Articles | Volume 9, issue 9
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4615–4632, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4615-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4615–4632, 2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4615-2016
© 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 Sep 2016
Research article
| 20 Sep 2016
Ground-based imaging remote sensing of ice clouds: uncertainties caused by sensor, method and atmosphere
Tobias Zinner et al.
Related authors
Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, Christoph Knote, Eleni Tetoni, Florian Ewald, and Martin Hagen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1033–1054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1033-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1033-2022, 2022
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We present a setup for systematic characterization of differences between numerical weather models and radar observations for convective weather situations. Radar observations providing dual-wavelength and polarimetric variables to infer information about hydrometeor shapes and sizes are compared against simulations using microphysics schemes of varying complexity. Differences are found in ice and liquid phase, pointing towards issues of some schemes in reproducing particle size distributions.
Silke Trömel, Clemens Simmer, Ulrich Blahak, Armin Blanke, Sabine Doktorowski, Florian Ewald, Michael Frech, Mathias Gergely, Martin Hagen, Tijana Janjic, Heike Kalesse-Los, Stefan Kneifel, Christoph Knote, Jana Mendrok, Manuel Moser, Gregor Köcher, Kai Mühlbauer, Alexander Myagkov, Velibor Pejcic, Patric Seifert, Prabhakar Shrestha, Audrey Teisseire, Leonie von Terzi, Eleni Tetoni, Teresa Vogl, Christiane Voigt, Yuefei Zeng, Tobias Zinner, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17291–17314, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17291-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17291-2021, 2021
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The article introduces the ACP readership to ongoing research in Germany on cloud- and precipitation-related process information inherent in polarimetric radar measurements, outlines pathways to inform atmospheric models with radar-based information, and points to remaining challenges towards an improved fusion of radar polarimetry and atmospheric modelling.
Heike Konow, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Marek Jacob, Marcus Klingebiel, Tobias Kölling, Anna E. Luebke, Theresa Mieslinger, Veronika Pörtge, Jule Radtke, Michael Schäfer, Hauke Schulz, Raphaela Vogel, Martin Wirth, Sandrine Bony, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Linda Forster, Andreas Giez, Felix Gödde, Silke Groß, Manuel Gutleben, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Friedhelm Jansen, Theresa Lang, Bernhard Mayer, Mario Mech, Marc Prange, Sabrina Schnitt, Jessica Vial, Andreas Walbröl, Manfred Wendisch, Kevin Wolf, Tobias Zinner, Martin Zöger, Felix Ament, and Bjorn Stevens
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5545–5563, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, 2021
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The German research aircraft HALO took part in the research campaign EUREC4A in January and February 2020. The focus area was the tropical Atlantic east of the island of Barbados. We describe the characteristics of the 15 research flights, provide auxiliary information, derive combined cloud mask products from all instruments that observe clouds on board the aircraft, and provide code examples that help new users of the data to get started.
Eleni Tetoni, Florian Ewald, Martin Hagen, Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, and Silke Groß
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-216, 2021
Revised manuscript under review for AMT
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We use the C-band POLDIRAD and the Ka-band MIRA-35 to perform snowfall dual-wavelength polarimetric radar measurements. We develop an ice microphysics retrieval for mass, apparent shape and median size of the particle size distribution by comparing observations to T-matrix ice spheroid simulations while varying the mass-size relationship. We furthermore show how the polarimetric measurements from POLDIRAD help to narrow down ambiguities between ice particle shape and size.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
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The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Lucas Höppler, Felix Gödde, Manuel Gutleben, Tobias Kölling, Bernhard Mayer, and Tobias Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-49, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-49, 2020
Publication in AMT not foreseen
Pascal Polonik, Christoph Knote, Tobias Zinner, Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Bernhard Mayer, Meinrat O. Andreae, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Thomas Klimach, Christoph Mahnke, Sergej Molleker, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, Christiane Voigt, Ralf Weigel, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1591–1605, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020, 2020
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A realistic representation of cloud–aerosol interactions is central to accurate climate projections. Here we combine observations collected during the ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign with chemistry-transport simulations to evaluate the model’s ability to represent the indirect effects of biomass burning aerosol on cloud microphysics. We find an upper limit for the model sensitivity on cloud condensation nuclei concentrations well below the levels reached during the burning season in the Amazon Basin.
Tobias Zinner, Ulrich Schwarz, Tobias Kölling, Florian Ewald, Evelyn Jäkel, Bernhard Mayer, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1167–1181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1167-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1167-2019, 2019
Florian Ewald, Tobias Zinner, Tobias Kölling, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1183–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1183-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1183-2019, 2019
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This paper presents a new method for gaining insights into the vertical evolution of cloud droplet effective radii by using reflected solar radiation from cloud sides. The paper investigates how bi-spectral effective radius retrievals are affected by unknown cloud surface orientations and presents a method to mitigate this effect. Based on these findings, this study develops a statistical effective radius retrieval for airborne, side-looking imaging sensors.
Tobias Kölling, Tobias Zinner, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1155–1166, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1155-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1155-2019, 2019
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Imaging technology allows us to quickly gather information on larger cloud fields. Unlike using lidar or radar, it is difficult to obtain accurate position information about the observed clouds. This work presents a method to retrieve the missing position information using RGB images from an airborne video camera. Using field campaign data, we observe and explain a median offset of 126 m compared to lidar data and show that systematic errors across the measurement swath are well below 50 m.
Carolin Klinger, Bernhard Mayer, Fabian Jakub, Tobias Zinner, Seung-Bu Park, and Pierre Gentine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5477–5500, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5477-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5477-2017, 2017
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Radiation is driving weather and climate. Yet, the effect of radiation on clouds is not fully understood and often only poorly represented in models. Better understanding and better parameterizations of the radiation–cloud interaction are therefore essential. Using our newly developed fast
neighboring column approximationfor 3-D thermal heating and cooling rates, we show that thermal radiation changes cloud circulation and causes organization and a deepening of the clouds.
Tobias Sirch, Luca Bugliaro, Tobias Zinner, Matthias Möhrlein, and Margarita Vazquez-Navarro
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 409–429, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-409-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-409-2017, 2017
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A novel approach for the nowcasting of clouds and direct normal irradiance (DNI) based on the geostationary satellite MSG is presented. The basis of the algorithm is an optical flow method to derive cloud motion vectors for low and high level clouds separately. DNI is calculated from the forecasted optical thickness of the clouds. Validation against MSG observations shows good performance: compared to persistence an improvement of forecast horizon by a factor of 2 is reached for 2 h forecasts.
Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Andreas Baumgartner, Tobias Zinner, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2015–2042, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2015-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2015-2016, 2016
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The new spectrometer of the Munich Aerosol Cloud Scanner (specMACS) is a
multipurpose hyperspectral cloud and sky imager which is designated, but not limited, to investigations of cloud-aerosol interactions in Earth's atmosphere. This paper describes the specMACS instrument's hardware and software design and
characterizes the instrument performance. Initial measurements of cloud sides are presented which demonstrate the wide applicability of the instrument.
F. Ewald, C. Winkler, and T. Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2491–2508, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2491-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2491-2015, 2015
D. Merk and T. Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1903–1918, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1903-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1903-2013, 2013
T. Zinner, C. Forster, E. de Coning, and H.-D. Betz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1567–1583, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1567-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1567-2013, 2013
Mireia Papke Chica, Valerian Hahn, Tiziana Braeuer, Elena de la Torre Castro, Florian Ewald, Mathias Gergely, Simon Kirschler, Luca Bugliaro Goggia, Stefanie Knobloch, Martina Kraemer, Johannes Lucke, Johanna Mayer, Raphael Maerkl, Manuel Moser, Laura Tomsche, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Martin Zoeger, Christian von Savigny, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-255, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-255, 2022
Preprint under review for ACP
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The mixed-phase temperature regime in convective clouds challenges our understanding of microphysical and radiative cloud properties. We provide a rare and unique dataset of aircraft in situ measurements in a strong mid-latitude convective system. We find that mechanisms initiating ice nucleation and growth strongly depend on temperature, relative humidity, and vertical velocity and variate within the measured system, resulting in altitude dependent changes of the cloud liquid and ice fraction.
Luca Bugliaro, Dennis Piontek, Stephan Kox, Marius Schmidl, Bernhard Mayer, Richard Müller, Margarita Vázquez-Navarro, Daniel M. Peters, Roy G. Grainger, Josef Gasteiger, and Jayanta Kar
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1029–1054, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1029-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-1029-2022, 2022
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The monitoring of ash dispersion in the atmosphere is an important task for satellite remote sensing since ash represents a threat to air traffic. We present an AI-based method that retrieves the spatial extension and properties of volcanic ash clouds with high temporal resolution during day and night by means of geostationary satellite measurements. This algorithm, trained on realistic observations simulated with a radiative transfer model, runs operationally at the German Weather Service.
