scholarly journals Supercooled Liquid Water Detection Capabilities from Ka-Band Doppler Profiling Radars: Moment-Based Algorithm Formulation and Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2891
Author(s):  
Petros Kalogeras ◽  
Alessandro Battaglia ◽  
Pavlos Kollias
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Spectral Width ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
High Spectral Resolution ◽  
Ka Band ◽  
Phase Partition ◽  
Water Detection

The occurrence of supercooled liquid water in mixed-phase cloud (MPC) affects their cloud microphysical and radiative properties. The prevalence of MPCs in the mid- and high latitudes translates these effects to significant contributions to Earth’s radiative balance and hydrological cycle. The current study develops and assesses a radar-only, moment-based phase partition technique for the demarcation of supercooled liquid water volumes in arctic, MPC conditions. The study utilizes observations from the Ka band profiling radar, the collocated high spectral resolution lidar, and ambient temperature profiles from radio sounding deployments following a statistical analysis of 5.5 years of data (January 2014–May 2019) from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement observatory at the North Slope of Alaska. The ice/liquid phase partition occurs via a per-pixel, neighborhood-dependent algorithm based on the premise that the partitioning can be deduced by examining the mean values of locally sampled probability distributions of radar-based observables and then compare those against the means of climatologically derived, per-phase probability distributions. Analyzed radar observables include linear depolarization ratio (LDR), spectral width, and vertical gradients of reflectivity factor and radial velocity corrected for vertical air motion. Results highlight that the optimal supercooled liquid water detection skill levels are realized for the radar variable combination of spectral width and reflectivity vertical gradient, suggesting that radar-based polarimetry, in the absence of full LDR spectra, is not as critical as Doppler capabilities. The cloud phase masking technique is proven particularly reliable when applied to cloud tops with an Equitable Threat Score (ETS) of 65%; the detection of embedded supercooled layers remains much more uncertain (ETS = 27%).

scholarly journals Photomineralization mechanism changes the ability of dissolved organic matter to activate cloud droplets and to nucleate ice crystals

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Borduas-Dedekind ◽  
Rachele Ossola ◽  
Robert O. David ◽  
Lin S. Boynton ◽  
Vera Weichlinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Dissolved Organic Matter ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Ice Crystals ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Cloud Droplets ◽  
Photochemical Processing ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

Abstract. An organic aerosol particle has a lifetime of approximately one week in the atmosphere during which it will be exposed to sunlight. Yet, the effect of photochemistry on the propensity of organic matter to participate in the initial cloud-forming steps is difficult to predict. In this study, we quantify on a molecular scale the effect of photochemical exposure of naturally occurring dissolved organic matter (DOM) and of a fulvic acid standard on its ability to form mixed-phase clouds, by acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and by acting as ice nucleating particles (INPs). We find that photochemical processing, equivalent to 4.6 days in the atmosphere, of DOM increases its ability to form cloud droplets by up to a factor of 2.5 but decreases its ability to form ice crystals at a loss rate of −0.04°CT50 h−1 of sunlight at ground level. In other words, the ice nucleation activity of photooxidized DOM can require up to 4 degrees colder temperatures for 50 % of the droplets to activate as ice crystals under immersion freezing conditions. This temperature change could impact the ratio of ice to water droplets within a mixed phase cloud by delaying the onset of glaciation and by increasing the supercooled liquid fraction of the cloud, thereby modifying the radiative properties and the lifetime of the cloud. Concurrently, a photomineralization mechanism was quantified by monitoring the loss of organic carbon and the simultaneous production of organic acids, such as formic, acetic, oxalic and pyruvic acids, CO and CO2. This mechanism explains and predicts the observed increase in CCN and decrease in INP efficiencies. Indeed, we show that photochemical processing can be a dominant atmospheric aging process, impacting CCN and INP efficiencies and concentrations. Photomineralization can thus alter the aerosol-cloud radiative effects of organic matter by modifying the supercooled liquid water-to-ice crystal ratio in mixed-phase clouds with implications for cloud lifetime, precipitation patterns and the hydrological cycle.

