scholarly journals Assessment of Cloudsat Reflectivity Measurements and Ice Cloud Properties Using Ground-Based and Airborne Cloud Radar Observations

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (9) ◽  
pp. 1717-1741 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Protat ◽  
D. Bouniol ◽  
J. Delanoë ◽  
E. O’Connor ◽  
P. T. May ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Scattering ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Weighted Mean Difference ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Radar Calibration

Abstract A quantitative assessment of Cloudsat reflectivities and basic ice cloud properties (cloud base, top, and thickness) is conducted in the present study from both airborne and ground-based observations. Airborne observations allow direct comparisons on a limited number of ocean backscatter and cloud samples, whereas the ground-based observations allow statistical comparisons on much longer time series but with some additional assumptions. Direct comparisons of the ocean backscatter and ice cloud reflectivities measured by an airborne cloud radar and Cloudsat during two field experiments indicate that, on average, Cloudsat measures ocean backscatter 0.4 dB higher and ice cloud reflectivities 1 dB higher than the airborne cloud radar. Five ground-based sites have also been used for a statistical evaluation of the Cloudsat reflectivities and basic cloud properties. From these comparisons, it is found that the weighted-mean difference ZCloudsat − ZGround ranges from −0.4 to +0.3 dB when a ±1-h time lag around the Cloudsat overpass is considered. Given the fact that the airborne and ground-based radar calibration accuracy is about 1 dB, it is concluded that the reflectivities of the spaceborne, airborne, and ground-based radars agree within the expected calibration uncertainties of the airborne and ground-based radars. This result shows that the Cloudsat radar does achieve the claimed sensitivity of around −29 dBZ. Finally, an evaluation of the tropical “convective ice” profiles measured by Cloudsat has been carried out over the tropical site in Darwin, Australia. It is shown that these profiles can be used statistically down to approximately 9-km height (or 4 km above the melting layer) without attenuation and multiple scattering corrections over Darwin. It is difficult to estimate if this result is applicable to all types of deep convective storms in the tropics. However, this first study suggests that the Cloudsat profiles in convective ice need to be corrected for attenuation by supercooled liquid water and ice aggregates/graupel particles and multiple scattering prior to their quantitative use.

scholarly journals Absolute calibration method for frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) cloud radars based on corner reflectors

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6853-6875
Author(s):  
Felipe Toledo ◽  
Julien Delanoë ◽  
Martial Haeffelin ◽  
Jean-Charles Dupont ◽  
Susana Jorquera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Continuous Wave ◽  
Intermediate Frequency ◽  
Absolute Calibration ◽  
Experimental Setup ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Calibration Uncertainty ◽  
Radar Calibration ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Uncertainty Source

Abstract. This article presents a new cloud radar calibration methodology using solid reference reflectors mounted on masts, developed during two field experiments held in 2018 and 2019 at the Site Instrumental de Recherche par Télédétection Atmosphérique (SIRTA) atmospheric observatory, located in Palaiseau, France, in the framework of the Aerosol Clouds Trace gases Research InfraStructure version 2 (ACTRIS-2) research and innovation program. The experimental setup includes 10 and 20 cm triangular trihedral targets installed at the top of 10 and 20 m masts, respectively. The 10 cm target is mounted on a pan-tilt motor at the top of the 10 m mast to precisely align its boresight with the radar beam. Sources of calibration bias and uncertainty are identified and quantified. Specifically, this work assesses the impact of receiver compression, temperature variations inside the radar, frequency-dependent losses in the receiver's intermediate frequency (IF), clutter and experimental setup misalignment. Setup misalignment is a source of bias, previously undocumented in the literature, that can have an impact of the order of tenths of a decibel in calibration retrievals of W-band radars. A detailed analysis enabled the quantification of the importance of each uncertainty source to the final cloud radar calibration uncertainty. The dominant uncertainty source comes from the uncharacterized reference target which reached 2 dB. Additionally, the analysis revealed that our 20 m mast setup with an approximate alignment approach is preferred to the 10 m mast setup with the motor-driven alignment system. The calibration uncertainty associated with signal-to-clutter ratio of the former is 10 times smaller than for the latter. Following the proposed methodology, it is possible to reduce the added contribution from all uncertainty terms, excluding the target characterization, down to 0.4 dB. Therefore, this procedure should enable the achievement of calibration uncertainties under 1 dB when characterized reflectors are available. Cloud radar calibration results are found to be repeatable when comparing results from a total of 18 independent tests. Once calibrated, the cloud radar provides valid reflectivity values when sampling midtropospheric clouds. Thus, we conclude that the method is repeatable and robust, and that the uncertainties are precisely characterized. The method can be implemented under different configurations as long as the proposed principles are respected. It could be extended to reference reflectors held by other lifting devices such as tethered balloons or unmanned aerial vehicles.