Claudia Emde, Huan Yu, Arve Kylling, Michel van Roozendael, Kerstin Stebel, Ben Veihelmann, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1587–1608, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1587-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1587-2022, 2022
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Retrievals of trace gas concentrations from satellite observations can be affected by clouds in the vicinity, either by shadowing or by scattering of radiation from clouds in the clear region. We used a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model to generate synthetic satellite observations, which we used to test retrieval algorithms and to quantify the error of retrieved NO2 vertical column density due to cloud scattering.
Linda Forster and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-128, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-128, 2022
Preprint under review for ACP
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We present a novel retrieval using ground-based imaging observations of halo displays together with radiative transfer simulations to help improve our understanding of ice crystal properties representative for cirrus clouds. Analysis of 4400 calibrated HaloCam images featuring a 22° halo revealed aggregates of hexagonal columns of 20 µm effective radius with a mixture of about 37 % smooth and 63 % severely roughened surface as best match in general.
Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, Christoph Knote, Eleni Tetoni, Florian Ewald, and Martin Hagen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1033–1054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1033-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1033-2022, 2022
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We present a setup for systematic characterization of differences between numerical weather models and radar observations for convective weather situations. Radar observations providing dual-wavelength and polarimetric variables to infer information about hydrometeor shapes and sizes are compared against simulations using microphysics schemes of varying complexity. Differences are found in ice and liquid phase, pointing towards issues of some schemes in reproducing particle size distributions.
Simon Pfreundschuh, Stuart Fox, Patrick Eriksson, David Duncan, Stefan A. Buehler, Manfred Brath, Richard Cotton, and Florian Ewald
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 677–699, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-677-2022, 2022
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We test a novel method to remotely measure ice particles in clouds. This is important because such measurements are required to improve climate and weather models. The method combines a radar with newly developed sensors measuring microwave radiation at very short wavelengths. We use observations made from aircraft flying above the cloud and compare them to real measurements from inside the cloud. This works well given that one can model the ice particles in the cloud sufficiently well.
Martin Hagen, Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Lothar Oswald, David A. Farrell, Marvin Forde, Manuel Gutleben, Johann Heumos, Jens Reimann, Eleni Tetoni, Gregor Köcher, Eleni Marinou, Christoph Kiemle, Qiang Li, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Alton Daley, Delando Grant, and Kashawn Hall
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5899–5914, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5899-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5899-2021, 2021
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The German polarimetric weather radar Poldirad was deployed for the international campaign EUREC4A on Barbados. The focus was monitoring clouds and precipitation in the trade wind region east of Barbados. Observations were with a temporal sequence of 5 min and a maximum range of 375 km. Examples of mesoscale precipitation patterns, rain rate accumulation, diurnal cycle, and vertical distribution show the potential for further studies on the life cycle of precipitating shallow cumulus clouds.
Huan Yu, Claudia Emde, Arve Kylling, Ben Veihelmann, Bernhard Mayer, Kerstin Stebel, and Michel Van Roozendael
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-338, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-338, 2021
Revised manuscript under review for AMT
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In this study, we have investigated the impact of 3D clouds on the tropospheric NO2 retrieval from UV-Visible sensors. We applied standard NO2 retrieval methods including cloud corrections to synthetic data generated by the 3D radiative transfer model. A sensitivity study was made for synthetic data, and dependencies on various parameters were investigated. Possible mitigation strategies were investigated and compared based on 3D simulations and observed data.
Matthieu Plu, Guillaume Bigeard, Bojan Sič, Emanuele Emili, Luca Bugliaro, Laaziz El Amraoui, Jonathan Guth, Beatrice Josse, Lucia Mona, and Dennis Piontek
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3731–3747, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3731-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3731-2021, 2021
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Volcanic eruptions that spread out ash over large areas, like Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, may have huge economic consequences due to flight cancellations. In this article, we demonstrate the benefits of source term improvement and of data assimilation for quantifying volcanic ash concentrations. The work, which was supported by the EUNADICS-AV project, is the first one, to our knowledge, that demonstrates the benefit of the assimilation of ground-based lidar data over Europe during an eruption.
Silke Trömel, Clemens Simmer, Ulrich Blahak, Armin Blanke, Sabine Doktorowski, Florian Ewald, Michael Frech, Mathias Gergely, Martin Hagen, Tijana Janjic, Heike Kalesse-Los, Stefan Kneifel, Christoph Knote, Jana Mendrok, Manuel Moser, Gregor Köcher, Kai Mühlbauer, Alexander Myagkov, Velibor Pejcic, Patric Seifert, Prabhakar Shrestha, Audrey Teisseire, Leonie von Terzi, Eleni Tetoni, Teresa Vogl, Christiane Voigt, Yuefei Zeng, Tobias Zinner, and Johannes Quaas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17291–17314, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17291-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17291-2021, 2021
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The article introduces the ACP readership to ongoing research in Germany on cloud- and precipitation-related process information inherent in polarimetric radar measurements, outlines pathways to inform atmospheric models with radar-based information, and points to remaining challenges towards an improved fusion of radar polarimetry and atmospheric modelling.
Heike Konow, Florian Ewald, Geet George, Marek Jacob, Marcus Klingebiel, Tobias Kölling, Anna E. Luebke, Theresa Mieslinger, Veronika Pörtge, Jule Radtke, Michael Schäfer, Hauke Schulz, Raphaela Vogel, Martin Wirth, Sandrine Bony, Susanne Crewell, André Ehrlich, Linda Forster, Andreas Giez, Felix Gödde, Silke Groß, Manuel Gutleben, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Friedhelm Jansen, Theresa Lang, Bernhard Mayer, Mario Mech, Marc Prange, Sabrina Schnitt, Jessica Vial, Andreas Walbröl, Manfred Wendisch, Kevin Wolf, Tobias Zinner, Martin Zöger, Felix Ament, and Bjorn Stevens
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 5545–5563, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-5545-2021, 2021
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The German research aircraft HALO took part in the research campaign EUREC4A in January and February 2020. The focus area was the tropical Atlantic east of the island of Barbados. We describe the characteristics of the 15 research flights, provide auxiliary information, derive combined cloud mask products from all instruments that observe clouds on board the aircraft, and provide code examples that help new users of the data to get started.
Hugues Brenot, Nicolas Theys, Lieven Clarisse, Jeroen van Gent, Daniel R. Hurtmans, Sophie Vandenbussche, Nikolaos Papagiannopoulos, Lucia Mona, Timo Virtanen, Andreas Uppstu, Mikhail Sofiev, Luca Bugliaro, Margarita Vázquez-Navarro, Pascal Hedelt, Michelle Maree Parks, Sara Barsotti, Mauro Coltelli, William Moreland, Simona Scollo, Giuseppe Salerno, Delia Arnold-Arias, Marcus Hirtl, Tuomas Peltonen, Juhani Lahtinen, Klaus Sievers, Florian Lipok, Rolf Rüfenacht, Alexander Haefele, Maxime Hervo, Saskia Wagenaar, Wim Som de Cerff, Jos de Laat, Arnoud Apituley, Piet Stammes, Quentin Laffineur, Andy Delcloo, Robertson Lennart, Carl-Herbert Rokitansky, Arturo Vargas, Markus Kerschbaum, Christian Resch, Raimund Zopp, Matthieu Plu, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Michel Van Roozendael, and Gerhard Wotawa
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3367–3405, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3367-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-3367-2021, 2021
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The purpose of the EUNADICS-AV (European Natural Airborne Disaster Information and Coordination System for Aviation) prototype early warning system (EWS) is to develop the combined use of harmonised data products from satellite, ground-based and in situ instruments to produce alerts of airborne hazards (volcanic, dust, smoke and radionuclide clouds), satisfying the requirement of aviation air traffic management (ATM) stakeholders (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/723986).
Arve Kylling, Claudia Emde, Huan Yu, Michel van Roozendael, Kerstin Stebel, Ben Veihelmann, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-331, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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Atmospheric trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may be measured by satellite instruments sensitive to solar ultraviolet-visible radiation reflected from Earth and its atmosphere. For a single pixel, clouds in neighboring pixels may affect the radiation and hence the retrieved trace gas amount. We found that for a solar zenith angle less than about 40° this cloud related NO2 bias is typically below 10 %, while for larger solar zenith angles the NO2 bias is on the order of tens of %.
Eleni Tetoni, Florian Ewald, Martin Hagen, Gregor Köcher, Tobias Zinner, and Silke Groß
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-216, 2021
Revised manuscript under review for AMT
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We use the C-band POLDIRAD and the Ka-band MIRA-35 to perform snowfall dual-wavelength polarimetric radar measurements. We develop an ice microphysics retrieval for mass, apparent shape and median size of the particle size distribution by comparing observations to T-matrix ice spheroid simulations while varying the mass-size relationship. We furthermore show how the polarimetric measurements from POLDIRAD help to narrow down ambiguities between ice particle shape and size.
