scholarly journals The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder version 6 cloud products

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 399-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Kahn ◽  
F. W. Irion ◽  
V. T. Dang ◽  
E. M. Manning ◽  
S. L. Nasiri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Estimation ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Storm Tracks ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
Effective Diameter ◽  
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ◽  
Diurnal Variability ◽  
Annual Cycles ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Decadal Scale

Abstract. The version 6 cloud products of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) instrument suite are described. The cloud top temperature, pressure, and height and effective cloud fraction are now reported at the AIRS field-of-view (FOV) resolution. Significant improvements in cloud height assignment over version 5 are shown with FOV-scale comparisons to cloud vertical structure observed by the CloudSat 94 GHz radar and the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Cloud thermodynamic phase (ice, liquid, and unknown phase), ice cloud effective diameter (De), and ice cloud optical thickness (τ) are derived using an optimal estimation methodology for AIRS FOVs, and global distributions for 2007 are presented. The largest values of τ are found in the storm tracks and near convection in the tropics, while De is largest on the equatorial side of the midlatitude storm tracks in both hemispheres, and lowest in tropical thin cirrus and the winter polar atmosphere. Over the Maritime Continent the diurnal variability of τ is significantly larger than for the total cloud fraction, ice cloud frequency, and De, and is anchored to the island archipelago morphology. Important differences are described between northern and southern hemispheric midlatitude cyclones using storm center composites. The infrared-based cloud retrievals of AIRS provide unique, decadal-scale and global observations of clouds over portions of the diurnal and annual cycles, and capture variability within the mesoscale and synoptic scales at all latitudes.

scholarly journals The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Version 6 cloud products

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 14477-14543 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. H. Kahn ◽  
F. W. Irion ◽  
V. T. Dang ◽  
E. M. Manning ◽  
S. L. Nasiri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Estimation ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Storm Tracks ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
Effective Diameter ◽  
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ◽  
Annual Cycles ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Height Assignment

Abstract. The Version 6 cloud products of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) instrument suite are described. The cloud top temperature, pressure, and height and effective cloud fraction are now reported at the AIRS field of view (FOV) resolution. Significant improvements in cloud height assignment over Version 5 are shown with pixel-scale comparisons to cloud vertical structure observed by the CloudSat 94 GHz radar and the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Cloud thermodynamic phase (ice, liquid, and unknown phase), ice cloud effective diameter (De), and ice cloud optical thickness (τ) are derived using an optimal estimation methodology for AIRS FOVs, and global distributions for January 2007 are presented. The largest values of τ are found in the storm tracks and near convection in the Tropics, while De is largest on the equatorial side of the midlatitude storm tracks in both hemispheres, and lowest in tropical thin cirrus and the winter polar atmosphere. Over the Maritime Continent the diurnal cycle of τ is significantly larger than for the total cloud fraction, ice cloud frequency, and De, and is anchored to the island archipelago morphology. Important differences are described between northern and southern hemispheric midlatitude cyclones using storm center composites. The infrared-based cloud retrievals of AIRS provide unique, decadal-scale and global observations of clouds over the diurnal and annual cycles, and captures variability within the mesoscale and synoptic scales at all latitudes.

scholarly journals The diurnal cycle of cloud profiles over land and ocean between 51° S and 51° N, seen by the CATS spaceborne lidar from the International Space Station

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 9457-9473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Noel ◽  
Hélène Chepfer ◽  
Marjolaine Chiriaco ◽  
John Yorks
Keyword(s):  
High Altitude ◽  
International Space Station ◽  
Diurnal Cycle ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Diurnal Variability ◽  
International Space ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Diurnal Cycles

Abstract. We document, for the first time, how detailed vertical profiles of cloud fraction (CF) change diurnally between 51∘ S and 51∘ N, by taking advantage of 15 months of measurements from the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) lidar on the non-sun-synchronous International Space Station (ISS). Over the tropical ocean in summer, we find few high clouds during daytime. At night they become frequent over a large altitude range (11–16 km between 22:00 and 04:00 LT). Over the summer tropical continents, but not over ocean, CATS observations reveal mid-level clouds (4–8 km above sea level or a.s.l.) persisting all day long, with a weak diurnal cycle (minimum at noon). Over the Southern Ocean, diurnal cycles appear for the omnipresent low-level clouds (minimum between noon and 15:00) and high-altitude clouds (minimum between 08:00 and 14:00). Both cycles are time shifted, with high-altitude clouds following the changes in low-altitude clouds by several hours. Over all continents at all latitudes during summer, the low-level clouds develop upwards and reach a maximum occurrence at about 2.5 km a.s.l. in the early afternoon (around 14:00). Our work also shows that (1) the diurnal cycles of vertical profiles derived from CATS are consistent with those from ground-based active sensors on a local scale, (2) the cloud profiles derived from CATS measurements at local times of 01:30 and 13:30 are consistent with those observed from CALIPSO at similar times, and (3) the diurnal cycles of low and high cloud amounts (CAs) derived from CATS are in general in phase with those derived from geostationary imagery but less pronounced. Finally, the diurnal variability of cloud profiles revealed by CATS strongly suggests that CALIPSO measurements at 01:30 and 13:30 document the daily extremes of the cloud fraction profiles over ocean and are more representative of daily averages over land, except at altitudes above 10 km where they capture part of the diurnal variability. These findings are applicable to other instruments with local overpass times similar to CALIPSO's, such as all the other A-Train instruments and the future EarthCARE mission.