scholarly journals Retrieving Mean Temperature of Atmospheric Liquid Water Layers Using Microwave Radiometer Measurements

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 1091-1102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey Y. Matrosov ◽  
David D. Turner
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Microwave Radiometer ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Liquid Temperature ◽  
Ka Band ◽  
Mean Temperature ◽  
Water Layers ◽  
Mixed Phase Clouds

AbstractA remote sensing method to retrieve the mean temperature of cloud liquid using ground-based microwave radiometer measurements is evaluated and tested by comparisons with direct cloud temperature information inferred from ceilometer cloud-base measurements and temperature profiles from radiosonde soundings. The method is based on the dependence of the ratio of cloud optical thicknesses at W-band (~90 GHz) and Ka-band (~30 GHz) frequencies on cloud liquid temperature. This ratio is obtained from total optical thicknesses inferred from radiometer measurements of brightness temperatures after accounting for the contributions from oxygen and water vapor. This accounting is done based on the radiometer-based retrievals of integrated water vapor amount and temperature and pressure measurements at the surface. The W–Ka-band ratio method is applied to the measurements from a three-channel (90, 31.4, and 23.8 GHz) microwave radiometer at the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Mobile Facility at Oliktok Point, Alaska. The analyzed events span conditions from warm stratus clouds with temperatures above freezing to mixed-phase clouds with supercooled liquid water layers. Intercomparisons of radiometer-based cloud liquid temperature retrievals with estimates from collocated ceilometer and radiosonde measurements indicated on average a standard deviation of about 3.5°C between the two retrieval types in a wide range of cloud temperatures, from warm liquid clouds to mixed-phase clouds with supercooled liquid and liquid water paths greater than 50 g m−2. The three-channel microwave radiometer–based method has a broad applicability, since it requires neither the use of active sensors to locate the boundaries of liquid cloud layers nor information on the vertical profile of temperature.

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 On the Representation of High-Latitude Boundary Layer Mixed-Phase Cloud in the ECMWF Global Model

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (9) ◽  
pp. 3425-3445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Forbes ◽  
Maike Ahlgrimm
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Mixed Phase ◽  
Radiative Properties ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Boundary Layer Clouds

Supercooled liquid water (SLW) layers in boundary layer clouds are abundantly observed in the atmosphere at high latitudes, but remain a challenge to represent in numerical weather prediction (NWP) and climate models. Unresolved processes such as small-scale turbulence and mixed-phase microphysics act to maintain the liquid layer at cloud top, directly affecting cloud radiative properties and prolonging cloud lifetimes. This paper describes the representation of supercooled liquid water in boundary layer clouds in the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) global NWP model and in particular the change from a diagnostic temperature-dependent mixed phase to a prognostic representation with separate cloud liquid and ice variables. Data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site in Alaska and from the CloudSat/Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite missions are used to evaluate the model parameterizations. The prognostic scheme shows a more realistic cloud structure, with an SLW layer at cloud top and ice falling out below. However, because of the limited vertical and horizontal resolution and uncertainties in the parameterization of physical processes near cloud top, the change leads to an overall reduction in SLW water with a detrimental impact on shortwave and longwave radiative fluxes, and increased 2-m temperature errors over land. A reduction in the ice deposition rate at cloud top significantly improves the SLW occurrence and radiative impacts, and highlights the need for improved understanding and parameterization of physical processes for mixed-phase cloud in large-scale models.

scholarly journals A Three-Year Climatology of Cloud-Top Phase over the Southern Ocean and North Pacific

2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (9) ◽  
pp. 2405-2418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony E. Morrison ◽  
Steven T. Siems ◽  
Michael J. Manton
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
North Pacific ◽  
North Pacific Ocean ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
Temperature Range ◽  
Cloud Tops

