Abstract: There are at least three independent ways in which the solar wind modulates the flow of current density (Jz) in the global electric circuit. These are (A) changes in the galactic cosmic ray energy spectrum, (B) changes in the precipitation of relativistic electrons from the magnetosphere, and (C) changes in the ionospheric potential distribution in the polar caps due to magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. The current density J z flows between the ionosphere and the surface, and as it passes through conductivity gradients it generates space charge concentrations dependent on J z and the conductivity gradient. The gradients are large at the surfaces of clouds and space charge concentrations of order 1000 to 10,000 elementary charges per cm3 can be generated at cloud tops. The charge transfers to droplets, many of which are evaporating at the cloud-clear air interface. The charge remains on the residual evaporation nuclei with a lifetime against leakage of order 1000 sec, and for a longer period the nuclei also retain coatings of sulfate and organic compounds adsorbed by the droplet while in the cloud. The charged evaporation nuclei become well mixed with more droplets in many types of clouds with penetrative mixing. The processes of entrainment and evaporation are also efficient for these clouds. The collection of such nuclei by nearby droplets is greatly increased by the electrical attraction between the charge on the particle and the image charge that it creates on the droplet. This process is called electroscavenging. Because the charge on the evaporation nuclei is derived from the original space charge, it depends on J z, giving a rate of electroscavenging responsive to the solar wind inputs. There may be a number of ways in which the electroscavenging has consequences for weather and climate. One possibility is enhanced production of ice. The charged evaporation nuclei have been found to be good ice forming nuclei because of their coatings, and so in supercooled clouds droplet freezing can occur by contact ice nucleation, as the evaporation nuclei are electroscavenged. Although quantitative models for the all the cloud microphysical processes that may be involved have not yet been produced, we show that for many clouds, especially those with broad droplet size distributions, relatively high droplet concentrations, and cloud top temperatures just below freezing, this process is likely to dominate over other primary ice nucleation processes. In these cases there are likely to be effects on cloud albedo and rates of sedimentation of ice, and these will depend on J z. For an increase in ice production in thin clouds such as altocumulus or stratocumulus the main effect is a decrease in albedo to incoming solar radiation, and in opacity to outgoing longwave radiation. At low latitudes the surface and troposphere heat, and at high latitudes in winter they cool. The change in meridional temperature gradient affects the rate of cyclogenesis, and the amplitude of planetary waves. For storm clouds, as in winter cyclones, the effect of increased ice formation is mainly to increase the rate of glaciation of lower level clouds by the seeder-feeder process. The increase in precipitation efficiency increases the rate of transfer of latent heat between the air mass and the surface. In most cyclones this is likely to result in intensification, producing changes in the vorticity area index as observed. Cyclone intensification also increases the amplitude of planetary waves, and shifts storm tracks, as observed. In this paper we first describe the production of space charge and the way in which it may influence the rate of ice nucleation. Then we review theory and observations of the solar wind modulation of J z, and the correlated changes in atmospheric temperature and dynamics in the troposphere. The correlations are present for each input, (A, B, and C), and the detailed patterns of responses provide support for the inferred electrical effects on the physics of clouds, affecting precipitation, temperature and dynamics.