scholarly journals Comparison of Airborne and Spaceborne 95-GHz Radar Reflectivities and Evaluation of Multiple Scattering Effects in Spaceborne Measurements

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1983-1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominique Bouniol ◽  
Alain Protat ◽  
Artemio Plana-Fattori ◽  
Manuel Giraud ◽  
Jean-Paul Vinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Scattering ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Convective Systems ◽  
Multidisciplinary Analysis ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Ice Water Content ◽  
Radar Calibration ◽  
Ice Water

Abstract This paper provides an evaluation of the level 1 (reflectivity) CloudSat products by making use of coincident measurements collected by an airborne 95-GHz radar during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) experiment that took place in summer 2006 over West Africa. In a first step the airborne radar calibration is assessed. Collocated measurements of the spaceborne and airborne radars within the ice anvil of a mesoscale convective system are then compared. Several aspects are interesting in this comparison: First, both instruments exhibit attenuation within the ice part of the convective system, which suggests either the presence of a significant amount of supercooled liquid water above the melting layer or the presence of wet and very dense ice. Second, from the differences in the observed reflectivity values, a multiple scattering enhancement of at least 2.5 dB in the CloudSat reflectivities at flight altitude is estimated. The main conclusion of this paper is that in such thick anvils of mesoscale convective systems the CloudSat measurements have to be corrected for this effect, if one wants to derive accurate level 2 products such as the ice water content from radar reflectivity. This effect is expected to be much smaller in nonprecipitating clouds though.

scholarly journals Absolute Calibration method for FMCW Cloud Radars

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Toledo ◽  
Julien Delanoë ◽  
Martial Haeffelin ◽  
Jean-Charles Dupont
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Calibration Method ◽  
Absolute Calibration ◽  
Experimental Setup ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
W Band ◽  
Calibration Uncertainty ◽  
Radar Calibration ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. This article presents a new Cloud Radar calibration methodology using solid reference reflectors mounted on masts, developed during two field experiments held in 2018 and 2019 at the SIRTA atmospheric observatory, located in Palaiseau, France, in the framework of the ACTRIS-2 research and innovation program. The experimental setup includes 10 cm and 20 cm triangular trihedral targets installed at the top of 10 m and 20 m masts, respectively. The 10 cm target is mounted on a pan-tilt motor at the top of the 10 m mast to precisely align its boresight with the radar beam. Sources of calibration bias and uncertainty are identified and quantified. Specifically, this work assesses the impact of receiver compression, incomplete antenna overlap, temperature variations inside the radar, clutter and experimental setup misalignment. Setup misalignment is a source of bias previously undocumented in the literature, that can have an impact on the order of tenths of dB in calibration retrievals of W band Radars. A detailed analysis enabled the design of a calibration methodology which can reach a cloud radar calibration uncertainty of 0.3 dB based on the equipment used in the experiment. Among different sources of uncertainty, the two largest terms are due to signal-to-clutter ratio and radar-to-target alignment. The analysis revealed that our 20 m mast setup with an approximate alignment approach is preferred to the 10 m mast setup with the motor-driven alignment system. The calibration uncertainty associated with signal-to-clutter ratio of the former is ten times smaller than for the latter. Cloud radar calibration results are found to be repeatable when comparing results from a total of 18 independent tests. Once calibrated the cloud radar provides valid reflectivity values when sampling mid-tropospheric clouds. Thus we conclude that the method is repeatable and robust, and that the uncertainties are precisely characterized. The method can be implemented under different configurations as long as the proposed principles are respected. It could be extended to reference reflectors held by other lifting devices such as tethered balloons or unmanned aerial vehicles.

