Articles | Volume 9, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1743-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1743-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Research article
| 
20 Apr 2016
Research article |
| 20 Apr 2016
Cirrus cloud optical and microphysical property retrievals from eMAS during SEAC4RS using bi-spectral reflectance measurements within the 1.88 µm water vapor absorption band
Goddard Earth Sciences Technology and Research (GESTAR), Universities
Space Research Association, Columbia, Maryland, 21046, USA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA
Steven Platnick
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA
G. Thomas Arnold
Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, 20706, USA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA
Robert E. Holz
Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University
of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA
Paolo Veglio
Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies, University
of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA
John Yorks
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA
Chenxi Wang
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20740, USA
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Zhibo Zhang, Kerry Meyer, Hongbin Yu, Steven Platnick, Peter Colarco, Zhaoyan Liu, and Lazaros Oreopoulos
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T. Fauchez, P. Dubuisson, C. Cornet, F. Szczap, A. Garnier, J. Pelon, and K. Meyer
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Kerry Meyer, Steven Platnick, G. Thomas Arnold, Nandana Amarasinghe, Daniel Miller, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Mikael Witte, Brian Cairns, Siddhant Gupta, Greg McFarquhar, and Joseph O'Brien
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2021, 2024
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Satellite remote sensing retrievals of cloud droplet size are used to understand clouds and their interactions with aerosols and radiation but require many simplifying assumptions. Evaluation of these retrievals typically is done by comparing against direct measurements of droplets from airborne cloud probes. This paper details an evaluation of proxy airborne remote sensing droplet size retrievals against several cloud probes and explores the impact of key assumptions on retrieval agreement.
Blake T. Sorenson, Jeffrey S. Reid, Jianglong Zhang, Robert E. Holz, William L. Smith Sr., and Amanda Gumber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1231–1248, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1231-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1231-2024, 2024
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Smoke particles are typically submicron in size and assumed to have negligible impacts at the thermal infrared spectrum. However, we show that infrared signatures can be observed over dense smoke plumes from satellites. We found that giant particles are unlikely to be the dominant cause. Rather, co-transported water vapor injected to the middle to upper troposphere and surface cooling beneath the plume due to shadowing are significant, with the surface cooling effect being the most dominant.
Robert Pincus, Paul A. Hubanks, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Robert E. Holz, Denis Botambekov, and Casey J. Wall
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2483–2497, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2483-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2483-2023, 2023
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This paper describes a new global dataset of cloud properties observed by a specific satellite program created to facilitate comparison with a matching observational proxy used in climate models. Statistics are accumulated over daily and monthly timescales on an equal-angle grid. Statistics include cloud detection, cloud-top pressure, and cloud optical properties. Joint histograms of several variable pairs are also available.
Amanda Gumber, Jeffrey S. Reid, Robert E. Holz, Thomas F. Eck, N. Christina Hsu, Robert C. Levy, Jianglong Zhang, and Paolo Veglio
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2547–2573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2547-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2547-2023, 2023
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Hong Chen, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Steven T. Massie, Vikas Nataraja, Matthew S. Norgren, Jake J. Gristey, Graham Feingold, Robert E. Holz, and Hironobu Iwabuchi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1971–2000, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1971-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1971-2023, 2023
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We introduce the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR3T) and propose a radiance self-consistency approach for quantifying and mitigating 3D bias in legacy airborne and spaceborne imagery retrievals due to spatially inhomogeneous clouds and surfaces.
Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Connor J. Flynn, Yohei Shinozuka, Sarah J. Doherty, Michael S. Diamond, Karla M. Longo, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Gregory R. Carmichael, Patricia Castellanos, Arlindo M. da Silva, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Zhixin Xue, Marc Mallet, Ravi Govindaraju, Qiaoqiao Wang, Yafang Cheng, Yan Feng, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Kristina Pistone, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Kerry G. Meyer, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Leonhard Pfister, Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sundar A. Christopher, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4283–4309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4283-2023, 2023
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Abundant aerosols are present above low-level liquid clouds over the southeastern Atlantic during late austral spring. The model simulation differences in the proportion of aerosol residing in the planetary boundary layer and in the free troposphere can greatly affect the regional aerosol radiative effects. This study examines the aerosol loading and fractional aerosol loading in the free troposphere among various models and evaluates them against measurements from the NASA ORACLES campaign.