Marc Schwaerzel, Dominik Brunner, Fabian Jakub, Claudia Emde, Brigitte Buchmann, Alexis Berne, and Gerrit Kuhlmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6469–6482, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6469-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6469-2021, 2021
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NO2 maps from airborne imaging remote sensing often appear much smoother than one would expect from high-resolution model simulations of NO2 over cities, despite the small ground-pixel size of the sensors. Our case study over Zurich, using the newly implemented building module of the MYSTIC radiative transfer solver, shows that the 3D effect can explain part of the smearing and that building shadows cause a noticeable underestimation and noise in the measured NO2 columns.
Matthieu Plu, Barbara Scherllin-Pirscher, Delia Arnold Arias, Rocio Baro, Guillaume Bigeard, Luca Bugliaro, Ana Carvalho, Laaziz El Amraoui, Kurt Eschbacher, Marcus Hirtl, Christian Maurer, Marie D. Mulder, Dennis Piontek, Lennart Robertson, Carl-Herbert Rokitansky, Fritz Zobl, and Raimund Zopp
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2973–2992, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2973-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-2973-2021, 2021
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Past volcanic eruptions that spread out ash over large areas, like Eyjafjallajökull in 2010, forced the cancellation of thousands of flights and had huge economic consequences.
In this article, an international team in the H2020 EU-funded EUNADICS-AV project has designed a probabilistic model approach to quantify ash concentrations. This approach is evaluated against measurements, and its potential use to mitigate the impact of future large-scale eruptions is discussed.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
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The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Julien Delanoë, Stuart Fox, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5029–5047, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5029-2021, 2021
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In this study, we show how solar radiance observations can be used to validate and further constrain ice cloud microphysics retrieved from the synergy of radar–lidar measurements. Since most radar–lidar retrievals rely on a global assumption about the ice particle shape, ice water content and particle size biases are to be expected in individual cloud regimes. In this work, we identify and correct these biases by reconciling simulated and measured solar radiation reflected from these clouds.
Daniel Zawada, Ghislain Franssens, Robert Loughman, Antti Mikkonen, Alexei Rozanov, Claudia Emde, Adam Bourassa, Seth Dueck, Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Didier Ramon, Vladimir Rozanov, Emmanuel Dekemper, Erkki Kyrölä, John P. Burrows, Didier Fussen, and Doug Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3953–3972, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3953-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3953-2021, 2021
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Satellite measurements of atmospheric composition often rely on computer tools known as radiative transfer models to model the propagation of sunlight within the atmosphere. Here we have performed a detailed inter-comparison of seven different radiative transfer models in a variety of conditions. We have found that the models agree remarkably well, at a level better than previously reported. This result provides confidence in our understanding of atmospheric radiative transfer.
Ulrich Schumann, Ian Poll, Roger Teoh, Rainer Koelle, Enrico Spinielli, Jarlath Molloy, George S. Koudis, Robert Baumann, Luca Bugliaro, Marc Stettler, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7429–7450, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7429-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7429-2021, 2021
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The roughly 70 % reduction of air traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic from March–August 2020 compared to 2019 provides a test case for the relationship between air traffic density, contrails, and their radiative forcing of climate change. This paper investigates the induced traffic and contrail changes in a model study. Besides strong weather changes, the model results indicate aviation-induced cirrus and top-of-the-atmosphere irradiance changes, which can be tested with observations.
Harald Rybka, Ulrike Burkhardt, Martin Köhler, Ioanna Arka, Luca Bugliaro, Ulrich Görsdorf, Ákos Horváth, Catrin I. Meyer, Jens Reichardt, Axel Seifert, and Johan Strandgren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4285–4318, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4285-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4285-2021, 2021
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Estimating the impact of convection on the upper-tropospheric water budget remains a problem for models employing resolutions of several kilometers or more. A sub-kilometer high-resolution model is used to study summertime convection. The results suggest mostly close agreement with ground- and satellite-based observational data while slightly overestimating total frozen water path and anvil lifetime. The simulations are well suited to supplying information for parameterization development.
Manuel Gutleben, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12313–12327, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12313-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12313-2020, 2020
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Airborne lidar measurements in the vicinity of Barbados are used to investigate radiative effects of long-range-transported Saharan air layers. Derived atmospheric heating rates indicate that observed enhanced water vapor concentrations inside these layers are the main drivers for dust vertical mixing inside the layers. Additionally, they may play a major role for the suppression of subjacent convective cloud development.
Marc Schwaerzel, Claudia Emde, Dominik Brunner, Randulph Morales, Thomas Wagner, Alexis Berne, Brigitte Buchmann, and Gerrit Kuhlmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4277–4293, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4277-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4277-2020, 2020
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Horizontal homogeneity is often assumed for trace gases remote sensing, although it is not valid where trace gas concentrations have high spatial variability, e.g., in cities. We show the importance of 3D effects for MAX-DOAS and airborne imaging spectrometers using 3D-box air mass factors implemented in the MYSTIC radiative transfer solver. In both cases, 3D information is invaluable for interpreting the measurements, as not considering 3D effects can lead to misinterpretation of measurements.
Lucas Höppler, Felix Gödde, Manuel Gutleben, Tobias Kölling, Bernhard Mayer, and Tobias Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-49, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-49, 2020
Publication in AMT not foreseen
Paul Ockenfuß, Claudia Emde, Bernhard Mayer, and Germar Bernhard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1961–1976, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1961-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1961-2020, 2020
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We model solar radiation as it would be measured on the Earth's surface in the core shadow of a total solar eclipse. Subsequently, we compare our results to observations during the total eclipse 2017 for ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Moreover, we analyze the effect of the surface reflectance, the ozone profile, aerosol and the topography and give a visualization of the prevailing photons paths in the atmosphere during the eclipse.
Pascal Polonik, Christoph Knote, Tobias Zinner, Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Bernhard Mayer, Meinrat O. Andreae, Tina Jurkat-Witschas, Thomas Klimach, Christoph Mahnke, Sergej Molleker, Christopher Pöhlker, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, Christiane Voigt, Ralf Weigel, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1591–1605, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1591-2020, 2020
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A realistic representation of cloud–aerosol interactions is central to accurate climate projections. Here we combine observations collected during the ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign with chemistry-transport simulations to evaluate the model’s ability to represent the indirect effects of biomass burning aerosol on cloud microphysics. We find an upper limit for the model sensitivity on cloud condensation nuclei concentrations well below the levels reached during the burning season in the Amazon Basin.
Hans Grob, Claudia Emde, Matthias Wiegner, Meinhard Seefeldner, Linda Forster, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 239–258, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-239-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-239-2020, 2020
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Polarimetry has been established as an enhancement to classical photometry in aerosol remote sensing over the past years. We propose a fast and exact radiometric and polarimetric calibration method for polarized photometers. Additionally, a technique for correcting an alt-azimuthal mount is introduced.
These methods are applied to measurements obtained with our SSARA instrument during the A-LIFE field campaign. For 2 d, the data are subjected to an inversion of aerosol optical properties.
Eleni Marinou, Matthias Tesche, Athanasios Nenes, Albert Ansmann, Jann Schrod, Dimitra Mamali, Alexandra Tsekeri, Michael Pikridas, Holger Baars, Ronny Engelmann, Kalliopi-Artemis Voudouri, Stavros Solomos, Jean Sciare, Silke Groß, Florian Ewald, and Vassilis Amiridis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11315–11342, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11315-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11315-2019, 2019
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We assess the feasibility of ground-based and spaceborne lidars to retrieve profiles of cloud-relevant aerosol concentrations and ice-nucleating particles. The retrieved profiles are in good agreement with airborne in situ measurements. Our methodology will be applied to satellite observations in the future so as to provide a global 3D product of cloud-relevant properties.
Heike Konow, Marek Jacob, Felix Ament, Susanne Crewell, Florian Ewald, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Friedhelm Jansen, Mario Mech, and Bjorn Stevens
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 921–934, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-921-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-921-2019, 2019
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High-resolution measurements of maritime clouds are relatively scarce. Airborne cloud radar, microwave radiometer and dropsonde observations are used to expand these data. The measurements are unified into one data set to enable easy joint analyses of several or all instruments together to gain insight into cloud properties and atmospheric state. The data set contains measurements from four campaigns between December 2013 and October 2016 over the tropical and midlatitude Atlantic.
Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Martin Hagen, Lutz Hirsch, Julien Delanoë, and Matthias Bauer-Pfundstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1815–1839, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1815-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1815-2019, 2019
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This study gives a summary of lessons learned during the absolute calibration of the airborne, high-power Ka-band cloud radar HAMP MIRA on board the German research aircraft HALO. The first part covers the internal calibration of the instrument where individual instrument components are characterized in the laboratory. In the second part, the internal calibration is validated with external reference sources like the ocean surface backscatter and different air- and spaceborne cloud radars.