scholarly journals The Characterization of Ice Cloud Properties from Doppler Radar Measurements

2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 1682-1698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Delanoë ◽  
A. Protat ◽  
D. Bouniol ◽  
Andrew Heymsfield ◽  
Aaron Bansemer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Doppler Velocity ◽  
Fall Velocity ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Ice Water Content ◽  
Radar Measurements ◽  
Ice Water

Abstract The paper describes an original method that is complementary to the radar–lidar algorithm method to characterize ice cloud properties. The method makes use of two measurements from a Doppler cloud radar (35 or 95 GHz), namely, the radar reflectivity and the Doppler velocity, to recover the effective radius of crystals, the terminal fall velocity of hydrometeors, the ice water content, and the visible extinction from which the optical depth can be estimated. This radar method relies on the concept of scaling the ice particle size distribution. An error analysis using an extensive in situ airborne microphysical database shows that the expected errors on ice water content and extinction are around 30%–40% and 60%, respectively, including both a calibration error and a bias on the terminal fall velocity of the particles, which all translate into errors in the retrieval of the density–diameter and area–diameter relationships. Comparisons with the radar–lidar method in areas sampled by the two instruments also demonstrate the accuracy of this new method for retrieval of the cloud properties, with a roughly unbiased estimate of all cloud properties with respect to the radar–lidar method. This method is being systematically applied to the cloud radar measurements collected over the three-instrumented sites of the European Cloudnet project to validate the representation of ice clouds in numerical weather prediction models and to build a cloud climatology.

Antarctic Cloud Property Retrievals from Infrared Radiances

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Penny Rowe ◽  
Von Walden ◽  
Matthew Fergoda ◽  
Connor Krill ◽  
Jonathon Gero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Complex Refractive Index ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Retrieval Algorithm ◽  
South Pole ◽  
Infrared Radiance ◽  
Cloud Properties

<p>Clouds exert a strong radiative impact on the surface and have complicated effects that are still not well understood, particularly in the Antarctic. The amount of supercooled liquid water in Antarctic clouds, for example, is still poorly constrained, due to the low number of observations on the continent. It is also not clear how the radiative properties of supercooled liquid in those clouds should be represented in climate models. In particular, the complex refractive index (CRI) of liquid water is known to depend on temperature, but this dependence is typically ignored in climate models.</p><p>Here, we present cloud properties retrieved from Antarctic downwelling infrared radiance measurements made by an Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) and by the Polar AERI (PAERI), using the CLoud and Atmospheric Radiation Retrieval Algorithm (CLARRA). Preliminary retrievals were made of cloud height, optical depth, thermodynamic phase, and effective radius for field experiments at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station (2001) and at McMurdo Station (2016).</p><p>At South Pole, we find that clouds are typically thin and near the surface, in keeping with prior work. For thin clouds, the mode of the effective radii of liquid droplets (~4 μm) and ice particles (~15 μm in summer, ~12 μm in winter) at South Pole are found to be smaller than typical Arctic values (~9 μm for liquid and 17 to 25 μm for ice). Although ice cloud was found to dominate year-round at South Pole, significant supercooled liquid water was present in the summer. Cloud properties retrieved at South Pole will be compared to retrievals from McMurdo.</p><p>We further find that ignoring the temperature dependence of the CRI of supercooled liquid cloud leads to negative biases in part of the atmospheric window region (700 – 1000 cm<sup>-1</sup>), indicating underestimation of the greenhouse effect. These biases are expected to be partially offset by positive biases below 600 cm<sup>-1</sup>. Based on these considerations, we recommend using temperature-dependent CRI for infrared radiance simulations of supercooled liquid water cloud.</p>

scholarly journals Dual Lidar Observations at 10.6 μm and 532 nm for Retrieving Semitransparent Cirrus Cloud Properties