Abstract Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Level 2 observations from the Terra satellite are used to create a 3-yr climatology of cloud-top phase over a section of the Southern Ocean (south of Australia) and the North Pacific Ocean. The intent is to highlight the extensive presence of supercooled liquid water over the Southern Ocean region, particularly during summer. The phase of such clouds directly affects the absorbed shortwave radiation, which has recently been found to be “poorly simulated in both state-of-the-art reanalysis and coupled global climate models” (Trenberth and Fasullo). The climatology finds that supercooled liquid water is present year-round in the low-altitude clouds across this section of the Southern Ocean. Further, the MODIS cloud phase algorithm identifies very few glaciated cloud tops at temperatures above −20°C, rather inferring a large portion of “uncertain” cloud tops. Between 50° and 60°S during the summer, the albedo effect is compounded by a seasonal reduction in high-level cirrus. This is in direct contrast to the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. Here MODIS finds a higher likelihood of observing warm liquid water clouds during summer and a reduction in the relative frequency of cloud tops within the 0° to −20°C temperature range. As the MODIS cloud phase product has limited ability to confidently identify cloud-top phase between −5° and −25°C, future research should include observations from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and other space-based sensors to help with the classification within this temperature range. Further, multiregion in situ verification of any remotely sensed observations is vital to further understanding the cloud phase processes.

scholarly journals A robust low-level cloud and clutter discrimination method for ground-based millimeter-wavelength cloud radar

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyu Hu ◽  
Jinming Ge ◽  
Jiajing Du ◽  
Qinghao Li ◽  
Jianping Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Spectral Width ◽  
Spatial Filter ◽  
Distribution Functions ◽  
Probability Of Detection ◽  
Climate Effect ◽  
Millimeter Wavelength ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Cloud Radar ◽  
Semi Arid

Abstract. Low-level clouds play a key role in the energy budget and hydrological cycle of the climate system. The long-term and accurate observation of low-level clouds is essential for understanding their climate effect and model constraints. Both ground-based and spaceborne millimeter-wavelength cloud radars can penetrate clouds but the detected low-level clouds are always contaminated by clutters, which needs to be removed. In this study, we develop an algorithm to accurately separate low-level clouds from clutters for ground-based cloud radar using multi-dimensional probability distribution functions along with the Bayesian method. The radar reflectivity, linear depolarization ratio, spectral width and their dependences on the time of the day, height and season are used as the discriminants. A low pass spatial filter is applied to the Bayesian undecided classification mask, considering the spatial correlation difference between clouds and clutters. The resulting feature mask shows a good agreement with lidar detection, which has a high probability of detection rate (98.45 %) and a low false alarm rate (0.37 %). This algorithm will be used to reliably detect low-level clouds at the Semi-Arid Climate and Environment Observatory of Lanzhou University (SACOL) site, to study their climate effect and the interaction with local abundant dust aerosol in semi-arid region.

scholarly journals Seedability of Winter Orographic Clouds

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 127-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey E. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Supercooled Liquid ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Orographic Clouds ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Increasing Precipitation ◽  
Cloud Top Temperature ◽  
Limiting Value

Abstract This article is a review of work on the subject of seedability of winter orographic clouds for increasing precipitation. Various aspects of seedability are examined in the review, including definitions, distribution of supercooled liquid water, related meteorological factors, relationship of supercooled liquid water to storm stage, factors governing seedability, and the use of seeding criteria. Of particular interest is the conclusion that seedability is greatest when supercooled liquid water concentrations are large and at the same time precipitation rates are small. Such a combination of conditions is favored if the cloud-top temperature is warmer than a limiting value and as the cross-barrier wind speed at mountaintop levels increases. It is also suggested that cloud seeding is best initiated in accordance with direct measurements of supercooled liquid water, precipitation, and cross-barrier wind speed. However, in forecasting these conditions or in continuation of seeding previously initiated, the cloud-top temperature and cross-barrier wind speed are the most useful quantities.

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