Qing Yue, Eric J. Fetzer, Likun Wang, Brian H. Kahn, Nadia Smith, John M. Blaisdell, Kerry G. Meyer, Mathias Schreier, Bjorn Lambrigtsen, and Irina Tkatcheva
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2099–2123, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2099-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2099-2022, 2022
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Sarah J. Doherty, Pablo E. Saide, Paquita Zuidema, Yohei Shinozuka, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Hamish Gordon, Marc Mallet, Kerry Meyer, David Painemal, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Sharon P. Burton, Richard A. Ferrare, Calvin Howes, Pierre Nabat, Gregory R. Carmichael, Arlindo da Silva, Kristina Pistone, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Robert Wood, and Jens Redemann
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Genevieve Rose Lorenzo, Paola Angela Bañaga, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, Melliza Templonuevo Cruz, Mojtaba AzadiAghdam, Avelino Arellano, Grace Betito, Rachel Braun, Andrea F. Corral, Hossein Dadashazar, Eva-Lou Edwards, Edwin Eloranta, Robert Holz, Gabrielle Leung, Lin Ma, Alexander B. MacDonald, Jeffrey S. Reid, James Bernard Simpas, Connor Stahl, Shane Marie Visaga, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6155–6173, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6155-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6155-2021, 2021
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Firework emissions change the physicochemical and optical properties of water-soluble particles, which subsequently alters the background aerosol’s respirability, influence on surroundings, ability to uptake gases, and viability as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). There was heavy aerosol loading due to fireworks in the boundary layer. The aerosol constituents were largely water-soluble and submicrometer in size due to both inorganic salts in firework materials and gas-to-particle conversion.
Yan Yu, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Huikyo Lee, Myungje Choi, Gregory S. Okin, John E. Yorks, James R. Campbell, and Jared Marquis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1427–1447, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1427-2021, 2021
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Given the current uncertainties in the simulated diurnal variability of global dust mobilization and concentration, observational characterization of the variations in dust mobilization and concentration will provide a valuable benchmark for evaluating and constraining such model simulations. The current study investigates the diurnal cycle of dust loading across the global tropics, subtropics, and mid-latitudes by analyzing aerosol observations from the International Space Station.
Tianle Yuan, Hua Song, Robert Wood, Johannes Mohrmann, Kerry Meyer, Lazaros Oreopoulos, and Steven Platnick
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6989–6997, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6989-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6989-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We use deep transfer learning techniques to classify satellite cloud images into different morphology types. It achieves the state-of-the-art results and can automatically process a large amount of satellite data. The algorithm will help low-cloud researchers to better understand their mesoscale organizations.
Marc Mallet, Fabien Solmon, Pierre Nabat, Nellie Elguindi, Fabien Waquet, Dominique Bouniol, Andrew Mark Sayer, Kerry Meyer, Romain Roehrig, Martine Michou, Paquita Zuidema, Cyrille Flamant, Jens Redemann, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13191–13216, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13191-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13191-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents numerical simulations using two regional climate models to study the impact of biomass fire plumes from central Africa on the radiative balance of this region. The results indicate that biomass fires can either warm the regional climate when they are located above low clouds or cool it when they are located above land. They can also alter sea and land surface temperatures by decreasing solar radiation at the surface. Finally, they can also modify the atmospheric dynamics.
Debbie O'Sullivan, Franco Marenco, Claire L. Ryder, Yaswant Pradhan, Zak Kipling, Ben Johnson, Angela Benedetti, Melissa Brooks, Matthew McGill, John Yorks, and Patrick Selmer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12955–12982, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12955-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12955-2020, 2020
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Mineral dust is an important component of the climate system, and we assess how well it is predicted by two operational models. We flew an aircraft in the dust layers in the eastern Atlantic, and we also make use of satellites. We show that models predict the dust layer too low and that it predicts the particles to be too small. We believe that these discrepancies may be overcome if models can be constrained with operational observations of dust vertical and size-resolved distribution.
