Cloud type comparisons of AIRS, CloudSat, and CALIPSO cloud height and amount

Kahn, Brian H.; Chahine, Moustafa T.; Stephens, Graeme L.; Mace, Gerald G.; Marchand, Roger; Wang, Z.; Barnet, Christopher D.; Eldering, A.; Holz, Robert E.; Kuehn, Ralph E.; Vane, D.

doi:10.5194/acp-8-1231-2008

Cited by 99 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…This means that the "radiative" height determined by the AIRS-LMD retrieval corresponds well to the height of the maximum backscatter signal and of the "apparent middle" of the cloud. A comparison of the cloud height provided by the AIRS L2 products with CALIPSO exhibits a strong negative bias in the cloud pressure of low clouds, in agreement with a study of Kahn et al (2008).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

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A 6-year global cloud climatology from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder AIRS and a statistical analysis in synergy with CALIPSO and CloudSat

et al. 2010

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Abstract. We present a six-year global climatology of cloud properties, obtained from observations of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) onboard the NASA Aqua satellite. Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) combined with CloudSat observations, both missions launched as part of the A-Train in 2006, provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the retrieved AIRS cloud properties such as cloud amount and height. In addition, they permit to explore the vertical structure of different cloud types. AIRS-LMD cloud detection agrees with CALIPSO about 85% over ocean and about 75% over land. Global cloud amount has been estimated from 66% to 74%, depending on the weighting of not cloudy AIRS footprints by partial cloud cover from 0 to 0.3. 42% of all clouds are high clouds, and about 42% of all clouds are single layer low-level clouds. The "radiative" cloud height determined by the AIRS-LMD retrieval corresponds well to the height of the maximum backscatter signal and of the "apparent middle" of the cloud. Whereas the real cloud thickness of high opaque clouds often fills the whole troposphere, their "apparent" cloud thickness (at which optical depth reaches about 5) is on average only 2.5 km. The real geometrical thickness of optically thin cirrus as identified by AIRS-LMD is identical to the "apparent" cloud thickness with an average of about 2.5 km in the tropics and midlatitudes. High clouds in the tropics have slightly more diffusive cloud tops than at higher latitudes. In general, the depth of the maximum backscatter signal increases nearly linearly with increasing "apparent" cloud thickness. For the same "apparent" cloud thicknessCorrespondence to: C. J. Stubenrauch (stubenrauch@lmd.polytechnique.fr) optically thin cirrus show a maximum backscatter about 10% deeper inside the cloud than optically thicker clouds. We also show that only the geometrically thickest opaque clouds and (the probably surrounding anvil) cirrus penetrate the stratosphere in the tropics.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 58%

“…The range of retrieved p cld is much smaller than for AIRS-LMD, with large negative biases for low clouds. These biases have already been revealed in (Kahn et al, 2008;Stubenrauch et al, 2008). In polar latitudes the peak is even shifted to −100 hPa and the tail is even larger.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Airs-lmd Cloud Heightmentioning

confidence: 55%

A 6-year global cloud climatology from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder AIRS and a statistical analysis in synergy with CALIPSO and CloudSat

et al. 2010

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“…Over the years, AIRS data sets have matured considerably, and a wealth of literature on the validation of AIRS retrievals is now available (e.g. Divakarla et al, 2006;Gettelman et al, 2006;Kahn et al, 2008). The L3 standard product has previously been used for studying large-scale climatic features over the high latitudes (Devasthale et al, 2010(Devasthale et al, , 2011Sedlar and Devasthale, 2012).…”

Section: Airs Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

The thermodynamic state of the Arctic atmosphere observed by AIRS: comparisons during the record minimum sea ice extents of 2007 and 2012

et al. 2013

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The record sea ice minimum (SIM) extents observed during the summers of 2007 and 2012 in the Arctic are stark evidence of accelerated sea ice loss during the last decade. Improving our understanding of the Arctic atmosphere and accurate quantification of its characteristics becomes ever more crucial, not least to improve predictions of such extreme events in the future. In this context, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument onboard NASA's Aqua satellite provides crucial insights due to its ability to provide 3-D information on atmospheric thermodynamics. Here, we facilitate comparisons in the evolution of the thermodynamic state of the Arctic atmosphere during these two SIM events using a decade-long AIRS observational record (2003–2012). It is shown that the meteorological conditions during 2012 were not extreme, but three factors of preconditioning from winter through early summer played an important role in accelerating sea ice melt. First, the marginal sea ice zones along the central Eurasian and North Atlantic sectors remained warm throughout winter and early spring in 2012 preventing thicker ice build-up. Second, the circulation pattern favoured efficient sea ice transport out of the Arctic in the Atlantic sector during late spring and early summer in 2012 compared to 2007. Third, additional warming over the Canadian archipelago and southeast Beaufort Sea from May onward further contributed to accelerated sea ice melt. All these factors may have lead the already thin and declining sea ice cover to pass below the previous sea ice extent minimum of 2007. In sharp contrast to 2007, negative surface temperature anomalies and increased cloudiness were observed over the East Siberian and Chukchi seas in the summer of 2012. The results suggest that satellite-based monitoring of atmospheric preconditioning could be a critical source of information in predicting extreme sea ice melting events in the Arctic

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“…By including or constraining h t in the retrieval, it improves the IWP retrieval. Other approaches, e.g., using IR channels from the CO 2 slicing method (Kahn et al, 2008) may be used in the future to constrain h t in the IWP retrieval. As seen in Fig.…”

Section: Empirical T Cir -Iwp Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

CloudSat-constrained cloud ice water path and cloud top height retrievals from MHS 157 and 183.3 GHz radiances

Gong

2014

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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Abstract. Ice water path (IWP) and cloud top height (h t ) are two of the key variables in determining cloud radiative and thermodynamical properties in climate models. Large uncertainty remains among IWP measurements from satellite sensors, in large part due to the assumptions made for cloud microphysics in these retrievals. In this study, we develop a fast algorithm to retrieve IWP from the 157, 183.3 ± 3 and 190.3 GHz radiances of the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) such that the MHS cloud ice retrieval is consistent with CloudSat IWP measurements. This retrieval is obtained by constraining the empirical forward models between collocated and coincident measurements of CloudSat IWP and MHS cloud-induced radiance depression (T cir ) at these channels. The empirical forward model is represented by a lookup table (LUT) of T cir -IWP relationships as a function of h t and the frequency channel. With h t simultaneously retrieved, the IWP is found to be more accurate. The useful range of the MHS IWP retrieval is between 0.5 and 10 kg m −2 , and agrees well with CloudSat in terms of the normalized probability density function (PDF). Compared to the empirical model, current operational radiative transfer models (RTMs) still have significant uncertainties in characterizing the observed T cir -IWP relationships. Therefore, the empirical LUT method developed here remains an effective approach to retrieving ice cloud properties from the MHS-like microwave channels.

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Cloud type comparisons of AIRS, CloudSat, and CALIPSO cloud height and amount

Cited by 99 publications

References 51 publications

A 6-year global cloud climatology from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder AIRS and a statistical analysis in synergy with CALIPSO and CloudSat

A 6-year global cloud climatology from the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder AIRS and a statistical analysis in synergy with CALIPSO and CloudSat

The thermodynamic state of the Arctic atmosphere observed by AIRS: comparisons during the record minimum sea ice extents of 2007 and 2012

CloudSat-constrained cloud ice water path and cloud top height retrievals from MHS 157 and 183.3 GHz radiances

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