Tobias Zinner, Ulrich Schwarz, Tobias Kölling, Florian Ewald, Evelyn Jäkel, Bernhard Mayer, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1167–1181, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1167-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1167-2019, 2019
Florian Ewald, Tobias Zinner, Tobias Kölling, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1183–1206, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1183-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1183-2019, 2019
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This paper presents a new method for gaining insights into the vertical evolution of cloud droplet effective radii by using reflected solar radiation from cloud sides. The paper investigates how bi-spectral effective radius retrievals are affected by unknown cloud surface orientations and presents a method to mitigate this effect. Based on these findings, this study develops a statistical effective radius retrieval for airborne, side-looking imaging sensors.
Tobias Kölling, Tobias Zinner, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1155–1166, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1155-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1155-2019, 2019
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Imaging technology allows us to quickly gather information on larger cloud fields. Unlike using lidar or radar, it is difficult to obtain accurate position information about the observed clouds. This work presents a method to retrieve the missing position information using RGB images from an airborne video camera. Using field campaign data, we observe and explain a median offset of 126 m compared to lidar data and show that systematic errors across the measurement swath are well below 50 m.
Ulrich Schumann and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 13833–13848, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13833-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13833-2017, 2017
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It is generally assumed that a positive radiative forcing of the atmosphere implies a warming of the Earth surface. This assumption is valid for well-mixed greenhouse gases but is not guaranteed for disturbances which cause a vertically variable radiative heating rate profile with warming in the upper troposphere and cooling near the surface. This conceptual study shows that the warming induced by contrail cirrus prevails only for fast vertical heat exchange by mixing within the troposphere.
Johan Strandgren, Jennifer Fricker, and Luca Bugliaro
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 4317–4339, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4317-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-4317-2017, 2017
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We characterise the the performance of a set of artificial neural networks used for the remote sensing of cirrus clouds from the geostationary Meteosat Second Generation satellites. The retrievals show little interference with the underlying land surface type as well as with possible liquid water clouds or aerosol layers below the cirrus cloud. We also characterise the retrievals as a funtion of optical thickness and top height and gain better understanding of the retrival uncertainties of CiPS
Fabian Jakub and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 13317–13327, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13317-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13317-2017, 2017
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The formation of shallow cumulus cloud streets was historically attributed primarily to dynamics. Here, we focus on the interaction between radiatively induced surface heterogeneities and the resulting patterns in the flow. Our results suggest that solar radiative heating has the potential to organize clouds perpendicular to the sun's incidence angle.
Johan Strandgren, Luca Bugliaro, Frank Sehnke, and Leon Schröder
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3547–3573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3547-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3547-2017, 2017
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The new algorithm CiPS is presented and validated. CiPS detects cirrus clouds, identifies opaque pixels and retrieves the corresponding optical thickness, cloud top height and ice water path from the geostationary imager MSG/SEVIRI. CiPS utilises a set of four artificial neural networks trained with space-borne lidar data, thermal MSG/SEVIRI observations, model data and auxiliary data.
To demonstrate the capabilities of CiPS, the life cycle of a thin cirrus cloud is analysed.
Evelyn Jäkel, Manfred Wendisch, Trismono C. Krisna, Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Tina Jurkat, Christiane Voigt, Micael A. Cecchini, Luiz A. T. Machado, Armin Afchine, Anja Costa, Martina Krämer, Meinrat O. Andreae, Ulrich Pöschl, Daniel Rosenfeld, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 9049–9066, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9049-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-9049-2017, 2017
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Vertical profiles of the cloud particle phase state in tropical deep convective clouds (DCCs) were investigated using airborne imaging spectrometer measurements during the ACRIDICON-CHUVA campaign, which was conducted over the Brazilian rainforest in September 2014. A phase discrimination retrieval was applied to observations of clouds formed in different aerosol conditions. The profiles were compared to in situ and satellite measurements.
Linda Forster, Meinhard Seefeldner, Matthias Wiegner, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2499–2516, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2499-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2499-2017, 2017
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Halo displays are produced by scattering of sunlight by smooth, hexagonal ice crystals. Consequently, the presence of a halo should contain information on particle shape. This study presents HaloCam, a novel sun-tracking camera system, and an automated detection algorithm to collect and evaluate long-term halo observations. Two-year HaloCam observations revealed that about 25 % of the detected cirrus clouds occurred together with a 22° halo indicating the presence of smooth, hexagonal crystals.
Petra Hausmann, Ralf Sussmann, Thomas Trickl, and Matthias Schneider
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7635–7651, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7635-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7635-2017, 2017
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We present FTIR soundings (2005–15) of water vapor (H2O) and its isotope ratio (δD) at Zugspitze. Significant {H2O, δD} signatures are found for intercontinental transport events and stratospheric air intrusions to central Europe using backward trajectories and validation by lidar and in situ data. Our results show that {H2O, δD} observations at Zugspitze can serve as indicators for moisture pathways and long-range-transport events, potentially impacting central European climate and air quality.
Carolin Klinger, Bernhard Mayer, Fabian Jakub, Tobias Zinner, Seung-Bu Park, and Pierre Gentine
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5477–5500, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5477-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5477-2017, 2017
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Radiation is driving weather and climate. Yet, the effect of radiation on clouds is not fully understood and often only poorly represented in models. Better understanding and better parameterizations of the radiation–cloud interaction are therefore essential. Using our newly developed fast
neighboring column approximationfor 3-D thermal heating and cooling rates, we show that thermal radiation changes cloud circulation and causes organization and a deepening of the clouds.
Whitney Bader, Benoît Bovy, Stephanie Conway, Kimberly Strong, Dan Smale, Alexander J. Turner, Thomas Blumenstock, Chris Boone, Martine Collaud Coen, Ancelin Coulon, Omaira Garcia, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Petra Hausmann, Nicholas Jones, Paul Krummel, Isao Murata, Isamu Morino, Hideaki Nakajima, Simon O'Doherty, Clare Paton-Walsh, John Robinson, Rodrigue Sandrin, Matthias Schneider, Christian Servais, Ralf Sussmann, and Emmanuel Mahieu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2255–2277, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2255-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2255-2017, 2017
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An increase of 0.31 ± 0.03 % year−1 of atmospheric methane is reported using 10 years of solar observations performed at 10 ground-based stations since 2005. These trend agree with a GEOS-Chem-tagged simulation that accounts for the contribution of each emission source and one sink in the total methane. The GEOS-Chem simulation shows that anthropogenic emissions from coal mining and gas and oil transport and exploration have played a major role in the increase methane since 2005.
Tobias Sirch, Luca Bugliaro, Tobias Zinner, Matthias Möhrlein, and Margarita Vazquez-Navarro
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 409–429, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-409-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-409-2017, 2017
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A novel approach for the nowcasting of clouds and direct normal irradiance (DNI) based on the geostationary satellite MSG is presented. The basis of the algorithm is an optical flow method to derive cloud motion vectors for low and high level clouds separately. DNI is calculated from the forecasted optical thickness of the clouds. Validation against MSG observations shows good performance: compared to persistence an improvement of forecast horizon by a factor of 2 is reached for 2 h forecasts.
Florian Ewald, Tobias Kölling, Andreas Baumgartner, Tobias Zinner, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2015–2042, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2015-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2015-2016, 2016
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The new spectrometer of the Munich Aerosol Cloud Scanner (specMACS) is a
multipurpose hyperspectral cloud and sky imager which is designated, but not limited, to investigations of cloud-aerosol interactions in Earth's atmosphere. This paper describes the specMACS instrument's hardware and software design and
characterizes the instrument performance. Initial measurements of cloud sides are presented which demonstrate the wide applicability of the instrument.
Claudia Emde, Robert Buras-Schnell, Arve Kylling, Bernhard Mayer, Josef Gasteiger, Ulrich Hamann, Jonas Kylling, Bettina Richter, Christian Pause, Timothy Dowling, and Luca Bugliaro
Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1647–1672, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1647-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1647-2016, 2016
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libradtran is a widely used software package for radiative transfer calculations. It allows one to compute (polarized) radiances, irradiance, and actinic fluxes in the solar and thermal spectral regions. This paper gives an overview of libradtran version 2.0 with focus on new features (e.g. polarization, Raman scattering, absorption parameterization, cloud and aerosol optical properties). libRadtran is freely available at http://www.libradtran.org.
Petra Hausmann, Ralf Sussmann, and Dan Smale
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3227–3244, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3227-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3227-2016, 2016
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After a period of stagnation, atmospheric methane started to rise again in 2007. The main drivers are assumed to be increased wetland emissions and fossil fuel production. Here, we quantify the oil and natural gas emission contribution. Our estimate is inferred from ground-based column observations of methane and ethane. We find a significant oil-gas contribution of at least 39% (18%, 73%) in three emission scenarios, calling for emission reduction strategies in growing oil and gas industries.