Willem J. Marais, Robert E. Holz, Jeffrey S. Reid, and Rebecca M. Willett
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Space agencies use moderate-resolution satellite imagery to study how smoke, dust, pollution (aerosols) and cloud types impact the Earth's climate; these space agencies include NASA, ESA and the China Meteorological Administration. We demonstrate in this paper that an algorithm with convolutional neural networks can greatly enhance the automated detection of aerosols and cloud types from satellite imagery. Our algorithm is an improvement on current aerosol and cloud detection algorithms.
Kirk Knobelspiesse, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Christine Bradley, Carol Bruegge, Brian Cairns, Gao Chen, Jacek Chowdhary, Anthony Cook, Antonio Di Noia, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, David J. Diner, Richard Ferrare, Guangliang Fu, Meng Gao, Michael Garay, Johnathan Hair, David Harper, Gerard van Harten, Otto Hasekamp, Mark Helmlinger, Chris Hostetler, Olga Kalashnikova, Andrew Kupchock, Karla Longo De Freitas, Hal Maring, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brent McBride, Matthew McGill, Ken Norlin, Anin Puthukkudy, Brian Rheingans, Jeroen Rietjens, Felix C. Seidel, Arlindo da Silva, Martijn Smit, Snorre Stamnes, Qian Tan, Sebastian Val, Andrzej Wasilewski, Feng Xu, Xiaoguang Xu, and John Yorks
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2183–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, 2020
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The Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) field campaign is a resource for the next generation of spaceborne multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) and lidar missions. Conducted in the fall of 2017 from the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, four MAP instruments and two lidars were flown on the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft over a variety of scene types and ground assets. Data are freely available to the public and useful for algorithm development and testing.
Benjamin Marchant, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, and Galina Wind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3263–3275, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3263-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3263-2020, 2020
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Multilayer cloud scenes (such as an ice cloud overlapping a liquid cloud) are common in the Earth's atmosphere and are quite difficult to detect from space. The detection of multilayer clouds is important to better understand how they interact with the light and their impact on the climate. So, for the instrument MODIS an algorithm has been developed to detect those clouds, and this paper presents an evaluation of this algorithm by comparing it with
other instruments.
Chenxi Wang, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Zhibo Zhang, and Yaping Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2257–2277, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2257-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2257-2020, 2020
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A machine-learning (ML)-based approach that can be used for cloud mask and phase detection is developed. An all-day model that uses infrared (IR) observations and a daytime model that uses shortwave and IR observations from a passive instrument are trained separately for different surface types. The training datasets are selected by using reference pixel types from collocated space lidar. The ML approach is validated carefully and the overall performance is better than traditional methods.
Samuel E. LeBlanc, Jens Redemann, Connor Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal-Rosenheimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Stephen Dunagan, Robert P. Dahlgren, Kerry Meyer, James Podolske, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Brent Holben, Michael Diamond, Robert Wood, Paola Formenti, Stuart Piketh, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Monja Gerber, and Andreas Namwoonde
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1565–1590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1565-2020, 2020
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The southeast Atlantic during August–October experiences layers of smoke from biomass burning over marine stratocumulus clouds. Here we present the light attenuation of the smoke and its dependence in the spatial, vertical, and spectral domain through direct measurements from an airborne platform during September 2016. From our observations of this climatically important smoke, we found an average aerosol optical depth of 0.32 at 500 nm, slightly lower than comparative satellite measurements.
Pawan Gupta, Robert C. Levy, Shana Mattoo, Lorraine A. Remer, Robert E. Holz, and Andrew K. Heidinger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6557–6577, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6557-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6557-2019, 2019
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Aerosol optical depth (AOD) from a geostationary satellite has been retrieved, and validated and diurnal cycles of aerosols are discussed over the eastern hemisphere and a 2-month period of May–June 2016. The new AOD product matches well with AERONET as well as with the standard MODIS product. Future work to make this algorithm operational will need to re-examine masking including snow masks, re-evaluate assumed aerosol models for geosynchronous geometry and address the surface characterization.