Abstract: Deep convective clouds in the Tropics have long been recognized to occur on a wide spectrum of spatial scales, ranging from the individual cumulus to the meso- and synoptic-scale cloud systems. The objective of this paper is to examine the scale dependence of the properties of clouds embedded in the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The Indian Ocean during the winter and summer monsoons offers an ideal domain to undertake this study, which uses INSAT-1B infrared imagery. The cloud systems are retrieved using the detect and spread algorithm and classified according to their top temperatures. Their spatial extension spans a continuous spectrum of individual clouds ranging from 500 km2 to 106 km2. The spatial distribution of these convective clouds over the Indian Ocean exhibits an increase in convective activity during boreal winter compared to summer. Despite the drastic modification of the synoptic environment over the seasonal cycle, intrinsic cloud properties in January and July are shown to be very similar. The intrinsic cloud properties that are retrieved are the convective core area relative to the total cloud area, the area colder than 240 K (corresponding roughly to stratiform precipitation), the average cloud-top temperature of the entire cloud (core and anvil), and the minimum cloud-top temperature within a cloud that is assumed to denote the temperature of the overshooting cloud tops. The analysis reveals a critical scale of about 10 4 km2, which distinguishes two separate convective regimes of scale-dependent cloud properties. Below the critical scale, the cloud mean effective temperature increases with cloud size and the relative core area decreases with the size. The overshooting cloud-top temperature is invariant to the cloud scale. For scales larger than the critical value, the scale dependence is reversed: the mean cloud temperature decreases, the fractional core area increases, and the overshooting cloud top strongly decreases as the cloud size increases. Essentially, the area of undiluted deep convective core increases with the total area of the cloud system, in turn affecting the macroscale properties such as cloud greenhouse effect and tropopause temperature, to name a few. In particular, it is the larger-scale ( .104 km2) organized system that penetrates to the tropopause and determines the tropopause altitude, while the smaller scales ( ,104 km2) hardly reach the upper troposphere. Diurnal variations of the convective cloud cover are also presented with respect to the cloud size. The diurnal cycle of these systems depends significantly on their scale and exhibits complex patterns. A discussion of these cloud statistics is then offered in the context of general circulation model parameterization.

Abstract: An accurate determination of cloud particle phase is required for the retrieval of other cloud properties from satellite and for radiative flux calculations in climate models. The physical principles underlying phase determination using the advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) satellite sensor are described for daytime and nighttime, cold cloud and warm cloud conditions. It is demonstrated that the spectral properties of cloud particles provide necessary, but not sufficient, information for phase determination, because the relationship between the cloud and surface temperatures is also important. Algorithms based on these principles are presented and tested. Validation with lidar and aircraft data from two Arctic field experiments shows the procedures to be accurate in identifying the phase of homogeneous water and ice clouds, though optically thin, mixed-phase, and multilayer clouds are problematic.

Abstract: Relationships among total water, condensed water, and cloud fraction in boundary layer and cold tropospheric stratiform clouds are investigated using a large observational dataset collected by the U.K. Met. Office C-130 aircraft. Values of the above parameters are estimated using horizontal aircraft runs ranging from 40 to 80 km in length. Boundary layer (warm cloud) data were taken from the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) and First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Research Experiment (FIRE). Free tropospheric (cold cloud) data were taken from the European Cloud and Radiation Experiment (EUCREX). In both warm and cold cloud a single reasonably well-defined relationship exists between the cloud fraction and the total water content (vapor + condensate) when normalized with the saturation specific humidity. A relationship exists between the condensed water content and the cloud fraction when appropriately scaled with the saturation specific humidity. Fun...

Abstract: The authors investigate the extent to which the contrast brightness of ship tracks, that is, the relative change in observed solar reflectance, in visible and near-infrared imagery can be explained by the microphysics of the background cloud in which they form. The sensitivity of visible and near-infrared wavelengths for detecting reflectance changes in ship tracks is discussed, including the use of a modified cloud susceptibility parameter, termed the ‘‘contrast susceptibility,’’ for assessing the sensitivity of background cloud microphysics on potential track development. It is shown that the relative change in cloud reflectance for ship tracks is expected to be larger in the near-infrared than in the visible and that 3.7- mm channels, widely known to be useful for detecting tracks, have the greatest sensitivity. The usefulness of contrast susceptibility as a predictor of ship track contrast is tested with airborne and satellite remote sensing retrievals of background cloud parameters and track contrast. Retrievals are made with the high spatial resolution Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Airborne Simulator flown on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s high-altitude ER-2 aircraft, and with the larger-scale perspective of the advanced very high resolution radiometer. Observed modifications in cloud droplet effective radius, optical thickness, liquid water path, contrast susceptibility, and reflectance contrast are presented for several ship tracks formed in background clouds with both small and large droplet sizes. The remote sensing results are augmented with in situ measurements of cloud microphysics that provide data at the smaller spatial scales.

