Exploring new EarthCARE observations for evaluating Greenland clouds in the regional climate model RACMO2.4

Thirza N. Feenstra, Willem Jan van de Berg, Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff, David P. Donovan, Christiaan T. van Dalum, and Michiel R. van den Broeke

Data sets

Dataset for "Exploring new EarthCARE observations for evaluating Greenland clouds in RACMO2.4" Thirza Feenstra https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17590866

EarthCARE ATLID CPR TC Level 2B, version BA European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.57780/eca-7ba3052

EarthCARE ATLID EBD Level 2A, version BA European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.57780/eca-4644a1f

EarthCARE ATLID ICE Level 2A, version BA European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.57780/eca-e25465f

EarthCARE CPR CLD Level 2A, version BA European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.57780/eca-7d84adf

EarthCARE CPR FMR Level 2A, version BA European Space Agency https://doi.org/10.57780/eca-c094213

Model code and software

thirza-feenstra/EarthCARE4RCM: Release for paper: Exploring new EarthCARE observations for evaluating Greenland clouds in the regional climate model RACMO2.4 (paper_publication) Thirza Feenstra https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18680105

Scientific colour maps Fabio Crameri https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8409685

Short summary

Cloud representation brings large uncertainties in polar climate modeling. We show the first evaluation of Greenland clouds in the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO2.4) with new EarthCARE satellite data. Comparing lidar and radar observations and retrieved cloud profiles with co-located RACMO output, we find RACMO captures low ice clouds but underestimates high clouds, mid-altitude liquid clouds, and snowfall. These results highlight EarthCARE's potential to improve polar climate models.