scholarly journals MODIS Cloud Detection Evaluation Using CALIOP over Polluted Eastern China

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saichun Tan ◽  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Guangyu Shi
Keyword(s):  
Eastern China ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Cloud Detection ◽  
Haze Pollution ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Resolution Imaging ◽  
Cloud Optical Thickness ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

Haze pollution has frequently occurred in winter over Eastern China in recent years. Over Eastern China, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud detection data were compared with the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) for three years (2013–2016) for three kinds of underlying surface types (dark, bright, and water). We found that MODIS and CALIOP agree most of the time (82% on average), but discrepancies occurred at low CALIOP cloud optical thickness (COT < 0.4) and low MODIS cloud top height (CTH < 1.5 km). In spring and summer, the CALIOP cloud fraction was higher by more than 0.1 than MODIS due to MODIS’s incapability of observing clouds with a lower COT. The discrepancy increased significantly with a decrease in MODIS CTH and an increase in aerosol optical depth (AOD, about 2–4 times), and MODIS observed more clouds that were undetected by CALIOP over PM2.5 > 75 μg m−3 regions in autumn and particularly in winter, suggesting that polluted weather over Eastern China may contaminate MODIS cloud detections because MODIS will misclassify a heavy aerosol layer as cloudy under intense haze conditions. Besides aerosols, the high solar zenith angle (SZA) in winter also affects MODIS cloud detection, and the ratio of MODIS cloud pixel numbers to CALIOP cloud-free pixel numbers at a high SZA increased a great deal (about 4–21 times) relative to that at low SZA for the three surfaces. As a result of the effects of aerosol and SZA, MODIS cloud fraction was 0.08 higher than CALIOP, and MODIS CTH was more than 2 km lower than CALIOP CTH in winter. As for the cloud phases and types, the results showed that most of the discrepancies could be attributed to water clouds and low clouds (cumulus and stratocumulus), which is consistent with most of the discrepancies at low MODIS CTH.

scholarly journals Retrieval of volcanic SO<sub>2</sub> from HIRS/2 using optimal estimation

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2687-2702 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgina M. Miles ◽  
Richard Siddans ◽  
Roy G. Grainger ◽  
Alfred J. Prata ◽  
Bradford Fisher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapour ◽  
Computational Cost ◽  
Optimal Estimation ◽  
Previous Method ◽  
Aerosol Model ◽  
Water Ice ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Retrieval Scheme ◽  
Initial Comparison ◽  
Daily Sampling

Abstract. We present an optimal-estimation (OE) retrieval scheme for stratospheric sulfur dioxide from the High-Resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder 2 (HIRS/2) instruments on the NOAA and MetOp platforms, an infrared radiometer that has been operational since 1979. This algorithm is an improvement upon a previous method based on channel brightness temperature differences, which demonstrated the potential for monitoring volcanic SO2 using HIRS/2. The Prata method is fast but of limited accuracy. This algorithm uses an optimal-estimation retrieval approach yielding increased accuracy for only moderate computational cost. This is principally achieved by fitting the column water vapour and accounting for its interference in the retrieval of SO2. A cloud and aerosol model is used to evaluate the sensitivity of the scheme to the presence of ash and water/ice cloud. This identifies that cloud or ash above 6 km limits the accuracy of the water vapour fit, increasing the error in the SO2 estimate. Cloud top height is also retrieved. The scheme is applied to a case study event, the 1991 eruption of Cerro Hudson in Chile. The total erupted mass of SO2 is estimated to be 2300 kT ± 600 kT. This confirms it as one of the largest events since the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo, and of comparable scale to the Northern Hemisphere eruption of Kasatochi in 2008. This retrieval method yields a minimum mass per unit area detection limit of 3 DU, which is slightly less than that for the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS), the only other instrument capable of monitoring SO2 from 1979 to 1996. We show an initial comparison to TOMS for part of this eruption, with broadly consistent results. Operating in the infrared (IR), HIRS has the advantage of being able to measure both during the day and at night, and there have frequently been multiple HIRS instruments operated simultaneously for better than daily sampling. If applied to all data from the series of past and future HIRS instruments, this method presents the opportunity to produce a comprehensive and consistent volcanic SO2 time series spanning over 40 years.