Abstract: A 25-month database of the macrophysical, microphysical, and radiative properties of isolated and overcast low-level stratus clouds has been generated using a newly developed parameterization and surface measurements from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement central facility in Oklahoma. The database (5-min resolution) includes two parts: measurements and retrievals. The former consist of cloud base and top heights, layer-mean temperature, cloud liquid water path, and solar transmission ratio measured by a ground-based lidar/ceilometer and radar pair, radiosondes, a microwave radiometer, and a standard Eppley precision spectral pyranometer, respectively. The retrievals include the cloud-droplet effective radius and number concentration and broadband shortwave optical depth and cloud and top-of-atmosphere albedos. Stratus without any overlying mid or high-level clouds occurred most frequently during winter and least often during summer. Mean cloud-layer altitudes and geometric thicknesses were higher and greater, respectively, in summer than in winter. Both quantities are positively correlated with the cloud-layer mean temperature. Mean cloud-droplet effective radii range from 8.1 μm in winter to 9.7 μm during summer, while cloud-droplet number concentrations during winter are nearly twice those in summer. Since cloud liquid water paths are almost the same in both seasons, cloud optical depth is higher during the winter, leading to greater cloud albedos and lower cloud transmittances.

Abstract: The vertical distribution of cloud layers has a significant effect on atmospheric radiative heating/cooling distributions. While multiple cloud layers are often observed to occur simultaneously by surface observers, satellite cloud retrieval methodology typically assumes that any individual imager pixel contains a single cloud layer. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a bispectral method that detects imager pixels containing possible cloud overlap when an optically thin cirrus cloud overlies a low-level water cloud, with at least a 2-km separation between layers. The method is developed from a scatterplot of the near-infrared 1.63-μm band reflectances and the 11-μm brightness temperatures using data from the MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) airborne simulator (MAS). The bispectral method is applied to a scene recorded by the MAS scanning spectrometer that was flown on the NASA ER-2 during the Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study (SUCCESS) field campaign during April and May 1996. For a scene recorded on April 21, 1996, at 2000 UTC, the complex vertical cloud structure was captured by lidar backscatter measurements from the Cloud Lidar System (CLS). The bispectral method appears to have a promising facility for identifying areas containing potential cloud overlap.

Abstract: Satellite observations of low-level clouds have challenged the idea that increasing liquid water content with temperature combined with constant physical thickness will lead to a negative cloud optics feedback in a decadal climate change. The reasons for the satellite results are explored using 4 yr of surface remote sensing data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program Cloud and Radiation Testbed site in the southern Great Plains of the United States. It is found that low-cloud liquid water path is approximately invariant with temperature in winter but decreases strongly with temperature in summer, consistent with satellite inferences at this latitude. This behavior occurs because liquid water content shows no detectable temperature dependence while cloud physical thickness decreases with warming. Thinning of clouds with warming is observed on seasonal, synoptic, and diurnal timescales; it is most obvious in the warm sectors of baroclinic waves. Although cloud top is observed to slight...

Abstract: A new parameterization has been developed that assumes that nonprecipitating particles obey the Heymsfield–Platt power-law (H–P particles) and that the precipitating particles obey the Marshall–Palmer distribution (M–P particles). The parameterization defines a critical ice content for the onset of precipitation particles and allows the number of ice crystals, the extinction coefficient, and the effective diameter of the crystals for the cloud layer in the model to be diagnosed. The implementation of the new parameterization in a model unifies the microphysical assumptions used to calculate the optical properties and precipitation. If it is assumed that the number of H–P particles at cloud top is much larger than the number of M–P particles in southeastern Australia frontal systems, then the observed number of ice crystals at cloud top agrees well with the diagnosed number of H–P particles at cloud top. A simulation of the passage of a cold front is used to test the parameterization. The modeled ...

Abstract: Nonprecipitating liquid phase clouds of the planetary boundary layer are important components of the Earth's energy budget. Modern remote sensors are able to probe these clouds with increasing precision and detail, and extensive boundary layer cloud data sets are being generated at multiple sites around the world. In this paper we integrate several recent cloud property retrieval algorithms targeted at boundary layer stratocumulus clouds into a single framework that returns the vertical profile of microphysical properties. The new algorithm guarantees consistency among the radar reflectivity profile, the microwave radiometer-derived liquid water path, and the surface solar flux transmission ratio. We demonstrate a 0.9 pm root-mean-square difference and 0.89 correlation coefficient when results from the new approach are compared to aircraft-observed volume mean cloud droplet radii. An additional stratocumulus case study observed at an Atmospheric Radiation Measurement site is briefly described.