Sabrina P. Cochrane, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Peter Pilewskie, Scott Kittelman, Jens Redemann, Samuel LeBlanc, Kristina Pistone, Meloë Kacenelenbogen, Michal Segal Rozenhaimer, Yohei Shinozuka, Connor Flynn, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Rich Ferrare, Sharon Burton, Chris Hostetler, Steven Howell, Steffen Freitag, Amie Dobracki, and Sarah Doherty
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6505–6528, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6505-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6505-2019, 2019
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For two cases from the NASA ORACLES experiments, we retrieve aerosol and cloud properties and calculate a direct aerosol radiative effect (DARE). We investigate the relationship between DARE and the cloud albedo by specifying the albedo for which DARE transitions from a cooling to warming radiative effect. Our new aerosol retrieval algorithm is successful despite complexities associated with scenes that contain aerosols above clouds and decreases the uncertainty on retrieved aerosol parameters.
Rebecca M. Pauly, John E. Yorks, Dennis L. Hlavka, Matthew J. McGill, Vassilis Amiridis, Stephen P. Palm, Sharon D. Rodier, Mark A. Vaughan, Patrick A. Selmer, Andrew W. Kupchock, Holger Baars, and Anna Gialitaki
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6241–6258, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6241-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6241-2019, 2019
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The Cloud Aerosol Transport System (CATS) demonstrated that direct calibration of 1064 nm lidar data from a spaceborne platform is possible. By normalizing the CATS signal to a modeled molecular backscatter profile the CATS data were calibrated, enabling the derivation of optical properties of clouds and aerosols. Comparisons of the calibrated signal with airborne lidar, ground-based lidar, and spaceborne lidar all show agreement within the estimated error bars of the respective instruments.
Yan Yu, Olga V. Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Huikyo Lee, Myungje Choi, Gregory S. Okin, John E. Yorks, and James R. Campbell
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-975, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-975, 2019
Preprint withdrawn
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Given the current uncertainties in the simulated diurnal variability of global dust mobilization and concentration, observational characterization of the variations in dust mobilization and concentration will provide a valuable benchmark for evaluating and constraining such model simulations. The current study investigates the diurnal cycle of dust loading across the global tropics, sub-tropics, and mid-latitudes by analyzing aerosol observations from the International Space Station.
Logan Lee, Jianglong Zhang, Jeffrey S. Reid, and John E. Yorks
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12687–12707, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12687-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12687-2019, 2019
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The study of the diurnal variation of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol vertical distribution is necessary for the monitoring and modeling of aerosol particles for various air pollution, visibility and climate-related studies. Upon evaluating 1064 nm AOD and aerosol extinction profiles from the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) level 2 aerosol product, we studied the diurnal variation of AOD and aerosol extinction profiles on both regional and global scales.
Emmanouil Proestakis, Vassilis Amiridis, Eleni Marinou, Ioannis Binietoglou, Albert Ansmann, Ulla Wandinger, Julian Hofer, John Yorks, Edward Nowottnick, Abduvosit Makhmudov, Alexandros Papayannis, Aleksander Pietruczuk, Anna Gialitaki, Arnoud Apituley, Artur Szkop, Constantino Muñoz Porcar, Daniele Bortoli, Davide Dionisi, Dietrich Althausen, Dimitra Mamali, Dimitris Balis, Doina Nicolae, Eleni Tetoni, Gian Luigi Liberti, Holger Baars, Ina Mattis, Iwona Sylwia Stachlewska, Kalliopi Artemis Voudouri, Lucia Mona, Maria Mylonaki, Maria Rita Perrone, Maria João Costa, Michael Sicard, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos Siomos, Pasquale Burlizzi, Rebecca Pauly, Ronny Engelmann, Sabur Abdullaev, and Gelsomina Pappalardo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11743–11764, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11743-2019, 2019
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To increase accuracy and validate satellite-based products, comparison with ground-based reference observations is required. To do this, we present evaluation activity of EARLINET for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of NASA's CATS lidar operating aboard the International Space Station (ISS) while identified discrepancies are discussed. Better understanding CATS performance and limitations provides a valuable basis for scientific studies implementing the satellite-based lidar system.