scholarly journals Footprint-scale cloud type mixtures and their impacts on Atmospheric Infrared Sounder cloud property retrievals

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 4361-4377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Guillaume ◽  
Brian H. Kahn ◽  
Eric J. Fetzer ◽  
Qing Yue ◽  
Gerald J. Manipon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Cloud Microphysics ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Phase Detection ◽  
Cloud Type ◽  
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ◽  
Cloud Particle ◽  
Cloud Property ◽  
Ice Cloud

Abstract. A method is described to classify cloud mixtures of cloud top types, termed cloud scenes, using cloud type classification derived from the CloudSat radar (2B-CLDCLASS). The scale dependence of the cloud scenes is quantified. For spatial scales at 45 km (15 km), only 18 (10) out of 256 possible cloud scenes account for 90 % of all observations and contain one, two, or three cloud types. The number of possible cloud scenes is shown to depend on spatial scale with a maximum number of 210 out of 256 possible scenes at a scale of 105 km and fewer cloud scenes at smaller and larger scales. The cloud scenes are used to assess the characteristics of spatially collocated Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) thermodynamic-phase and ice cloud property retrievals within scenes of varying cloud type complexity. The likelihood of ice and liquid-phase detection strongly depends on the CloudSat-identified cloud scene type collocated with the AIRS footprint. Cloud scenes primarily consisting of cirrus, nimbostratus, altostratus, and deep convection are dominated by ice-phase detection, while stratocumulus, cumulus, and altocumulus are dominated by liquid- and undetermined-phase detection. Ice cloud particle size and optical thickness are largest for cloud scenes containing deep convection and cumulus and are smallest for cirrus. Cloud scenes with multiple cloud types have small reductions in information content and slightly higher residuals of observed and modeled radiance compared to cloud scenes with single cloud types. These results will help advance the development of temperature, specific humidity, and cloud property retrievals from hyperspectral infrared sounders that include cloud microphysics in forward radiative transfer models.

scholarly journals Cloud vertical distribution from combined surface and space radar–lidar observations at two Arctic atmospheric observatories

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 5973-5989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinghui Liu ◽  
Matthew D. Shupe ◽  
Zhien Wang ◽  
Gerald Mace
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Distribution ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Active Sensors ◽  
Annual Cycles ◽  
Cloud Property ◽  
Microphysical Properties ◽  
Cloud Water Content ◽  
Vertical Distributions

Abstract. Detailed and accurate vertical distributions of cloud properties (such as cloud fraction, cloud phase, and cloud water content) and their changes are essential to accurately calculate the surface radiative flux and to depict the mean climate state. Surface and space-based active sensors including radar and lidar are ideal to provide this information because of their superior capability to detect clouds and retrieve cloud microphysical properties. In this study, we compare the annual cycles of cloud property vertical distributions from space-based active sensors and surface-based active sensors at two Arctic atmospheric observatories, Barrow and Eureka. Based on the comparisons, we identify the sensors' respective strengths and limitations, and develop a blended cloud property vertical distribution by combining both sets of observations. Results show that surface-based observations offer a more complete cloud property vertical distribution from the surface up to 11 km above mean sea level (a.m.s.l.) with limitations in the middle and high altitudes; the annual mean total cloud fraction from space-based observations shows 25–40 % fewer clouds below 0.5 km than from surface-based observations, and space-based observations also show much fewer ice clouds and mixed-phase clouds, and slightly more liquid clouds, from the surface to 1 km. In general, space-based observations show comparable cloud fractions between 1 and 2 km a.m.s.l., and larger cloud fractions above 2 km a.m.s.l. than from surface-based observations. A blended product combines the strengths of both products to provide a more reliable annual cycle of cloud property vertical distributions from the surface to 11 km a.m.s.l. This information can be valuable for deriving an accurate surface radiative budget in the Arctic and for cloud parameterization evaluation in weather and climate models. Cloud annual cycles show similar evolutions in total cloud fraction and ice cloud fraction, and lower liquid-containing cloud fraction at Eureka than at Barrow; the differences can be attributed to the generally colder and drier conditions at Eureka relative to Barrow.