Abstract: An analysis of nadir reflectivity spatial Fourier power spectra and autocorrelation functions for solar wavelengths and cloudy conditions is presented. The data come from Landsat thematic mapper (TM) observations, while Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are used to aid the interpretation of the observations and to examine sensitivity to various factors. We show that shortwave radiative processes produce consistent signatures in power spectra and autocorrelation functions. Power spectra take a variety of shapes not shown or explained in previous observational studies. We demonstrate that TM spectra can potentially be affected by radiative “roughening” at intermediate scales (∼1–5 km) and radiative “smoothing” at small scales (<1 km). These processes are wavelength-dependent, with systematic differences between conservative (for cloud droplets) TM band 4 (∼0.8 μm) and absorbing band 7 (∼2.2 μm). Band 7 exhibits more roughening and less smoothing than band 4 and faster decrease in autocorrelation. Roughening is more prevalent at large solar zenith angles due to optical and/or geometrical side illumination and shadowing. MC spectra illustrate that scale invariant optical depth fields can produce complex power spectra that take a variety of shapes under different conditions. Radiative roughening increases with decreasing single scattering albedo and increasing solar zenith angle (as in the observations). For low solar zenith angles, there is a clear shift in the radiative smoothing scale to smaller values as droplet absorption increases. Power spectra also show stronger decorrelations between optical depth and reflectivity when cloud top variations are more pronounced. Finally, it is shown that power spectral analysis is a useful tool for evaluating the skill of novel optical depth retrieval techniques in removing three-dimensional radiative effects. New techniques using inverse nonlocal independent pixel approximation and normalized difference of nadir reflectivity yield optical depth fields which better match the scale-by-scale variability of the true optical depth field.

Abstract: A method is presented to obtain droplet concentration for water clouds from ground-based remote sensing observations. It relies on observations of cloud thickness, liquid water path, and optical extinction near the cloud base. The method was tested for two case studies (19 April 1996 and 4 September 1996) during the Clouds And Radiation experiment (CLARA). The CLARA experiment was designed to observe clouds using a variety of remote sensing instruments near the city of Delft in the western part of the Netherlands. The measurement of cloud thickness is dependent on the detection of cloud base by lidar and cloud top by radar. It is shown that during CLARA it was possible to detect cloud base with an uncertainty of less than 30 m using current lidar techniques. The agreement between in situ and remote sensing observations of droplet concentration was reasonable. An error analysis indicates that this method is most sensitive to uncertainties in liquid water path and the unknown effects of multiple scattering on lidar signal returns. When the liquid water path is very small the relative error of the liquid water path increases to unacceptable levels, so that the retrieval of droplet concentration becomes very difficult. The estimated uncertainty in the strength of multiple scattering can explain differences between observations and retrievals of droplet concentration on one day, but not the other.