Jeffrey S. Reid, Derek J. Posselt, Kathleen Kaku, Robert A. Holz, Gao Chen, Edwin W. Eloranta, Ralph E. Kuehn, Sarah Woods, Jianglong Zhang, Bruce Anderson, T. Paul Bui, Glenn S. Diskin, Patrick Minnis, Michael J. Newchurch, Simone Tanelli, Charles R. Trepte, K. Lee Thornhill, and Luke D. Ziemba
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11413–11442, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11413-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11413-2019, 2019
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The scientific community often focuses on the vertical transport of pollutants by clouds for those with bases at the planetary boundary layer (such as typical fair-weather cumulus) and the outflow from thunderstorms at their tops. We demonstrate complex aerosol and cloud features formed in mid-level thunderstorm outflow. These layers have strong relationships to mid-level tropospheric clouds, an important but difficult to model or monitor cloud regime for climate studies.
Fanny Peers, Peter Francis, Cathryn Fox, Steven J. Abel, Kate Szpek, Michael I. Cotterell, Nicholas W. Davies, Justin M. Langridge, Kerry G. Meyer, Steven E. Platnick, and Jim M. Haywood
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9595–9611, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9595-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9595-2019, 2019
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The measurements from the geostationary satellite MSG/SEVIRI are used to retrieve the cloud and above-cloud aerosol properties over the South Atlantic. The technique relies on the spectral contrast and the magnitude of the signal in the visible to shortwave infrared region as well as the atmospheric correction based on forecasted water vapour profiles. The sensitivity analysis and the stability of the retrieval over time show great potential of the high-temporal-resolution observations.
Marc Mallet, Pierre Nabat, Paquita Zuidema, Jens Redemann, Andrew Mark Sayer, Martin Stengel, Sebastian Schmidt, Sabrina Cochrane, Sharon Burton, Richard Ferrare, Kerry Meyer, Pablo Saide, Hiren Jethva, Omar Torres, Robert Wood, David Saint Martin, Romain Roehrig, Christina Hsu, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 4963–4990, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-4963-2019, 2019
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The model is able to represent LWP but not the LCF. AOD is consistent over the continent but also over ocean (ACAOD). Differences are observed in SSA due to the absence of internal mixing in ALADIN-Climate. A significant regional gradient of the forcing at TOA is observed. An intense positive forcing is simulated over Gabon. Results highlight the significant effect of enhanced moisture on BBA extinction. The surface dimming modifies the energy budget.
Yuekui Yang, Kerry Meyer, Galina Wind, Yaping Zhou, Alexander Marshak, Steven Platnick, Qilong Min, Anthony B. Davis, Joanna Joiner, Alexander Vasilkov, David Duda, and Wenying Su
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2019–2031, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2019-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2019-2019, 2019
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The physical basis of the EPIC cloud product algorithms and an initial evaluation of their performance are presented. EPIC cloud products include cloud mask, effective height, and optical depth. Comparison with co-located retrievals from geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites shows that the algorithms are performing well and are consistent with theoretical expectations. These products are publicly available at the NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center.
Alexa D. Ross, Robert E. Holz, Gregory Quinn, Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, F. Joseph Turk, and Derek J. Posselt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12747–12764, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12747-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12747-2018, 2018
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This paper explores how clouds and aerosols interact over Southeast Asia. We introduce a new collocated dataset called the Curtain Cloud-Aerosol Regional A-Train (CCARA) product. CCARA is special because it combines satellite observations with model reanalysis. We find that increased aerosol corresponds to smaller observed liquid cloud droplets in some areas. Other areas experienced little to no change in effective radius (droplet size) when aerosol amount increased.
Vincent Noel, Hélène Chepfer, Marjolaine Chiriaco, and John Yorks
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 9457–9473, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9457-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9457-2018, 2018
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From 3 years of observations from the CATS lidar on the International Space Station we document the daily cycle of the vertical distribution of clouds.
This is the first time this is documented over several continents and oceans using finely resolved measurements on a near-global scale from a single instrument.
We show that other instruments observing clouds from space, like CALIPSO, document extremes of the daily cycle over ocean and closer to the average over land.