A. Reichert, P. Hausmann, and R. Sussmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3715–3728, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3715-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3715-2015, 2015
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A method for quantification of sun-pointing inaccuracies in solar absorption spectrometry is presented along with a correction scheme for the resulting errors in trace gas vertical column or profile retrievals. The mispointing is constrained by combining subsequent measurements of solar line shifts with differing orientations of the solar rotation axis relative to the zenith direction. The implementation and benefits of the method are demonstrated using the Zugspitze XCH4 measurements.
N. Hanrieder, S. Wilbert, R. Pitz-Paal, C. Emde, J. Gasteiger, B. Mayer, and J. Polo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3467–3480, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3467-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3467-2015, 2015
F. Ewald, C. Winkler, and T. Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2491–2508, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2491-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2491-2015, 2015
A. Kylling, N. Kristiansen, A. Stohl, R. Buras-Schnell, C. Emde, and J. Gasteiger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1935–1949, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1935-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1935-2015, 2015
Short summary
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Water and ice clouds affect detection and retrieval of volcanic ash clouds by satellite instruments. Synthetic infrared satellite images were generated for the Eyjafjallajokull 2010 and Grimsvotn 2011 eruptions by combining weather forecast, ash transport and radiative transfer modelling. Clouds decreased the number of pixels identified as ash and generally increased the retrieved ash-mass loading compared to the cloudless case; however, large differences were seen between scenes.
S. Kox, L. Bugliaro, and A. Ostler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3233–3246, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3233-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3233-2014, 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
A. Kreuter, R. Buras, B. Mayer, A. Webb, R. Kift, A. Bais, N. Kouremeti, and M. Blumthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5989–6002, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5989-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5989-2014, 2014
B. Reinhardt, R. Buras, L. Bugliaro, S. Wilbert, and B. Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 823–838, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-823-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-823-2014, 2014
J.-F. Gayet, V. Shcherbakov, L. Bugliaro, A. Protat, J. Delanoë, J. Pelon, and A. Garnier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 899–912, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-899-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-899-2014, 2014
M. von Hobe, S. Bekki, S. Borrmann, F. Cairo, F. D'Amato, G. Di Donfrancesco, A. Dörnbrack, A. Ebersoldt, M. Ebert, C. Emde, I. Engel, M. Ern, W. Frey, S. Genco, S. Griessbach, J.-U. Grooß, T. Gulde, G. Günther, E. Hösen, L. Hoffmann, V. Homonnai, C. R. Hoyle, I. S. A. Isaksen, D. R. Jackson, I. M. Jánosi, R. L. Jones, K. Kandler, C. Kalicinsky, A. Keil, S. M. Khaykin, F. Khosrawi, R. Kivi, J. Kuttippurath, J. C. Laube, F. Lefèvre, R. Lehmann, S. Ludmann, B. P. Luo, M. Marchand, J. Meyer, V. Mitev, S. Molleker, R. Müller, H. Oelhaf, F. Olschewski, Y. Orsolini, T. Peter, K. Pfeilsticker, C. Piesch, M. C. Pitts, L. R. Poole, F. D. Pope, F. Ravegnani, M. Rex, M. Riese, T. Röckmann, B. Rognerud, A. Roiger, C. Rolf, M. L. Santee, M. Scheibe, C. Schiller, H. Schlager, M. Siciliani de Cumis, N. Sitnikov, O. A. Søvde, R. Spang, N. Spelten, F. Stordal, O. Sumińska-Ebersoldt, A. Ulanovski, J. Ungermann, S. Viciani, C. M. Volk, M. vom Scheidt, P. von der Gathen, K. Walker, T. Wegner, R. Weigel, S. Weinbruch, G. Wetzel, F. G. Wienhold, I. Wohltmann, W. Woiwode, I. A. K. Young, V. Yushkov, B. Zobrist, and F. Stroh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9233–9268, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9233-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9233-2013, 2013
D. Merk and T. Zinner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1903–1918, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1903-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1903-2013, 2013
T. Zinner, C. Forster, E. de Coning, and H.-D. Betz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1567–1583, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1567-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1567-2013, 2013
A. Kylling, R. Buras, S. Eckhardt, C. Emde, B. Mayer, and A. Stohl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 649–660, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-649-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-649-2013, 2013
F. Ewald, L. Bugliaro, H. Mannstein, and B. Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 309–322, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-309-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-309-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Clouds | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Improving discrimination between clouds and optically thick aerosol plumes in geostationary satellite data
Towards the use of conservative thermodynamic variables in data assimilation: a case study using ground-based microwave radiometer measurements
Empirical model of multiple-scattering effect on single-wavelength lidar data of aerosols and clouds
Analytic characterization of random errors in spectral dual-polarized cloud radar observations
Assessing synergistic radar and radiometer capability in retrieving ice cloud microphysics based on hybrid Bayesian algorithms
Determination of atmospheric column condensate using active and passive remote sensing technology
Applying self-supervised learning for semantic cloud segmentation of all-sky images
Coincident in situ and triple-frequency radar airborne observations in the Arctic
Analysis of improvements in MOPITT observational coverage over Canada
Using artificial neural networks to predict riming from Doppler cloud radar observations
Evaluating cloud liquid detection against Cloudnet using cloud radar Doppler spectra in a pre-trained artificial neural network
PARAFOG v2.0: a near-real-time decision tool to support nowcasting fog formation events at local scales
Inpainting radar missing data regions with deep learning
Improved cloud detection for the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS): training an artificial neural network on colocated MLS and Aqua MODIS data
A kriging-based analysis of cloud Liquid Water Content using CloudSat data
An all-sky camera images classification method using cloud cover features
Triple-frequency radar retrieval of microphysical properties of snow
Retrieving microphysical properties of concurrent pristine ice and snow using polarimetric radar observations
Comparison of mid-latitude single- and mixed-phase cloud optical depth from co-located infrared spectrometer and backscatter lidar measurements
Physical characteristics of frozen hydrometeors inferred with parameter estimation
Cloud height measurement by a network of all-sky imagers
Increasing the spatial resolution of cloud property retrievals from Meteosat SEVIRI by use of its high-resolution visible channel: implementation and examples
Why we need radar, lidar, and solar radiance observations to constrain ice cloud microphysics
Estimating the optical extinction of liquid water clouds in the cloud base region
W-band radar observations for fog forecast improvement: an analysis of model and forward operator errors
Identification of snowfall microphysical processes from Eulerian vertical gradients of polarimetric radar variables
Identifying insects, clouds, and precipitation using vertically pointing polarimetric radar Doppler velocity spectra
MICRU: an effective cloud fraction algorithm designed for UV–vis satellite instruments with large viewing angles
A simplified method for the detection of convection using high-resolution imagery from GOES-16
Introducing hydrometeor orientation into all-sky microwave and submillimeter assimilation
Version 4 CALIPSO Imaging Infrared Radiometer ice and liquid water cloud microphysical properties – Part II: Results over oceans
Version 4 CALIPSO Imaging Infrared Radiometer ice and liquid water cloud microphysical properties – Part I: The retrieval algorithms
Observation of cirrus clouds with GLORIA during the WISE campaign: detection methods and cirrus characterization
Applying machine learning methods to detect convection using Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16 (GOES-16) advanced baseline imager (ABI) data
A new method to detect and classify polar stratospheric nitric acid trihydrate clouds derived from radiative transfer simulations and its first application to airborne infrared limb emission observations
A study of polarimetric error induced by satellite motion: application to the 3MI and similar sensors
A robust low-level cloud and clutter discrimination method for ground-based millimeter-wavelength cloud radar
Two-dimensional and multi-channel feature detection algorithm for the CALIPSO lidar measurements
Analysis of 3D cloud effects in OCO-2 XCO2 retrievals
Improving cloud type classification of ground-based images using region covariance descriptors
Global cloud property models for real-time triage on board visible–shortwave infrared spectrometers
Applying deep learning to NASA MODIS data to create a community record of marine low-cloud mesoscale morphology
Microwave single-scattering properties of non-spheroidal raindrops
Determining cloud thermodynamic phase from the polarized Micro Pulse Lidar
Improved cloud detection over sea ice and snow during Arctic summer using MERIS data
A kernel-driven BRDF model to inform satellite-derived visible anvil cloud detection
Cloud-top pressure retrieval with DSCOVR EPIC oxygen A- and B-band observations
Estimating total attenuation using Rayleigh targets at cloud top: applications in multilayer and mixed-phase clouds observed by ground-based multifrequency radars
A new Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 cloud flagging method and rapid retrieval of marine boundary layer cloud properties
CALIOP V4 cloud thermodynamic phase assignment and the impact of near-nadir viewing angles
Daniel Robbins, Caroline Poulsen, Steven Siems, and Simon Proud
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3031–3051, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3031-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3031-2022, 2022
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A neural network (NN)-based cloud mask for a geostationary satellite instrument, AHI, is developed using collocated data and is better at not classifying thick aerosols as clouds versus the Japanese Meteorological Association and the Bureau of Meteorology masks, identifying 1.13 and 1.29 times as many non-cloud pixels than each mask, respectively. The improvement during the day likely comes from including the shortest wavelength bands from AHI in the NN mask, which the other masks do not use.