Abstract: The next generation of Earth radiation budget satellite instruments will routinely merge estimates of global top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes with cloud properties. This information will offer many new opportunities for validating radiative transfer models and cloud parameterizations in climate models. In this study, five months of POLarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) 670 nm radiance measurements are considered in order to examine how satellite cloud property retrievals can be used to define empirical Angular Distribution Models (ADMs) for estimating top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo. ADMs are defined for 19 scene types defined by satellite retrievals of cloud fraction and cloud optical depth. Two approaches are used to define the ADM scene types: The first assumes there are no biases in the retrieved cloud properties and defines ADMs for fixed discrete intervals of cloud fraction and cloud optical depth (fixed-tau approach). The second approach involves the same cloud fraction intervals, but uses percentile intervals of cloud optical depth instead (percentile-tau approach). Albedos generated using these methods are compared with albedos inferred directly from the mean observed reflectance field. Albedos based on ADMs that assume cloud properties are unbiased (fixed-tau approach) show a strong systematic dependence on viewing geometry. This dependence becomes more pronounced with increasing solar zenith angle, reaching approximately equals 12% (relative) between near-nadir and oblique viewing zenith angles for solar zenith angles between 60 deg and 70 deg. The cause for this bias is shown to be due to biases in the cloud optical depth retrievals. In contrast, albedos based on ADMs built using percentile intervals of cloud optical depth (percentile-tau approach) show very little viewing zenith angle dependence and are in good agreement with albedos obtained by direct integration of the mean observed reflectance field (less than 1% relative error). When the ADMs are applied separately to populations consisting of only liquid water and ice clouds, significant biases in albedo with viewing geometry are observed (particularly at low sun elevations), highlighting the need to account for cloud phase both in cloud optical depth retrievals and in defining ADM scene types. ADM-derived monthly mean albedos determined for all 5 deg x 5 deg latitude/longitude regions over ocean are in good agreement (regional RMS relative errors less than 2%) with those obtained by direct integration when ADM albedos inferred from specific angular bins are averaged together. Albedos inferred from near-nadir and oblique viewing zenith angles are the least accurate, with regional RMS errors reaching approximately 5-10% (relative). Compared to an earlier study involving ERBE ADMs, regional mean albedos based on the 19 scene types considered here show a factor of 4 reduction in bias error and a factor of 3 reduction in RMS error.

Abstract: The eight months of data acquired by the POLDER instrument have now been processed. This dataset provides daily information on the global distribution of cloud top phase. We present here the results of a statistical analysis of ice and liquid phase occurrence frequencies at the global scale. Temporal variation of these frequencies above land and ocean are analyzed. These results are compared with ISCCP data and the consistency of the POLDER phase product is demonstrated.

Abstract: The case under consideration occurred on March 4, 1993, and was observed as part of the Radiation and Eddy Flux Experiment (REFLEX II) 1993 observational campaign northwest of Spitsbergen. The off-ice flow on this day brought very cold surface air temperatures (-35°C) over a relatively warm ocean surface. The resultant latent and sensible surface heat fluxes produced intense convection and a thermal internal boundary layer (TIBL) which deepened with distance from the ice edge. Two-dimensional cloud-resolving model (CRM) simulations were performed to determine the impact of various cloud parameterizations on the structure and evolution of the TIBL. The model was able to reproduce the observed thermal structure of the boundary layer to within the acknowledged limitations of the CRM approach. Sensitivity studies of cloud type showed that inclusion of mixed-phase microphysics had a large impact of BL depth and structure. Radiative heating of the cloud near cloud base and cooling near cloud top along with latent heat release were found to be significant sources of turbulence kinetic energy even in the present case where very strong surface heat fluxes occur. Ice-phase precipitation processes rapidly depleted the BL of condensate, weakening the radiative thermal forcing. A further consequence of condensate depletion in the mixed-phase cloud was a less humid boundary layer that was able to maintain a larger surface latent heat flux and continuously extract heat through condensation and deposition. Not surprisingly, the presence of clouds had a profound impact on the radiative budget at the surface, with the cloudy BL reducing surface radiative losses more that 60% over clear-sky values. Inclusion of the ice phase significantly affected the radiative budget as compared to purely liquid clouds, illustrating the importance of ice-phase-radiative couplings for accurate simulations of arctic clouds and boundary layer dynamics.

Abstract: Bidirectional polarized reflectances measured with the POLDER-1 instrument on board Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-1 have been used to infer cloud altitude and thermodynamical phase (ice/liquid) at a global scale. This paper presents a validation of these properties for cirrus clouds. The validation presented here is based on comparisons between POLDER-1 retrievals and measurements collected with a ground-based lidar network. The scale differences between POLDER measurements and lidar data are treated by selecting homogeneous and stable cloud layers. These comparisons show that the cloud altitude retrieval with POLDER is valid for optically thick cloud, and nonvalid for semitransparent and thin cirrus clouds. The limitations of the cloud altitude retrieval method are analyzed by using both comparisons between POLDER and lidar and simulations of the bidirectional polarized reflectances performed with a radiative transfer code to assess a threshold of validity of the POLDER retrieval method. The comparisons of lidar and POLDER data show that the cloud thermodynamical phase (ice/liquid) retrieval is satisfactory, and examples of cloud thermodynamical phase retrieval are presented as a function of cloud temperatures.