Antonio Di Noia, Otto P. Hasekamp, Lianghai Wu, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Brian Cairns, and John E. Yorks
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4235–4252, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4235-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4235-2017, 2017
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In this paper an algorithm for the retrieval of aerosol properties from NASA Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) data is presented. An artificial neural network is used to produce a first estimate of the aerosol properties, which is then improved using an iterative retrieval scheme based on Phillips–Tikhonov regularization. Using the neural network retrievals as a first guess for the Phillips–Tikhonov improved the retrieval convergence, confirming results previously found on ground-based data.
Thomas Fauchez, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Céline Cornet, Frédéric Szczap, and Tamás Várnai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8489–8508, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8489-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8489-2017, 2017
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This study presents impact of cirrus cloud horizontal heterogeneity on simulated thermal infrared brightness temperatures at the top of the atmosphere for spatial resolutions ranging from 50 m to 10 km. The cirrus is generated by the 3DCLOUD code and the radiative transfer by the 3DMCPOL code. Brightness temperatures are mostly impacted by the horizontal transport effect and plane-parallel bias at high and coarse spatial resolutions, respectively, with a minimum around 100 m–250 m.
Kenneth Sinclair, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Brian Cairns, John Yorks, Andrzej Wasilewski, and Matthew McGill
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2361–2375, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2361-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2361-2017, 2017
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We present a multi-angular contrast approach to retrieve cloud top height (CTH) using photogrammetry. We demonstrate the method’s ability to retrieve heights of multiple cloud layers within single footprints, using the multiple views available for each footprint. This paper provides an in-depth description and performance analysis of the CTH retrieval technique and the retrieved cloud heights are evaluated using collocated data from the Cloud Physics Lidar.
John Rausch, Kerry Meyer, Ralf Bennartz, and Steven Platnick
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2105–2116, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2105-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2105-2017, 2017
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This paper documents the observed differences in the aggregated (Level-3) cloud droplet effective radius and droplet number concentration estimates inferred from the Aqua–MODIS cloud product collections 5.1 and 6 for warm oceanic cloud scenes over the year 2008. We note significant differences in effective radius and droplet concentration between the two products and discuss the algorithmic and calibration changes which may contribute to observed results.
Andrew M. Sayer, N. Christina Hsu, Corey Bettenhausen, Robert E. Holz, Jaehwa Lee, Greg Quinn, and Paolo Veglio
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1425–1444, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1425-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1425-2017, 2017
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The satellite instrument VIIRS is being used to carry on observations of the Earth made by older satellites like MODIS. Data sets created from these satellite observations depend on the quality of the satellite instruments' calibration. This paper describes a comparison between the calibration of these two sensors. MODIS is believed to be more reliable and so VIIRS is corrected to bring it in line with MODIS. These corrections are shown to improve the quality of VIIRS aerosol data.
Jeffrey S. Reid, Peng Xian, Brent N. Holben, Edward J. Hyer, Elizabeth A. Reid, Santo V. Salinas, Jianglong Zhang, James R. Campbell, Boon Ning Chew, Robert E. Holz, Arunas P. Kuciauskas, Nofel Lagrosas, Derek J. Posselt, Charles R. Sampson, Annette L. Walker, E. Judd Welton, and Chidong Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14041–14056, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14041-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14041-2016, 2016
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This paper describes aspects of the 2012 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) operations period, the largest within the Maritime Continent. Included were an enhanced deployment of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers, multiple lidars, and a Singapore supersite. Simultaneously, a ship was dispatched to the Palawan Archipelago and Sulu Sea of the Philippines for September 2012 to observe transported smoke and pollution as it entered the southwest monsoon trough.
Jeffrey S. Reid, Nofel D. Lagrosas, Haflidi H. Jonsson, Elizabeth A. Reid, Samuel A. Atwood, Thomas J. Boyd, Virendra P. Ghate, Peng Xian, Derek J. Posselt, James B. Simpas, Sherdon N. Uy, Kimo Zaiger, Donald R. Blake, Anthony Bucholtz, James R. Campbell, Boon Ning Chew, Steven S. Cliff, Brent N. Holben, Robert E. Holz, Edward J. Hyer, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Arunas P. Kuciauskas, Simone Lolli, Min Oo, Kevin D. Perry, Santo V. Salinas, Walter R. Sessions, Alexander Smirnov, Annette L. Walker, Qing Wang, Liya Yu, Jianglong Zhang, and Yongjing Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14057–14078, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14057-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14057-2016, 2016
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This paper describes aspects of the 2012 7 Southeast Asian Studies (7SEAS) operations period, the largest within the Maritime Continent. Included were an enhanced deployment of Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) sun photometers, multiple lidars, and a Singapore supersite. Simultaneously, a ship was dispatched to the Palawan Archipelago and Sulu Sea of the Philippines for September 2012 to observe transported smoke and pollution as it entered the southwest monsoon trough.