Pascal Marquet, Pauline Martinet, Jean-François Mahfouf, Alina Lavinia Barbu, and Benjamin Ménétrier
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2021–2035, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2021-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2021-2022, 2022
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Two conservative thermodynamic variables (moist-air entropy potential temperature and total water content) are introduced into a one-dimensional EnVar data assimilation system to demonstrate their benefit for future operational assimilation schemes, with the use of microwave brightness temperatures from a ground-based radiometer installed during the field campaign SOFGO3D. Results show that the brightness temperatures analysed with the new variables are improved, including the liquid water.
Valery Shcherbakov, Frédéric Szczap, Alaa Alkasem, Guillaume Mioche, and Céline Cornet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1729–1754, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1729-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1729-2022, 2022
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We performed extensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of lidar signals and developed an empirical model to account for the multiple scattering in the lidar signals. The simulations have taken into consideration four types of lidar configurations (the ground based, the airborne, the CALIOP, and the ATLID) and four types of particles (coarse aerosol, water cloud, jet-stream cirrus, and cirrus).
The empirical model has very good quality of MC data fitting for all considered cases.
Alexander Myagkov and Davide Ori
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1333–1354, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1333-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1333-2022, 2022
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This study provides equations to characterize random errors of spectral polarimetric observations from cloud radars. The results can be used for a broad spectrum of applications. For instance, accurate error characterization is essential for advanced retrievals of microphysical properties of clouds and precipitation. Moreover, error characterization allows for the use of measurements from polarimetric cloud radars to potentially improve weather forecasts.
Yuli Liu and Gerald G. Mace
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 927–944, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-927-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-927-2022, 2022
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We propose a suite of Bayesian algorithms for synergistic radar and radiometer retrievals to evaluate the next-generation NASA Cloud, Convection and Precipitation (CCP) observing system. The algorithms address pixel-level retrievals using active-only, passive-only, and synergistic active–passive observations. Novel techniques in developing synergistic algorithms are presented. Quantitative assessments of the CCP observing system's capability in retrieving ice cloud microphysics are provided.
Huige Di, Yun Yuan, Qing Yan, Wenhui Xin, Shichun Li, Jun Wang, Yufeng Wang, Lei Zhang, and Dengxin Hua
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-397, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-397, 2022
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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This paper presents a remote sensing method for detecting columnar condensation water in the atmosphere by using Lidar, MWR and microwave radiometer. The detailed detection scheme and data calculation method are given. A cloud precipitation process was observed, and columnar condensed water was obtained by active and passive instruments.
Yann Fabel, Bijan Nouri, Stefan Wilbert, Niklas Blum, Rudolph Triebel, Marcel Hasenbalg, Pascal Kuhn, Luis F. Zarzalejo, and Robert Pitz-Paal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 797–809, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-797-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-797-2022, 2022
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This work presents a new approach to exploit unlabeled image data from ground-based sky observations to train neural networks. We show that our model can detect cloud classes within images more accurately than models trained with conventional methods using small, labeled datasets only. Novel machine learning techniques as applied in this work enable training with much larger datasets, leading to improved accuracy in cloud detection and less need for manual image labeling.
Cuong M. Nguyen, Mengistu Wolde, Alessandro Battaglia, Leonid Nichman, Natalia Bliankinshtein, Samuel Haimov, Kenny Bala, and Dirk Schuettemeyer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 775–795, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-775-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-775-2022, 2022
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An analysis of airborne triple-frequency radar and almost perfectly co-located coincident in situ data from an Arctic storm confirms the main findings of modeling work with radar dual-frequency ratios (DFRs) at different zones of the DFR plane associated with different ice habits. High-resolution CPI images provide accurate identification of rimed particles within the DFR plane. The relationships between the triple-frequency signals and cloud microphysical properties are also presented.
Heba S. Marey, James R. Drummond, Dylan B. A. Jones, Helen Worden, Merritt N. Deeter, John Gille, and Debbie Mao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 701–719, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-701-2022, 2022
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In this study, an analysis has been performed to understand the improvements in observational coverage over Canada in the new MOPITT V9 product. Temporal and spatial analysis of V9 indicates a general coverage gain of 15–20 % relative to V8, which varies regionally and seasonally; e.g., the number of successful MOPITT retrievals in V9 was doubled over Canada in winter. Also, comparison with the corresponding IASI instrument indicated generally good agreement, with about a 5–10 % positive bias.
Teresa Vogl, Maximilian Maahn, Stefan Kneifel, Willi Schimmel, Dmitri Moisseev, and Heike Kalesse-Los
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 365–381, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-365-2022, 2022
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We are using machine learning techniques, a type of artificial intelligence, to detect graupel formation in clouds. The measurements used as input to the machine learning framework were performed by cloud radars. Cloud radars are instruments located at the ground, emitting radiation with wavelenghts of a few millimeters vertically into the cloud and measuring the back-scattered signal. Our novel technique can be applied to different radar systems and different weather conditions.
Heike Kalesse-Los, Willi Schimmel, Edward Luke, and Patric Seifert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 279–295, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-279-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-279-2022, 2022
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It is important to detect the vertical distribution of cloud droplets and ice in mixed-phase clouds. Here, an artificial neural network (ANN) previously developed for Arctic clouds is applied to a mid-latitudinal cloud radar data set. The performance of this technique is contrasted to the Cloudnet target classification. For thick/multi-layer clouds, the machine learning technique is better at detecting liquid than Cloudnet, but if lidar data are available Cloudnet is at least as good as the ANN.
Jean-François Ribaud, Martial Haeffelin, Jean-Charles Dupont, Marc-Antoine Drouin, Felipe Toledo, and Simone Kotthaus
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7893–7907, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7893-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7893-2021, 2021
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PARAFOG is a near-real-time decision tool that aims to retrieve pre-fog alert levels minutes to hours prior to fog onset. The second version of PARAFOG allows us to discriminate between radiation and stratus lowering fog situations. It is based upon the combination of visibility observations and automatic lidar and ceilometer measurements. The overall performance of the second version of PARAFOG over more than 300 fog cases at five different locations presents a good perfomance.
Andrew Geiss and Joseph C. Hardin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7729–7747, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7729-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7729-2021, 2021
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Radars can suffer from missing or poor-quality data regions for several reasons: beam blockage, instrument failure, and near-ground blind zones, etc. Here, we demonstrate how deep convolutional neural networks can be used for filling in radar-missing data regions and that they can significantly outperform conventional approaches in terms of realism and accuracy.
Frank Werner, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Michael J. Schwartz, William G. Read, Michelle L. Santee, and Galina Wind
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7749–7773, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7749-2021, 2021
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In this study we present an improved cloud detection scheme for the Microwave Limb Sounder, which is based on a feedforward artificial neural network. This new algorithm is shown not only to reliably detect high and mid-level convection containing even small amounts of cloud water but also to distinguish between high-reaching and mid-level to low convection.
Jean-Marie Lalande, Guillaume Bourmaud, Pierre Minvielle, and Jean-François Giovannelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-348, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-348, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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In this paper, we describe the implementation of an interpolation/prediction estimator applied to cloud properties derived from CloudSat observations. The objective is also to estimate the uncertainty associated with the estimated quantity. The model developed in this study can be valuable for satellite applications (GPS, telecommunication) as well as for cloud product comparison. We believe this paper is written in a didactic way so as to be profitable to anyone interested by kriging estimator.
Xiaotong Li, Baozhu Wang, Bo Qiu, and Chao Wu
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-379, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2021-379, 2021
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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The ground-based cloud images can reflect the local cloud cover which is considerable for astronomical observatory site selection. Therefore, the realization of automatic classification of the images is very important. In this paper, three cloud cover features are proposed to classify the images. The proposed method is evaluated on a large dataset, and the method achieves an accuracy of 97.28 % and F1_score of 96.97 %, which greatly improves the efficiency of automatic processing of the images.
Kamil Mroz, Alessandro Battaglia, Cuong Nguyen, Andrew Heymsfield, Alain Protat, and Mengistu Wolde
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7243–7254, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7243-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7243-2021, 2021
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A method for estimating microphysical properties of ice clouds based on radar measurements is presented. The algorithm exploits the information provided by differences in the radar response at different frequency bands in relation to changes in the snow morphology. The inversion scheme is based on a statistical relation between the radar simulations and the properties of snow calculated from in-cloud sampling.