scholarly journals Use of a Lidar Forward Model for Global Comparisons of Cloud Fraction between the ICESat Lidar and the ECMWF Model

2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (10) ◽  
pp. 3742-3759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan M. Wilkinson ◽  
Robin J. Hogan ◽  
Anthony J. Illingworth ◽  
Angela Benedetti
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Forward Model ◽  
Laser Altimeter ◽  
Ice Clouds ◽  
Weather Forecasts ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Skill Scores ◽  
Boundary Layer Cloud ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Ecmwf Model

The performance of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model in simulating clouds is evaluated using observations by the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System lidar on the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat). To account for lidar attenuation in the comparison, model variables are used to simulate the attenuated backscatter using a lidar forward model. This generates a new model cloud fraction that can then be fairly compared with the ICESat lidar. The lidar forward model and ICESat comparison is performed over 15 days (equivalent to 226 orbits of Earth, or roughly 9 million km) of data. The model is assessed by cloud fraction statistics, skill scores, and its ability to simulate lidar backscatter. The results show that the model generally simulates the occurrence and location of clouds well but overestimates the mean amount when present of the ice cloud by around 10%, particularly in the tropics. The skill of the model is slightly better over the land than over the sea. The model also has some problems representing the amount when present in tropical boundary layer cloud, particularly over land, where there is an underestimate by as much as 15%. Calculations of backscatter reveal that the ECMWF model predicts the lidar backscatter to within 5% on average, for a lidar ratio of 20 sr, apart from in thick ice clouds. Sensitivity tests show that realistic variations in extinction-to-backscatter ratio and effective radius affect the forward modeled mean cloud fraction by no more than 10%.

scholarly journals Retrieval of Cloud Ice Water Path from Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS)

2012 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ninghai Sun ◽  
Fuzhong Weng
Keyword(s):  
Radiative Transfer Model ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Effective Diameter ◽  
Water Path ◽  
Ice Cloud ◽  
Defense Meteorological Satellite Program ◽  
Microwave Sounding ◽  
Microwave Imager ◽  
Cloud Ice ◽  
Ice Water

AbstractThe Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) aboard the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program F-16 spacecraft measures the Earth-emitted radiation at frequencies from 19 to 183 GHz. From its high-frequency channels at 91 and 150 GHz, cloud microphysical parameters can be observed at a spatial resolution of 15 km. In this study, a simplified two-stream radiative transfer model is applied for microwave applications as a three-parameter equation and then used to retrieve the ice cloud water path (IWP) and ice particle effective diameter De. Since SSMIS is a conically scanning instrument, the retrieved IWP is less dependent on scan position and is a useful product for imaging atmospheric ice-phase clouds related to precipitation. Thus, IWP is also used to estimate surface rainfall rate through the same relationship derived previously and used in Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-B) and Microwave Humidity Sounder applications. The SSMIS-derived ice cloud products are compared with those from other microwave instruments on the MetOp-A satellite, and both agree well in their spatial distributions.

scholarly journals Improvements to the OMI near UV aerosol algorithm using A-train CALIOP and AIRS observations

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 5621-5652 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Torres ◽  
C. Ahn ◽  
Z. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Retrieval Algorithm ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Carbonaceous Aerosols ◽  
Ozone Monitoring Instrument ◽  
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ◽  
Layer Height ◽  
Aerosol Retrieval ◽  
Polarization Sensor ◽  
Aerosol Properties

Abstract. The height of desert dust and carbonaceous aerosols layers and, to a lesser extent, the difficulty in determining the predominant size mode of these absorbing aerosol types, are sources of uncertainty in the retrieval of aerosol properties from near UV satellite observations. The availability of independent, near-simultaneous measurements of aerosol layer height, and aerosol-type related parameters derived from observations by other A-train sensors, makes possible the use of this information as input to the OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) near UV aerosol retrieval algorithm (OMAERUV). A monthly climatology of aerosol layer height derived from observations by the CALIOP (Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization) sensor, and real-time AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder) CO observations are used in an upgraded version of the OMAERUV algorithm. AIRS CO measurements are used as a reliable tracer of carbonaceous aerosols, which allows the identification of smoke layers in regions and seasons when the dust-smoke differentiation is difficult in the near-UV. The use of CO measurements also enables the identification of elevated levels of boundary layer pollution undetectable by near UV observations alone. In this paper we discuss the combined use of OMI, CALIOP and AIRS observations for the characterization of aerosol properties, and show an improvement in OMI aerosol retrieval capabilities.

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