Galina Wind, Arlindo M. da Silva, Peter M. Norris, Steven Platnick, Shana Mattoo, and Robert C. Levy
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 2377–2389, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2377-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-2377-2016, 2016
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The MCARS code creates sensor radiances using model-generated atmospheric columns and actual sensor and solar geometry. MCARS output looks like real data, so it is usable by any code that reads MODIS data. MCARS output can be used to test remote-sensing retrieval algorithms. Users know what went into creating the radiance: atmosphere, surface, clouds, and aerosols. Models can use MCARS output to create new parameterizations of relations of atmospheric physical quantities and measured radiances.
Souichiro Hioki, Ping Yang, Bryan A. Baum, Steven Platnick, Kerry G. Meyer, Michael D. King, and Jerome Riedi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7545–7558, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7545-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7545-2016, 2016
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The degree of surface roughness of ice particles within thick, cold ice clouds is inferred from multi-directional, multi-spectral satellite polarimetric observations over oceans, assuming a column-aggregate particle habit. An improved roughness inference scheme is employed, which provides a more noise-resilient roughness estimate than the conventional approach. A global one-month data sample shows the use and the limit of a severely roughened ice habit to simulate the polarized reflectivity.
Kerry Meyer, Yuekui Yang, and Steven Platnick
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1785–1797, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1785-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1785-2016, 2016
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This paper presents the expected uncertainties of a single-channel cloud opacity retrieval technique and a temperature-based cloud phase approach in support of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission; DSCOVR cloud products will be derived from Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) observations. Results show that, for ice clouds, retrieval errors are minimal (< 2 %), while for liquid clouds the error is limited to within 10 %, although for thin clouds the error can be higher.
Robert E. Holz, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, Mark Vaughan, Andrew Heidinger, Ping Yang, Gala Wind, Steven Dutcher, Steven Ackerman, Nandana Amarasinghe, Fredrick Nagle, and Chenxi Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5075–5090, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5075-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5075-2016, 2016
Benjamin Marchant, Steven Platnick, Kerry Meyer, G. Thomas Arnold, and Jérôme Riedi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 1587–1599, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1587-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-1587-2016, 2016
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The current paper presents the new MODIS Collection 6 (C6) cloud thermodynamic phase classification algorithm. To evaluate the performance of the C6 cloud phase algorithm, extensive granule-level and global comparisons have been conducted against the heritage C5 algorithm and CALIOP. A wholesale improvement is seen for C6 compared to C5.
Zhibo Zhang, Kerry Meyer, Hongbin Yu, Steven Platnick, Peter Colarco, Zhaoyan Liu, and Lazaros Oreopoulos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2877–2900, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2877-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-2877-2016, 2016
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The frequency of occurrence and shortwave direct radiative effects (DRE) of above-cloud aerosols (ACAs) over global oceans are investigated using 8 years of collocated CALIOP and MODIS observations. We estimated that ACAs have a global ocean annual mean diurnally averaged cloudy-sky DRE of 0.015 W m−2 (range of −0.03 to 0.06 W m−2) at TOA. The DREs at surface and within atmosphere are −0.15 W m−2 (range of −0.09 to −0.21 W m−2), and 0.17 W m−2 (range of 0.11 to 0.24 W m−2), respectively.
R. C. Levy, L. A. Munchak, S. Mattoo, F. Patadia, L. A. Remer, and R. E. Holz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4083–4110, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4083-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4083-2015, 2015
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Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is an essential climate variable, so we seek to create a long-term AOD record. From MODIS, we have 15+ years, which we want to continue with VIIRS. Accounting for instrumental difference, we have developed a MODIS-like algorithm for VIIRS, and applied it to overlapping 2-year time period. In general, the two data sets are similar, except for VIIRS being high-biased over ocean. We discuss the impacts of calibration, resolution, and sampling on the results.