Nicholas J. Kedzuf, J. Christine Chiu, V. Chandrasekar, Sounak Biswas, Shashank S. Joshil, Yinghui Lu, Peter Jan van Leeuwen, Christopher Westbrook, Yann Blanchard, and Sebastian O'Shea
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6885–6904, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6885-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6885-2021, 2021
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Ice clouds play a key role in our climate system due to their strong controls on precipitation and the radiation budget. However, it is difficult to characterize co-existing ice species using radar observations. We present a new method that separates the radar signals of pristine ice embedded in snow aggregates and retrieves their respective abundances and sizes for the first time. The ability to provide their quantitative microphysical properties will open up many research opportunities.
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
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6749–6758, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6749-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6749-2021, 2021
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The importance of cirrus and mixed-phase clouds in the Earth radiation budget has been proven by many studies. In this paper the properties that characterize these clouds are retrieved from lidar and far-infrared spectral measurements performed in winter 2018/19 on the Zugspitze (Germany). The synergy of lidar and spectrometer measurements allowed us to assess the exponent k of the power-law relationship between the backscattering and the extinction coefficients.
Alan J. Geer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5369–5395, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5369-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5369-2021, 2021
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Satellite observations sensitive to cloud and precipitation help improve the quality of weather forecasts. However, they are sensitive to things that models do not forecast, such as the shapes and sizes of snow and ice particles. These details can be estimated from the observations themselves and then incorporated in the satellite simulators used in weather forecasting. This approach, known as parameter estimation, will be increasingly useful to build models of poorly known physical processes.
Niklas Benedikt Blum, Bijan Nouri, Stefan Wilbert, Thomas Schmidt, Ontje Lünsdorf, Jonas Stührenberg, Detlev Heinemann, Andreas Kazantzidis, and Robert Pitz-Paal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5199–5224, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5199-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5199-2021, 2021
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Cloud base height (CBH) is important, e.g., to forecast solar irradiance and, with it, photovoltaic production. All-sky imagers (ASIs), cameras monitoring the sky above their point of installation, can provide such forecasts and also measure CBH. We present a network of ASIs to measure CBH. The network provides numerous readings of CBH simultaneously. We combine these with a statistical procedure. Validation attests to significantly higher accuracy of the combination compared to two ASIs alone.
Hartwig Deneke, Carola Barrientos-Velasco, Sebastian Bley, Anja Hünerbein, Stephan Lenk, Andreas Macke, Jan Fokke Meirink, Marion Schroedter-Homscheidt, Fabian Senf, Ping Wang, Frank Werner, and Jonas Witthuhn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5107–5126, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5107-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5107-2021, 2021
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The SEVIRI instrument flown on the European geostationary Meteosat satellites acquires multi-spectral images at a relatively coarse pixel resolution of 3 × 3 km2, but it also has a broadband high-resolution visible channel with 1 × 1 km2 spatial resolution. In this study, the modification of an existing cloud property and solar irradiance retrieval to use this channel to improve the spatial resolution of its output products as well as the resulting benefits for applications are described.
Florian Ewald, Silke Groß, Martin Wirth, Julien Delanoë, Stuart Fox, and Bernhard Mayer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5029–5047, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5029-2021, 2021
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In this study, we show how solar radiance observations can be used to validate and further constrain ice cloud microphysics retrieved from the synergy of radar–lidar measurements. Since most radar–lidar retrievals rely on a global assumption about the ice particle shape, ice water content and particle size biases are to be expected in individual cloud regimes. In this work, we identify and correct these biases by reconciling simulated and measured solar radiation reflected from these clouds.
Karolina Sarna, David P. Donovan, and Herman W. J. Russchenberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4959–4970, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4959-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4959-2021, 2021
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We show a method for obtaining cloud optical extinction with a lidar system. We use a scheme in which a lidar signal is inverted based on the estimated value of cloud extinction at the far end of the cloud and apply a correction for multiple scattering within the cloud and a range resolution correction. By applying our technique, we show that it is possible to obtain the cloud optical extinction with an error better than 5 % up to 90 m within the cloud.
Alistair Bell, Pauline Martinet, Olivier Caumont, Benoît Vié, Julien Delanoë, Jean-Charles Dupont, and Mary Borderies
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4929–4946, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4929-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4929-2021, 2021
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This paper presents work towards making retrievals on the liquid water content in fog and low clouds. Future retrievals will rely on a radar simulator and high-resolution forecast. In this work, real observations are used to assess the errors associated with the simulator and forecast. A selection method to reduce errors associated with the forecast is proposed. It is concluded that the distribution of errors matches the requirements for future retrievals.
Noémie Planat, Josué Gehring, Étienne Vignon, and Alexis Berne
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4543–4564, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4543-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4543-2021, 2021
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We implement a new method to identify microphysical processes during cold precipitation events based on the sign of the vertical gradient of polarimetric radar variables. We analytically asses the meteorological conditions for this vertical analysis to hold, apply it on two study cases and successfully compare it with other methods informing about the microphysics. Finally, we are able to obtain the main vertical structure and characteristics of the different processes during these study cases.
Christopher R. Williams, Karen L. Johnson, Scott E. Giangrande, Joseph C. Hardin, Ruşen Öktem, and David M. Romps
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4425–4444, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4425-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4425-2021, 2021
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In addition to detecting clouds, vertically pointing cloud radars detect individual insects passing over head. If these insects are not identified and removed from raw observations, then radar-derived cloud properties will be contaminated. This work identifies clouds in radar observations due to their continuous and smooth structure in time, height, and velocity. Cloud masks are produced that identify cloud vertical structure that are free of insect contamination.
Holger Sihler, Steffen Beirle, Steffen Dörner, Marloes Gutenstein-Penning de Vries, Christoph Hörmann, Christian Borger, Simon Warnach, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3989–4031, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3989-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3989-2021, 2021
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MICRU is an algorithm for the retrieval of effective cloud fractions (CFs) from satellite measurements. CFs describe the amount of clouds, which have a significant impact on the vertical sensitivity profile of trace gases like NO2 and HCHO. MICRU retrieves small CFs with an accuracy of 0.04 over the entire satellite swath. It features an empirical surface reflectivity model accounting for physical anisotropy (BRDF, sun glitter) and instrumental effects. MICRU is also applicable to imager data.
Yoonjin Lee, Christian D. Kummerow, and Milija Zupanski
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3755–3771, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3755-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3755-2021, 2021
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This study suggests two methods to detect convection using 1 min data from GOES-16: one method detects early convective clouds using their vertical growth rate and the other method detects mature convective clouds using their lumpy cloud top surfaces. Applying the two methods to 1-month data showed that the accuracy of the combined methods was 85.8 % and showed their potential to be used in regions where radar data are not available.
Vasileios Barlakas, Alan J. Geer, and Patrick Eriksson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3427–3447, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3427-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3427-2021, 2021
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Oriented nonspherical ice particles induce polarization that is ignored when cloud-sensitive satellite observations are used in numerical weather prediction systems. We present a simple approach for approximating particle orientation, requiring minor adaption of software and no additional calculation burden. With this approach, the system realistically simulates the observed polarization patterns, increasing the physical consistency between instruments with different polarizations.
Anne Garnier, Jacques Pelon, Nicolas Pascal, Mark A. Vaughan, Philippe Dubuisson, Ping Yang, and David L. Mitchell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3277–3299, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3277-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3277-2021, 2021
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The IIR Level 2 data products include cloud effective emissivities and cloud microphysical properties such as effective diameter (De) and ice or liquid water path estimates. This paper (Part II) shows retrievals over ocean and describes the improvements made with respect to version 3 as a result of the significant changes implemented in the version 4 algorithms, which are presented in a companion paper (Part I).
Anne Garnier, Jacques Pelon, Nicolas Pascal, Mark A. Vaughan, Philippe Dubuisson, Ping Yang, and David L. Mitchell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3253–3276, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3253-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3253-2021, 2021
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The IIR Level 2 data products include cloud effective emissivities and cloud microphysical properties such as effective diameter (De) and ice or liquid water path estimates. This paper (Part I) describes the improvements in the V4 algorithms compared to those used in the version 3 (V3) release, while results are presented in a companion paper (Part II).
Irene Bartolome Garcia, Reinhold Spang, Jörn Ungermann, Sabine Griessbach, Martina Krämer, Michael Höpfner, and Martin Riese
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3153–3168, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3153-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3153-2021, 2021
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Cirrus clouds contribute to the general radiation budget of the Earth. Measuring optically thin clouds is challenging but the IR limb sounder GLORIA possesses the necessary technical characteristics to make it possible. This study analyses data from the WISE campaign obtained with GLORIA. We developed a cloud detection method and derived characteristics of the observed cirrus-like cloud top, cloud bottom or position with respect to the tropopause.