Abstract: The combined effect of ultraviolet radiation and turbulent mixing on chemistry in a cloud-topped boundary layer is investigated. The authors study a flow driven by longwave radiative cooling at cloud top. They consider a chemical cycle that is composed of a first-order reaction whose photodissociation rate depends on the cloud properties and time and a second-order chemical reaction between an abundant entrained reactant and a species with an initial concentration in the boundary layer. This turbulent reacting flow is represented numerically by means of a large eddy simulation. The simulation does not take evaporative cooling and aqueous-phase chemistry into account; that is, the authors simulate a dry smoke cloud. The vertical concentration profiles of the reactants not in excess clearly show the appearance of gradients due to the chemical sources and sinks in the cloud. Moreover, the vertical-flux profiles depart from a linear profile. Fluxes that, in the absence of chemistry, are directed upwa...

Abstract: The cloud detection algorithm of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) Meteosat Cloud Detection and Characterization KNMI (Metclock) scheme is introduced. The algorithm analyzes the Meteosat infrared and visual channel measurements over an area from about 25°W to 25°E and from 35° to 70°N, encompassing Europe and a small part of northern Africa. The scheme utilizes surface temperatures from a numerical weather prediction model. Synoptic observations are used to adjust the model surface temperatures to represent satellite brightness temperatures for cloud-free conditions. The measured reflected sunlight is analyzed using a minimum reflectivity atlas. Comparison of cloud detection results with synoptic observations of cloud cover at about 800 synoptic stations over land and 50 over sea were made on a 3-h basis for 1997. In total, two million synoptic observations were used to evaluate the detection method. Of the reported cloud cover, Metclock detected 89% during daytime and 73% dur...

Abstract: The method of Rosenfeld and Lensky (1998a) to infer cloud microstructure using multi-spectral, AVHRR, satellite imagery is being used in Texas to determine whether operational cloud seeding is producing recognizable changes in cloud microstructure. The seeding signature is expected to take the form of ice formation at relatively warm temperatures (i.e., > -10°C) as is required by the conceptual model guiding the seeding programs (Rosenfeld and Woodley, 1993). Two cases are presented. The first on 10 August 1999 involved seeding with ejectable silver iodide flares near cloud top and the second on 28 August 1999 involved seeding in updraft regions near cloud base with silver iodide generators and flares affixed to the wings of the seeder aircraft. Both apparently produced seeding signatures. The analysis of the first case suggests anomalous glaciation was achieved in the seeded clouds at -13°C whereas it was achieved at about -19°C to -21°C in the clouds in other areas. These differences are consistent with an effect of seeding in that the seeded clouds glaciated at a warmer temperature than the other clouds. The second case involved operational seeding in the target area of the West Texas Weather Modification Association. Base silver iodide seeding of a short cumulonimbus line began 56 min before the pass of the monitoring satellite when the line was in its formative stages. The maximum updraft at cloud base was estimated at 3,000 ft/min along the line just before the satellite overpass. The analysis revealed a strong apparent seeding signature in the cloud line. The signature took the form of complete glaciation at about -9°C, whereas other similar clouds in the region glaciated between -20°C to -30°C. This appears to constitute a strong glaciation signature resulting from the seeding at cloud base. The detection of apparent seeding signatures in Texas is an important development. It indicates that the top and base AgI seedings are producing ice at temperatures around -10°C. According to the conceptual model guiding the operational seeding programs in Texas, this should be the first step in the process leading to more rainfall. The TEXARC research program has already established that the seeding agents used in Texas produce more ice in individual clouds, but such glaciation had never been documented on a scale that can be seen by satellite sensors until this study. There is now greater reason to take the next step and look for increases in rainfall as a result of the seeding.