J. S. Reid, N. D. Lagrosas, H. H. Jonsson, E. A. Reid, W. R. Sessions, J. B. Simpas, S. N. Uy, T. J. Boyd, S. A. Atwood, D. R. Blake, J. R. Campbell, S. S. Cliff, B. N. Holben, R. E. Holz, E. J. Hyer, P. Lynch, S. Meinardi, D. J. Posselt, K. A. Richardson, S. V. Salinas, A. Smirnov, Q. Wang, L. Yu, and J. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 1745–1768, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1745-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1745-2015, 2015
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This paper reports on the first measurements of aerosol particles embedded in the convectively active southwest monsoonal flow of the South China Sea. The paper describes the research cruise and discusses how variability in aerosol characteristics relates to regional meteorological phenomena such as and the Madden Julian Oscillation, tropical cyclones, squall lines and the monsoonal flow itself. Of special interest is how aerosol transport relates to meteorological drivers of convective activity.
T. Fauchez, P. Dubuisson, C. Cornet, F. Szczap, A. Garnier, J. Pelon, and K. Meyer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 633–647, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-633-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-633-2015, 2015
J. R. Campbell, M. A. Vaughan, M. Oo, R. E. Holz, J. R. Lewis, and E. J. Welton
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 435–449, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-435-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-435-2015, 2015
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Digital thresholds based on 2012 CALIOP satellite lidar measurements are investigated for distinguishing cirrus cloud presence, including cloud top temperatures and heights combined with layer depolarization and phase and optical depths. A cloud top temperature of -37 C is found to exhibit the most stable performance, owing to it being the point of homogeneous liquid-water freezing. Depolarization and phase help but are mostly ambiguous at warmer temperatures where mixed-phase clouds propagate.
A. Lyapustin, Y. Wang, X. Xiong, G. Meister, S. Platnick, R. Levy, B. Franz, S. Korkin, T. Hilker, J. Tucker, F. Hall, P. Sellers, A. Wu, and A. Angal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4353–4365, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4353-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-4353-2014, 2014
U. Hamann, A. Walther, B. Baum, R. Bennartz, L. Bugliaro, M. Derrien, P. N. Francis, A. Heidinger, S. Joro, A. Kniffka, H. Le Gléau, M. Lockhoff, H.-J. Lutz, J. F. Meirink, P. Minnis, R. Palikonda, R. Roebeling, A. Thoss, S. Platnick, P. Watts, and G. Wind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2839–2867, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2839-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2839-2014, 2014
Z. Zhang, K. Meyer, S. Platnick, L. Oreopoulos, D. Lee, and H. Yu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1777–1789, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1777-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1777-2014, 2014
G. Wind, A. M. da Silva, P. M. Norris, and S. Platnick
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 2049–2062, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-2049-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-2049-2013, 2013
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
ampycloud: an open-source algorithm to determine cloud base heights and sky coverage fractions from ceilometer data
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
A cloud-by-cloud approach for studying aerosol–cloud interaction in satellite observations
Infrared Radiometric Image Classification and Segmentation of Cloud Structure Using Deep-learning Framework for Ground-based Infrared Thermal Camera Observations
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
Retrieving 3D distributions of atmospheric particles using Atmospheric Tomography with 3D Radiative Transfer – Part 2: Local optimization
Particle inertial effects on radar Doppler spectra simulation
Detection of aerosol and cloud features for the EarthCARE atmospheric lidar (ATLID): the ATLID FeatureMask (A-FM) product
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.
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
Cirrus cloud optical and microphysical properties are retrieved from remote sensing solar reflectance measurements at two narrow wavelength channels within the broader water vapor absorption band at 1.88 µm. Results from this technique compare well with other solar reflectance, IR, and lidar-based retrievals. This approach is complementary to traditional remote sensing techniques and can extend cloud retrieval capabilities for thin cirrus clouds.
Cirrus cloud optical and microphysical properties are retrieved from remote sensing solar...
