critical step to decreasing this impact. We introduce a dataset of synthetic contrail observations with known flight attributions that can be used to develop and assess geostationary-satellite-based contrail-to-flight attribution systems. We additionally introduce a new attribution algorithm and show that it outperforms previous methods.
Nina Maherndl, Alessandro Battaglia, Anton Kötsche, and Maximilian Maahn
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Accurate measurements of ice water content (IWC) and snowfall rate (SR) are challenging due to high spatial variability and limitations of our measurement techniques. Here, we present a novel method to derive IWC and SR from W-band cloud radar observations, considering the degree of riming. We also investigate the use of the liquid water path (LWP) as a proxy for the occurrence of riming. LWP is easier to measure, so that the method can be applied to both ground-based and space-based instruments.
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Measurements made by three instruments aboard EarthCARE are used to retrieve estimates of cloud and aerosol properties. A radiative closure assessment of these retrievals is performed by the ACMB-DF processor. Radiative transfer models acting on retrieved information produce broadband radiances commensurate with measurements made by EarthCARE’s broadband radiometer. Measured and modelled radiances for small domains are compared, and the likelihood of them differing by 10 W m2 defines the closure.
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The research investigates methods for detecting deep convective clouds (DCCs) using satellite infrared data, essential for understanding long-term climate trends. By validating three popular detection methods against lidar–radar data, it found moderate accuracy (below 75 %), emphasizing the importance of fine-tuning thresholds regionally. The study shows how small threshold changes significantly affect the climatology of severe storms.
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This study leverages machine learning models to classify cloud thermodynamic phases using multi-sensor remote sensing data collected at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement North Slope of Alaska observatory. We evaluate model performance, feature importance, application of the model to another observatory, and quantify how the models respond to instrument outages.
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Fog and low stratus (FLS) are both persistent clouds close to the Earth's surface. This study introduces a new machine-learning-based algorithm developed for the Meteosat Second Generation geostationary satellites that can provide a coherent and detailed view of FLS development over large areas over the 24 h day cycle.
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CO2 column-averaged dry-air mole fractions can be retrieved from space using spectrometers like OCO-2. However, nearby clouds induce spectral distortions that bias these retrievals beyond the accuracy needed for global CO2 source and sink assessments. This study employs a physics-based linearization approach to represent 3D cloud effects and introduces radiance-level mitigation techniques for actual OCO-2 data, enabling the operational implementation of these corrections.
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
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1641–1657, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1641-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1641-2025, 2025
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A relative calibration technique is developed for the cloud radar by monitoring the intercept of the wet-radome attenuation log-linear behavior as a function of rainfall rates in light and moderate rain conditions. This resulting reflectivity offset during the recent field campaign is compared favorably with the traditional disdrometer comparison near the rain onset, while it also demonstrates similar trends with respect to collocated and independently calibrated reference radars.
Yuli Liu and Ian Stuart Adams
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1659–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1659-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1659-2025, 2025
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This paper presents our latest development in tomographic reconstruction algorithms that use multi-angle (sub)millimeter-wave brightness temperature to reconstruct the spatial distribution of ice clouds. Compared to nadir-only retrievals, the tomography technique provides a detailed reconstruction of ice clouds’ inner structure with high spatial resolution and significantly improves retrieval accuracy. Also, the technique effectively increases detection sensitivity for small ice cloud particles.
Alexander Myagkov, Tatiana Nomokonova, and Michael Frech
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1621–1640, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1621-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1621-2025, 2025
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The study examines the use of the spheroidal shape approximation for calculating cloud radar observables in rain and identifies some limitations. To address these, it introduces the empirical scattering model (ESM) based on high-quality Doppler spectra from a 94 GHz radar. The ESM offers improved accuracy and directly incorporates natural rain's microphysical effects. This new model can enhance retrieval and calibration methods, benefiting cloud radar polarimetry experts and scattering modelers.
Keiichi Ohara and Hirohiko Masunaga
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-173, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-173, 2025
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Ice particles (e.g., cloud ice, snow and graupel) in convective clouds play key roles in cloud and precipitation formation. This study combines satellite millimeter-wave radar and radiometer observations to estimate the vertical distributions of physical parameters of ice particles such as mass, size, and number densities. CPR radar and GPM radiometer observations together reduce the estimation errors of the physical parameters and provide information on the optimal ice particle shape.
Kaori Sato, Hajime Okamoto, Tomoaki Nishizawa, Yoshitaka Jin, Takashi Y. Nakajima, Minrui Wang, Masaki Satoh, Woosub Roh, Hiroshi Ishimoto, and Rei Kudo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1325–1338, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1325-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1325-2025, 2025
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This study introduces the JAXA EarthCARE Level 2 (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 are 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.