Abstract: The objective of the Clouds and Radiation (CLARA) project is to improve observation techniques in order to obtain a better understanding of the role of clouds in the Earth's radiation budget. In 1996 three measurement campaigns took place to collect an extensive set of remote and in-situ measurements of clouds. Beside methods for the accurate retrieval of cloud base height, vertical extent and optical properties by synergetic use of CLARA instrumentation, variability is one of the key points sought after. The RIVM High Temporal Resolution Lidar (HTRL) recorded single-shot lidar returns. These measurements are used to study the influence of averaging on estimations of cloud geometry and optical properties. It is shown that unless information on the variability is retained, biased estimates of cloud parameters are made.

Abstract: Using only lidar or radar an accurate cloud boundary height estimate is often not possible. The combination of lidar and radar can give a reliable cloud boundary estimate in a much broader range of cases. However, also this combination with standard methods still can not measure the cloud boundaries in all cases. This will be illustrated with data from the Clouds and Radiation measurement campaigns, CLARA. Rain is a problem: the radar has problems to measure the small cloud droplets in the presence of raindrops. Similarly, few large particles below cloud base can obscure the cloud base in radar measurements. And the radar reflectivity can be very low at the cloud base of water clouds or in large regions of ice clouds, due to small particles. Multiple cloud layers and clouds with specular reflections can pose problems for lidar. More advanced measurement techniques are suggested to solve these problems. An angle scanning lidar can, for example, detect specular reflections, while using information from the radars Doppler velocity spectrum may help to detect clouds during rain.

Abstract: An efficient method for estimating cloud top heights and correcting cloud image spatial displacements was developed. The method applies stereoscopic analysis to a pair of scan-synchronous infrared cloud images received from two GOES satellites using a piecewise linear approximation of the relationship between height and infrared brightness temperature of top of the cloud element. The algorithm solves for cloud top heights and subsequently calculates the spatial displacements of cloud images. Optimal parameterization of the piecewise linear approximation is achieved using the shuffled complex evolution (SCE) algorithm. Because the proposed method simplifies the stereoscopic analysis, it allows for an easy implementation of stereoscopic technique on desktop computers. When compared to the standard isotherm matching approaches, the proposed method yielded higher correlation between GOES 8 and GOES 9 scan-simultaneous images after the parallax adjustment. The validity of the linear approximation was tested against temperature profiles obtained from the multiple ground sounding measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission/Texas and Florida Underflights (TRMM/TEFLUN) experiments. The results of this comparison demonstrated good fit, particularly within the troposphere, between the optimized relationship and atmospheric sounding measurements. The data produced by this method, including cloud top temperatures and heights, atmospheric temperature profiles for cloudy sky areas, and spatial displacement-adjusted cloud images, can be useful for weather/climate and atmospheric studies. In particular, the displacement-adjusted cloud images can be critical to develop high-resolution satellite rainfall estimates, which are urgently needed by mesoscale atmospheric modeling and studies, severe weather monitoring, and heavy precipitation and flash flood forecasting. Limitations of the proposed method are also identified and discussed.

Abstract: The POLDER instrument is devoted to global observations of the solar radiation reflected by the Earth–atmosphere system. The airborne version of the instrument was operated during the ACE-2 experiment, more particularly as a component of the CLOUDYCOLUMN project of ACE-2 that was conducted in summer 1997 over the subtropical northeastern Atlantic ocean. CLOUDYCOLUMN is a coordinated project specifically dedicated to the study of the indirect effect of aerosols. In this context, the airborne POLDER was assigned to remote measurements of the cloud optical and radiative properties, namely the cloud optical thickness and the cloud albedo. This paper presents the retrievals of those 2 cloud parameters for 2 golden days of the campaign 26 June and 9 July 1997. Coincident spaceborne ADEOS-POLDER data from 2 orbits over the ACE-2 area on 26 June are also analyzed. 26 June corresponds to a pure air marine case and 9 July is a polluted air case. The multidirectional viewing capability of airborne POLDER is here demonstrated to be very useful to estimate the effective radius of cloud droplet that characterizes the observed stratocumulus clouds. A 12 μm cloud droplet size distribution appears to be a suitable cloud droplet model in the pure marine cloud case study. For the polluted case the mean retrieved effective droplet radius is of the order of 6–10 μm. This only preliminary result can be interpreted as a confirmation of the indirect effect of aerosols. It is consistent with the significant increase in droplet concentration measured in polluted marine clouds compared to clean marine ones. Further investigations and comparisons to in-situ microphysical measurements are now needed.