2006 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Chiriaco ◽  
H. Chepfer ◽  
V. Noel ◽  
M. Haeffelin ◽  
P. Drobinski
Keyword(s):  
Absorption Efficiency ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Infrared Radiances ◽  
Lidar Observations ◽  
532 Nm

Abstract To improve the estimation of the infrared radiances in cirrus clouds, one needs to consider the vertical inhomogeneities of the cloud properties. The position of the maximum of absorption within an ice cloud is potentially important to the improvement of the split-window techniques for retrieving particle size and for understanding the radiative effect of the cloud in the infrared spectrum. Current remote sensing techniques used for inferring ice clouds hardly reach the level of accuracy required to resolve the vertical inhomogeneities of a cloud and to determine the position of absorption. This study explores the possibility of retrieving the vertical structures of ice clouds by combining data from two lidar measurements acquired at the wavelengths of 532 nm and 10.6 μm. A method is proposed to retrieve the variability of ice crystal absorption efficiency at 10.6 μm, the particle concentration weighted by the crystal area, and the attenuation by absorption at 10.6 μm. The method is tested against observations collected at Site Instrumental de Recherche en Télédétection Atmosphérique (SIRTA) in Palaiseau, France. Observations and simulations both show that lidar observations collected simultaneously at those two wavelengths can be used to determine the level within the ice cloud where maximum attenuation of infrared radiation occurs. The maximum attenuation may occur near the cloud base or the cloud top, depending on the case studied.

scholarly journals A comparison of ship and satellite measurements of cloud properties with global climate model simulations in the southeast Pacific stratus deck

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (14) ◽  
pp. 6527-6536 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Brunke ◽  
S. P. de Szoeke ◽  
P. Zuidema ◽  
X. Zeng
Keyword(s):  
Diurnal Cycle ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Liquid Water Path ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Southeast Pacific ◽  
Cloud Thickness

Abstract. Here, liquid water path (LWP), cloud fraction, cloud top height, and cloud base height retrieved by a suite of A-train satellite instruments (the CPR aboard CloudSat, CALIOP aboard CALIPSO, and MODIS aboard Aqua) are compared to ship observations from research cruises made in 2001 and 2003–2007 into the stratus/stratocumulus deck over the southeast Pacific Ocean. It is found that CloudSat radar-only LWP is generally too high over this region and the CloudSat/CALIPSO cloud bases are too low. This results in a relationship (LWP~h9) between CloudSat LWP and CALIPSO cloud thickness (h) that is very different from the adiabatic relationship (LWP~h2) from in situ observations. Such biases can be reduced if LWPs suspected to be contaminated by precipitation are eliminated, as determined by the maximum radar reflectivity Zmax>−15 dBZ in the apparent lower half of the cloud, and if cloud bases are determined based upon the adiabatically-determined cloud thickness (h~LWP1/2). Furthermore, comparing results from a global model (CAM3.1) to ship observations reveals that, while the simulated LWP is quite reasonable, the model cloud is too thick and too low, allowing the model to have LWPs that are almost independent of h. This model can also obtain a reasonable diurnal cycle in LWP and cloud fraction at a location roughly in the centre of this region (20° S, 85° W) but has an opposite diurnal cycle to those observed aboard ship at a location closer to the coast (20° S, 75° W). The diurnal cycle at the latter location is slightly improved in the newest version of the model (CAM4). However, the simulated clouds remain too thick and too low, as cloud bases are usually at or near the surface.