Yoonjin Lee, Christian D. Kummerow, and Imme Ebert-Uphoff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2699–2716, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2699-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2699-2021, 2021
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Convective clouds are usually associated with intense rain that can cause severe damage, and thus it is important to accurately detect convective clouds. This study develops a machine learning model that can identify convective clouds from five temporal visible and infrared images as humans can point at convective regions by finding bright and bubbling areas. The results look promising when compared to radar-derived products, which are commonly used for detecting convection.
Christoph Kalicinsky, Sabine Griessbach, and Reinhold Spang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1893–1915, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1893-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1893-2021, 2021
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For an airborne viewing geometry, radiative transfer simulations of infrared limb emission spectra in the presence of polar stratospheric clouds – nitric acid trihydrate (NAT), supercooled ternary solution, ice, and mixtures – were used to develop a size-sensitive NAT detection algorithm. Characteristic size-dependent spectral features in the 810–820 cm−1 region were exploited to subgroup the NAT into three size regimes: small NAT (≤ 1.0 μm), medium NAT (1.5–4.0 μm), and large NAT (≥ 3.5 μm).
Souichiro Hioki, Jérôme Riedi, and Mohamed S. Djellali
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1801–1816, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1801-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1801-2021, 2021
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This research estimates the magnitude of a motion-induced error in the measurement of polarimetric state of light by a planned instrument on a future satellite. We discovered that the motion-induced error can not be cancelled out by spatiotemporal averaging, but it can be predicted from the along-track change of the intensity of light. With the estimated statistics and the simulation model, this research paves a way to provide pixel-level quality information in the future satellite products.
Xiaoyu Hu, Jinming Ge, Jiajing Du, Qinghao Li, Jianping Huang, and Qiang Fu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1743–1759, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1743-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1743-2021, 2021
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Cloud radars are powerful instruments that can probe detailed cloud structures. However, radar echoes in the lower atmosphere are always contaminated by clutter. We proposed a multi-dimensional probability distribution function that can effectively discriminate low-level clouds from clutter by considering their different features in several variables. We applied this method to the radar observations at the SACOL site and found the results have good agreement with lidar detection.
Thibault Vaillant de Guélis, Mark A. Vaughan, David M. Winker, and Zhaoyan Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1593–1613, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1593-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1593-2021, 2021
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We introduce a new lidar feature detection algorithm that dramatically improves the fine details of layers identified in the CALIOP data. By applying our two-dimensional scanning technique to the measurements in all three channels, we minimize false positives while accurately identifying previously undetected features such as subvisible cirrus and the full vertical extent of dense smoke plumes. Multiple comparisons to version 4.2 CALIOP retrievals illustrate the scope of the improvements made.
Steven T. Massie, Heather Cronk, Aronne Merrelli, Christopher O'Dell, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, and David Baker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1475–1499, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1475-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1475-2021, 2021
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The OCO-2 science team is working to retrieve CO2 measurements that can be used by the carbon cycle community to calculate regional sources and sinks of CO2. The retrieved data, however, are in need of improvements in accuracy. This paper discusses several ways in which 3D cloud metrics (such as the distance of a measurement to the nearest cloud) can be used to account for cloud effects in the OCO-2 CO2 data files.
Yuzhu Tang, Pinglv Yang, Zeming Zhou, Delu Pan, Jianyu Chen, and Xiaofeng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 737–747, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-737-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-737-2021, 2021
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An automatic cloud classification method on whole-sky images is presented. We first extract multiple pixel-level features to form region covariance descriptors (RCovDs) and then encode RCovDs by the Riemannian bag-of-feature (BoF) method to output the histogram representation. Reults show that a very high prediction accuracy can be obtained with a small number of training samples, which validate the proposed method and exhibit the competitive performance against state-of-the-art methods.
Macey W. Sandford, David R. Thompson, Robert O. Green, Brian H. Kahn, Raffaele Vitulli, Steve Chien, Amruta Yelamanchili, and Winston Olson-Duvall
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 7047–7057, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7047-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7047-2020, 2020
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We demonstrate an onboard cloud-screening approach to significantly reduce the amount of cloud-contaminated data transmitted from orbit. We have produced location-specific models that improve performance by taking into account the unique cloud statistics in different latitudes. We have shown that screening clouds based on their location or surface type will improve the ability for a cloud-screening tool to improve the volume of usable science data.
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
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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.
Robin Ekelund, Patrick Eriksson, and Michael Kahnert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6933–6944, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6933-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6933-2020, 2020
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Raindrops become flattened due to aerodynamic drag as they increase in mass and fall speed. This study calculated the electromagnetic interaction between microwave radiation and non-spheroidal raindrops. The calculations are made publicly available to the scientific community, in order to promote accurate representations of raindrops in measurements. Tests show that the drop shape can have a noticeable effect on microwave observations of heavy rainfall.
Jasper R. Lewis, James R. Campbell, Sebastian A. Stewart, Ivy Tan, Ellsworth J. Welton, and Simone Lolli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6901–6913, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6901-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6901-2020, 2020
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In this work, the authors describe a process to determine the thermodynamic cloud phase using the Micro Pulse Lidar Network volume depolarization ratio measurements and temperature profiles from the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office GEOS-5 model. A multi-year analysis and comparisons to supercooled liquid water fractions derived from CALIPSO satellite measurements are used to demonstrate the efficacy of the method.
Larysa Istomina, Henrik Marks, Marcus Huntemann, Georg Heygster, and Gunnar Spreen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6459–6472, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6459-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6459-2020, 2020
Benjamin R. Scarino, Kristopher Bedka, Rajendra Bhatt, Konstantin Khlopenkov, David R. Doelling, and William L. Smith Jr.
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5491–5511, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5491-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5491-2020, 2020
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This paper highlights a technique for facilitating anvil cloud detection based on visible observations that relies on comparative analysis with expected cloud reflectance for a given set of angles. A 1-year database of anvil-identified pixels, as determined from IR observations, from several geostationary satellites was used to construct a bidirectional reflectance distribution function model to quantify typical anvil reflectance across almost all expected viewing, solar, and azimuth angles.
Bangsheng Yin, Qilong Min, Emily Morgan, Yuekui Yang, Alexander Marshak, and Anthony B. Davis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5259–5275, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5259-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5259-2020, 2020
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Cloud-top pressure (CTP) is an important cloud property for climate and weather studies. Based on differential oxygen absorption, both oxygen A-band and B-band pairs can be used to retrieve CTP. However, it is currently very challenging to perform a CTP retrieval accurately due to the complicated in-cloud penetration effect. To address this issue, we propose an analytic transfer inverse model for DSCOVR EPIC observations to retrieve CTP considering in-cloud photon penetration.
Frédéric Tridon, Alessandro Battaglia, and Stefan Kneifel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5065–5085, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5065-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5065-2020, 2020
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The droplets and ice crystals composing clouds and precipitation interact with microwaves and can therefore be observed by radars, but they can also attenuate the signal they emit. By combining the observations made by two ground-based radars, this study describes an original approach for estimating such attenuation. As a result, the latter can be not only corrected in the radar observations but also exploited for providing an accurate characterization of droplet and ice crystal properties.
Mark Richardson, Matthew D. Lebsock, James McDuffie, and Graeme L. Stephens
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4947–4961, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4947-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4947-2020, 2020
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We previously combined CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) lidar data and reflected-sunlight measurements from OCO-2 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2) for information about low clouds over oceans. The satellites are no longer formation-flying, so this work is a step towards getting new information about these clouds using only OCO-2. We can rapidly and accurately identify liquid oceanic clouds and obtain their height better than a widely used passive sensor.
Melody A. Avery, Robert A. Ryan, Brian J. Getzewich, Mark A. Vaughan, David M. Winker, Yongxiang Hu, Anne Garnier, Jacques Pelon, and Carolus A. Verhappen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4539–4563, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4539-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4539-2020, 2020
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CALIOP data users will find more cloud layers detected in V4, with edges that extend further than in V3, for an increase in total atmospheric cloud volume of 6 %–9 % for high-confidence cloud phases and 1 %–2 % for all cloudy bins, including cloud fringes and unknown cloud phases. In V4 there are many fewer cloud layers identified as horizontally oriented ice, particularly in the 3° off-nadir view. Depolarization at 532 nm is the predominant parameter determining cloud thermodynamic phase.
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Short summary
A new retrieval of optical thickness and effective particle size of ice clouds over a wide range of optical thickness from transmittance measurements is presented. A visible range spectral slope is used to resolve the transmittance optical thickness ambiguity. Retrieval sensitivity to ice crystal habit, aerosol, albedo, sensor accuracy and lookup table interpolation is presented as well as an application of the method and comparison to satellite products for 2 days.
A new retrieval of optical thickness and effective particle size of ice clouds over a wide range...