Abstract: Knowledge on the occurrence of multiple cloud layers, the heights of their boundaries, their internal structure and phase is important for an accurate determination of radiative fluxes through the atmosphere. Multi-layer mixed phase clouds have simultaneously been profiled with a ground-based 95-GHz radar and Ne:YAG based airborne lidars. Due to their different attenuation and sensitivity to particle size and phase these instruments provide complementary information of cloud boundaries and cloud structure. Case studies from a field campaign over Southern UK are presented. In one case a narrow altostratus layer of mainly spherical, liquid particles was embedded in an ice cloud of larger vertical extent. The liquid layer was resolved in detail by the lidar but did not appear distinguishably in the radar profile, which was much more sensitive to the ice particles. Fallstreaks below the cloud base show a signature in the radar signals only. In another case the lidar beam was blocked in the upper part of a mid-level cloud layer with band like structure, while this cloud hardly appeared in the radar reflectivity which instead was dominated by another band 1 km below. Both instruments detected nearly the same cloud boundaries and structures when the liquid layer disappeared and an optically thin ice cloud remained. This study clearly reveals the tremendous information gain by a synergetic use of radar and lidar for cloud profiling.

Abstract: In this paper, we report the preliminary studies of cloud microphysics by using ground-based 95GHz cloud radar and lidar systems. Although the active sensors are expected to increase our knowledge about clouds, e.g., vertical profiles of clouds, the single use of radar or lidar gives limited information and it is difficult to retrieve the ice water content (IWC and effective radius of cloud particles. We develop the new method for the combinational use of radar and lidar signals. The algorithm includes the attenuation corrections on both signals which is a long standing problems especially in the analysis of lidar signals. The system enables to retrieve the vertical profiles of effective radius and IWC in each cloud layer. Since both active sensors have dual polarization capabilities, the system provides a unique opportunity to study cloud microphysics form many aspects, e.g., vertical profiles of the relationship between effective radius, IWC and/or depolarization ratio. This system also has a great potential to study aerosol-cloud interaction studies.

Abstract: A ground-based sky imager system consisting of two commercial digital CCD cameras with wide-angle lenses has been developed. The system can be used to derive various macroscopic cloud parameters: cloud amount, cloud-base heights and cloud-base wind (for every visible cloud layer). The method to calculate a DSM of the cloud-base is presented. It includes the precise determination of the interior and exterior orientation of the cameras, which have been carried out with a close-range photogrammetric testfield, stars and special airplane flights (equipped with DGPS). The data acquisition took place in the Upper Rhine Valley, Switzerland in October 1999 and was part of the SOP (Special Observing Period) campaign of the programme MAP (Mesoscale Alpine Programme). Cloud-base heights have been derived automatically using commercial digital photogrammetric systems and own software. A comparison of the results with other operational and MAP-only measurements/observations is shown. Finally, a case study of coincident ground- and satellite-based retrieval of cloud-base/cloud-top height for a vertically thin cirrus cloud formation is presented.

Abstract: This paper describes the results obtained in cloud-top and cloud-base height and motion estimation from coincident satellite- (ATSR2, Meteosat) and ground-based stereo images with various spatial resolutions. The data acquisition took place within the target area "Rhine Valley" in Switzerland during the MAP-SOP in October 1999. It is shown which matching difficulties have to be considered with low resolution satellite images especially at cloud borders and in land areas near clouds. The 13/10/1999 case study presents the possibility of detecting multiple cloud layers by analysing different spectral channels. Furthermore, the coincident ground measurements with a stereo camera system showed to be an interesting technique to map smaller scale features and to validate satellite-based cloud-top heights of vertically thin clouds. The motion analysis from the first alpine rapid scans is consistent with the wind measurements from wind profilers and radiosondes and with regional model forecasts. As the motion is directly extracted from the cloud motion, the amounts can be directly applied to correct the along-track cloud wind error in the height determination of slightly asynchronous stereo images like ATSR2. The cloud-adapted matching algorithm can be applied to other stereo pairs from the various new satellite sensors which are designed for atmospheric studies.