Advanced open-source tools for detecting and analyzing peaks in cloud radar Doppler spectra

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Vogl ◽  
Martin Radenz ◽  
Heike Kalesse-Los
Keyword(s):  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Supervised Machine Learning ◽  
Doppler Spectrum ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Depolarisation Ratio ◽  
Instrument Type ◽  
Peak Detection Algorithm ◽  
Binary Tree Structure

<p>Cloud radar Doppler spectra contain vertically highly resolved valuable information about the hydrometeors present in the cloud. A mixture of different hydrometeor types can lead to several peaks in the Doppler spectrum due to their different fall speeds, giving a hint about the size/ density/ number of the respective particles. Tools to separate and interpret peaks in cloud radar Doppler spectra have been developed in the past, but their application is often limited to certain radar settings, or the code not freely available to other users.</p> <p>We here present the effort of joining two methods, which have been developed and published (Radenz et al., 2019; Kalesse et al., 2019) with the aim to make them insensitive to instrument type and settings, and available on GitHub, and applicable to all cloud radars which are part of the ACTRIS CloudNet network.</p> <p>A supervised machine learning peak detection algorithm (PEAKO, Kalesse et al., 2019) is used to derive the optimal parameters to detect peaks in cloud radar Doppler spectra for each set of instrument settings. In the next step, these parameters are used by peakTree (Radenz et al., 2019), which is a tool for converting multi-peaked (cloud) radar Doppler spectra into a binary tree structure. PeakTree yields the (polarimetric) radar moments of each detected peak and can thus be used to classify the hydrometeor types. This allows us to analyze Doppler spectra of different cloud radars with respect to, e.g. the occurrence of supercooled liquid water or ice needles/columns with high linear depolarisation ratio (LDR).</p>

scholarly journals An improved algorithm for polar cloud-base detection by ceilometer over the ice sheets

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1153-1167 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Van Tricht ◽  
I. V. Gorodetskaya ◽  
S. Lhermitte ◽  
D. D. Turner ◽  
J. H. Schween ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Cloud Base ◽  
Polar Regions ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
Humidity Measurements ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

Abstract. Optically thin ice and mixed-phase clouds play an important role in polar regions due to their effect on cloud radiative impact and precipitation. Cloud-base heights can be detected by ceilometers, low-power backscatter lidars that run continuously and therefore have the potential to provide basic cloud statistics including cloud frequency, base height and vertical structure. The standard cloud-base detection algorithms of ceilometers are designed to detect optically thick liquid-containing clouds, while the detection of thin ice clouds requires an alternative approach. This paper presents the polar threshold (PT) algorithm that was developed to be sensitive to optically thin hydrometeor layers (minimum optical depth τ ≥ 0.01). The PT algorithm detects the first hydrometeor layer in a vertical attenuated backscatter profile exceeding a predefined threshold in combination with noise reduction and averaging procedures. The optimal backscatter threshold of 3 × 10−4 km−1 sr−1 for cloud-base detection near the surface was derived based on a sensitivity analysis using data from Princess Elisabeth, Antarctica and Summit, Greenland. At higher altitudes where the average noise level is higher than the backscatter threshold, the PT algorithm becomes signal-to-noise ratio driven. The algorithm defines cloudy conditions as any atmospheric profile containing a hydrometeor layer at least 90 m thick. A comparison with relative humidity measurements from radiosondes at Summit illustrates the algorithm's ability to significantly discriminate between clear-sky and cloudy conditions. Analysis of the cloud statistics derived from the PT algorithm indicates a year-round monthly mean cloud cover fraction of 72% (±10%) at Summit without a seasonal cycle. The occurrence of optically thick layers, indicating the presence of supercooled liquid water droplets, shows a seasonal cycle at Summit with a monthly mean summer peak of 40 % (±4%). The monthly mean cloud occurrence frequency in summer at Princess Elisabeth is 46% (±5%), which reduces to 12% (±2.5%) for supercooled liquid cloud layers. Our analyses furthermore illustrate the importance of optically thin hydrometeor layers located near the surface for both sites, with 87% of all detections below 500 m for Summit and 80% below 2 km for Princess Elisabeth. These results have implications for using satellite-based remotely sensed cloud observations, like CloudSat that may be insensitive for hydrometeors near the surface. The decrease of sensitivity with height, which is an inherent limitation of the ceilometer, does not have a significant impact on our results. This study highlights the potential of the PT algorithm to extract information in polar regions from various hydrometeor layers using measurements by the robust and relatively low-cost ceilometer instrument.

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