Christian Heske, Florian Ewald, and Silke Groß
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-691, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-691, 2025
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This study proposes a new technique to augment polarimetric radar measurements of the national German operational radar network with vertically looking cloud radars. The method is tested in two different case studies by comparison to dedicated scanning radars revealing promising results. Future usage of the method is motivated by analyzing the coverage of the operational radar network finding advantageous locations with good radar coverage.
Ho Yi Lydia Mak and Christine Unal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1209–1242, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1209-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1209-2025, 2025
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The dynamics of thunderclouds are 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.
Nitika Yadlapalli Yurk, Matthew Lebsock, Juan Socuellamos, Raquel Rodriguez Monje, Ken Cooper, and Pavlos Kollias
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-618, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-618, 2025
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Current knowledge of the link between clouds and climate is limited by lack of observations of the drop size distribution (DSD) within clouds, especially for the smallest drops. We demonstrate a method of retrieving DSDs down to small drop sizes using observations of drizzling marine layer clouds captured by the CloudCube millimeter-wave Doppler radar. We compare the shape of the observed spectra to theoretical expectations of radar echoes to solve for DSDs at each time and elevation.
Cloé David, Clotilde Augros, Benoît Vié, François Bouttier, and Tony Le Bastard
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-685, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-685, 2025
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Simulations of storm characteristics and associated radar signatures were improved, especially under the freezing level, using an advanced cloud scheme. Discrepancies between observations and forecasts at and above the melting layer highlighted issues in both the radar forward operator and the microphysics. To overcome part of these issues, different parametrizations of the operator were suggested. This work aligns with the future integration of polarimetric data into assimilation systems.
Huan Yu, Isabelle De Smedt, Nicolas Theys, Maarten Sneep, Pepijn Veefkind, and Michel Van Roozendael
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-478, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-478, 2025
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We introduce a new cloud retrieval algorithm using the O2-O2 absorption band at 477 nm to generate harmonized cloud datasets from OMI and TROPOMI. The algorithm improves upon the OMI O2-O2 operational cloud algorithm in several aspects. The new approach improves consistency in cloud parameters and NO2 retrievals between two sensors.
Takashi M. Nagao, Kentaroh Suzuki, and Makoto Kuji
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 773–792, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-773-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-773-2025, 2025
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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 on JAXA’s GCOM-C satellite to estimate CBHs together with other cloud properties. This algorithm can provide global distributions of CBH across various cloud types, including liquid, ice, and mixed-phase clouds.
Andrew John Buggee and Peter Andrew Pilewskie
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-546, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-546, 2025
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A constrained optimal estimation technique was developed to utilize space-borne hyperspectral measurements of reflected solar radiation for retrieving a vertical profile of cloud droplet size, providing insight into the internal structure of a cloud. The improved accuracy and, to a lesser extent, the enhanced spectral sampling provided by next-generation space-borne spectrometers are essential for extracting vertically resolved droplet size information from moderately thick, warm clouds.
Karl-Göran Karlsson, Nina Håkansson, Salomon Eliasson, Erwin Wolters, and Ronald Scheirer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-379, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-379, 2025
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The topic is finding methods to extend climate data records from single-instrument satellite observations, in this case the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR). Several modern instruments include AVHRR-heritage channels but some corrections are necessary to account for some differences. We have simulated AVHRR data from the VIIIRS sensor on NOAA polar satellites. We find that methods based on machine learning are capable of performing these corrections.
Johanna Roschke, Jonas Witthuhn, Marcus Klingebiel, Moritz Haarig, Andreas Foth, Anton Kötsche, and Heike Kalesse-Los
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.
Ioanna Tsikoudi, Alessandro Battaglia, Christine Unal, and Eleni Marinou
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3164, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3164, 2025
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The study simulates spectral polarimetric variables for raindrops as observed by a cloud radar. Raindrops are modelled as oblate spheroids and backscattering properties are computed via the T-matrix method including noise, turbulence and spectral averaging effects. When comparing simulations to measurements, differences on the amplitudes of polarimetric variables are noted. This shows the challenge of using simplified shapes to model raindrop polarimetric variables when moving to mm wavelengths.
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.
Majid Hajipour, Patric Seifert, Hannes Griesche, Kevin Ohneiser, and Martin Radenz
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-173, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-173, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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This study presents an approach that enables the detection of the shape and orientation of multiple types of co-located hydrometeors in mixed-phase cloud systems. This information is key for improving the understanding of these clouds, as they do contain ice and liquid water simultaneously, making them relevant for the precipitation budget and radiative balance of the Earth's atmosphere. The retrieval is based on elevation scans of polarimetric cloud radars and can therefore be flexibly applied.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cited articles
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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.
This work aims to define a new approach to retrieve the distribution of the main ice crystal...
