International audienceThe collective representation within global models of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and their radiative properties remains unsatisfactory. They constitute the largest source of uncertainty in predictions of climatic change and hamper the ability of numerical weather prediction models to forecast high-impact weather events. The joint ESA-JAXA EarthCARE satellite mission, scheduled for launch in 2017, will help to resolve these weaknesses by providing global profiles of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and associated radiative properties inferred from a combination of measurements made by its collocated active and passive sensors. EarthCARE will improve our understanding of cloud and aerosol processes by extending the invaluable dataset acquired by the A-Train satellites CloudSat, CALIPSO, and Aqua. Specifically, EarthCARE's Cloud Profling Radar, with 7 dB more sensitivity than CloudSat, will detect more thin clouds and its Doppler capability will provide novel information on convection, precipitating ice particle and raindrop fall speeds. EarthCARE's 355-nm High Spectral Resolution Lidar will measure directly and accurately cloud and aerosol extinction and optical depth. Combining this with backscatter and polarization information should lead to an unprecedented ability to identify aerosol type. The Multi-Spectral Imager will provide a context for, and the ability to construct the cloud and aerosol distribution in 3D domains around the narrow 2D retrieved cross-section. The consistency of the retrievals will be assessed to within a target of ±10 W m⁻² on the (10 km²) scale by comparing the multi-view Broad-Band Radiometer observations to the top-of-atmosphere fluxes estimated by 3D radiative transfer models acting on retrieved 3D domains

The impact of the unusually severe drought associated with the 1997–1998 El Niño on tropical forest dynamics in Sarawak, Malaysia was examined. Mortality during the non-drought period (1993–1997) in a core plot (1.38 ha) was 0.89 % y−1, while that during the drought period (1997–1998) in the same plot and a peripheral plot was 6.37 and 4.35 % y−1, respectively. The basal area lost in the drought interval was 3.4 times that of the annual incremental basal area in 1993–1997. Drought mortality was higher for the smaller trees, though it was less size dependent than the non-drought mortality. Dipterocarpaceae, which is the dominant family in the study plot, had a mortality 12–30 times higher in the drought than the non-drought period. There were no significant differences in mortality among the topographic types. From the results of a log-linear model (multi-factored contingency table), the death of trees was correlated with size class, indicating a change in the size-class structure of the forest. Thus, both the species composition and structure are totally affected by such an episodic drought even in a per-humid tropical forest.

Secondary cell walls, which contain lignin, have traditionally been considered essential for the mechanical strength of the shoot of land plants, whereas pectin, which is a characteristic component of the primary wall, is not considered to be involved in the mechanical support of the plant. Contradicting this conventional knowledge, loss-of-function mutant alleles of Arabidopsis thaliana PECTIN METHYLESTERASE35 (PME35), which encodes a pectin methylesterase, showed a pendant stem phenotype and an increased deformation rate of the stem, indicating that the mechanical strength of the stem was impaired by the mutation. PME35 was expressed specifically in the basal part of the inflorescence stem. Biochemical characterization showed that the activity of pectin methylesterase was significantly reduced in the basal part of the mutant stem. Immunofluorescence microscopy and immunogold electron microscopy analyses using JIM5, JIM7, and LM20 monoclonal antibodies revealed that demethylesterification of methylesterified homogalacturonans in the primary cell wall of the cortex and interfascicular fibers was suppressed in the mutant, but lignified cell walls in the interfascicular and xylary fibers were not affected. These phenotypic analyses indicate that PME35-mediated demethylesterification of the primary cell wall directly regulates the mechanical strength of the supporting tissue.

Vertical profiles of ice water content (IWC) can now be derived globally from spaceborne cloud satellite radar (CloudSat) data. Integrating these data with Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data may further increase accuracy. Evaluations of the accuracy of IWC retrieved from radar alone and together with other measurements are now essential. A forward model employing aircraft Lagrangian spiral descents through mid-and low-latitude ice clouds is used to estimate profiles of what a lidar and conventional and Doppler radar would sense. Radar reflectivity Z e and Doppler fall speed at multiple wavelengths and extinction in visible wavelengths were derived from particle size distributions and shape data, constrained by IWC that were measured directly in most instances. These data were provided to eight teams that together cover 10 retrieval methods. Almost 3400 vertically distributed points from 19 clouds were used. Approximate cloud optical depths ranged from below 1 to more than 50. The teams returned retrieval IWC profiles that were evaluated in seven different ways to identify the amount and sources of errors. The mean (median) ratio of the retrieved-to-measured IWC was 1.15 (1.03) Ϯ 0.66 for all teams, 1.08 (1.00) Ϯ 0.60 for those employing a lidar-radar approach, and 1.27 (1.12) Ϯ 0.78 for the standard CloudSat radar-visible optical depth algorithm for Z e Ͼ Ϫ28 dBZ e . The ratios for the groups employing the lidar-radar approach and the radar-visible optical depth algorithm may be lower by as much as 25% because of uncertainties in the extinction in small ice particles provided to the groups. Retrievals from future spaceborne radar using reflectivity-Doppler fall speeds show considerable promise. A lidarradar approach, as applied to measurements from CALIPSO and CloudSat, is useful only in a narrow range of ice water paths (IWP) (40 Ͻ IWP Ͻ 100 g m Ϫ2 ). Because of the use of the Rayleigh approximation at high reflectivities in some of the algorithms and differences in the way nonspherical particles and Mie effects are considered, IWC retrievals in regions of radar reflectivity at 94 GHz exceeding about 5 dBZ e are subject to uncertainties of Ϯ50%.

[1] We developed a new radar-lidar algorithm that can be applied to CloudSat and CloudAerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) data to retrieve ice microphysics. The algorithm analyzes the specular reflection of lidar signals often observed by CALIPSO with large backscattering coefficients and small depolarization ratios. Analyses of CloudSat and CALIPSO data by our former radar-lidar algorithm showed problems retrieving ice cloud microphysics when specular reflection was present. We implemented additional look-up tables for horizontally oriented plates. A specular reflection mode in the radar-lidar algorithm could drastically improve retrieval results. The new radar-lidar algorithm requires depolarization ratios measured by CALIPSO, in addition to the radar reflectivity factor and backscattering coefficient at 532 nm. We performed several sensitivity studies to retrieval results. Nonsphericity turned out to be the largest source of uncertainties. Global analyses of ice microphysics for CloudSat-CALIPSO overlap regions were performed. The effective radius decreased as the altitude increased. The effective radius in the specular reflection ranged from 100 to 300 mm. The ice water content (IWC) ranged from 10 −4 to several tenths of a gram per cubic meter. Both effective radius and IWC increased as the altitude (temperature) decreased (increased). The largest mixing ratio of oriented particles occurred between −20 and −5°C. The IWC had two maxima in the tropics above 15 km and around 5 km. We also examined the differences in ice microphysics over land and ocean. The effective radius was similar over land and ocean, but the IWC tended to be larger over land.