Remote Sensing

Abstract

State-of-the-art remote sensing techniques applicable to the investigation of ice formation and evolution are described. Ground-based and spaceborne measurements with lidar, radar, and radiometric techniques are discussed together with a global view on past and ongoing remote sensing measurement campaigns concerned with the study of ice formation and evolution. This chapter has the intention of a literature study and should illustrate the major efforts that are currently taken in the field of remote sensing of atmospheric ice. Since other chapters of this monograph mainly focus on aircraft in situ measurements, special emphasis is put on active remote sensing instruments and synergies between aircraft in situ measurements and passive remote sensing methods. The chapter concentrates on homogeneous and heterogeneous ice formation in the troposphere because this is a major topic of this monograph. Furthermore, methods that deliver direct, process-level information about ice formation are elaborated with a special emphasis on active remote sensing methods. Passive remote sensing methods are also dealt with but only in the context of synergy with aircraft in situ measurements.

Using passive and active microwave observations to constrain ice particle models

“…In order to provide global datasets, satellite-borne instrumentation is required. Microwave radiometers typically provide excellent horizontal coverage, but poor vertical resolution (Bühl et al, 2017). As a prominent example, the Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) core satellite carries the GPM Microwave Imager (GMI), a conical scanning microwave radiometer with channels up to 183.31 GHz, for estimating rain and snowfall (Hou et al, 2014).…”

“…Satellite-bourne radars, on the other hand, provide excellent vertical resolution globally, at the expense of horizontal coverage (Bühl et al, 2017). Currently operating satellite radars are the GPM dual-frequency phased-array precipitation radar (DPR) operating at 13.6 and 35.5 GHz (Hou et al, 2014) and the CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) operating at 94.1 GHz (Stephens et al, 2008).…”

A Level 3 Monthly Gridded Ice Cloud Dataset Derived from a Decade of CALIOP Measurements

“…Global data on IWP have been available for decades from a number of passive visible and infrared (VIS/IR) satellite sensors and several passive microwave sensors (Bühl et al, 2017) but any one sensor is sensitive to only part of the IWP column (Eliasson et al, 2011;Waliser et al, 2009). VIS/IR sensors are only sensitive to thin clouds and the upper portions of deep clouds while nadir-viewing microwave sensors can retrieve ice through thick clouds but have trouble detecting thin ice clouds.…”