Search results for "Cloud top"

A Cloud masking algorithm for the XBAER aerosol retrieval using MERIS data

2017

Abstract To determine aerosol optical thickness, AOT, and other geophysical parameters describing conditions in the atmosphere and at the earth's surface by inversion of remote sensing measurements from space based instrumentation, it is necessary to separate ground scenes into cloud free and cloudy or cloud contaminated. Identifying the presence of cloud in a ground scene and establishing an accurate and adequate cloud mask is a challenging task. In this study, measurements by the European Space Agency (ESA) MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) have been used to develop a cloud identification and cloud mask algorithm for preprocessing prior to application of the new algorithm cal…

Microphysical and radiative characterization of a subvisible midlevel Arctic ice cluod by airborne observations - a case study

2009

During the Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation (ASTAR) campaign, which was conducted in March and April 2007, an optically thin ice cloud was observed south of Svalbard at around 3 km altitude. The microphysical and radiative properties of this particular subvisible midlevel cloud were investigated with complementary remote sensing and in situ instruments. Collocated airborne lidar remote sensing and spectral solar radiation measurements were performed at a flight altitude of 2300 m below the cloud base. Under almost stationary atmospheric conditions, the same subvisible midlevel cloud was probed with various in situ sensors roughly 30 min later. <br><br> …

Evidence of ice crystals at cloud top of Arctic boundary-layer mixed-phase clouds derived from airborne remote sensing

2009

Abstract. The vertical distribution of ice crystals in Arctic boundary-layer mixed-phase (ABM) clouds was investigated by airborne remote-sensing and in situ measurements during the Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation (ASTAR) campaign in March and April 2007. Information on the spectral absorption of solar radiation by ice and liquid water cloud particles is derived from airborne measurements of solar spectral radiation reflected by these clouds. It is shown by calculation of the vertical weighting function of the measurements that the observed absorption of solar radiation is dominated by the upper cloud layers (50% within 200 m from cloud top). This vertical weighti…

2017

Abstract. In situ observations of cloud properties in complex alpine terrain where research aircraft cannot sample are commonly conducted at mountain-top research stations and limited to single-point measurements. The HoloGondel platform overcomes this limitation by using a cable car to obtain vertical profiles of the microphysical and meteorological cloud parameters. The main component of the HoloGondel platform is the HOLographic Imager for Microscopic Objects (HOLIMO 3G), which uses digital in-line holography to image cloud particles. Based on two-dimensional images the microphysical cloud parameters for the size range from small cloud particles to large precipitation particles are obtai…

High-speed intensified video recordings of sprites and elves over the western Mediterranean Sea during winter thunderstorms

2010

We report the first intensified high‐speed video images of elves, sprites, and halos observed in Europe. All the events corresponded to winter season thunderstorms over the Mediterranean Sea. The observations comprise many elves generated by both cloud‐to‐ground lightning current polarities. In 8 of the 14 sprite observations we observed an elve previous to the sprite. In three cases we observed also an elve quickly followed by a halo and a sprite. In several observations we observed lightning light before the mesospheric transient luminous event. We present a case where the lightning from cloud tops was visible during the entire event. Thanks to the high‐speed videos and their resolution a…

Microphysical and optical properties of Arctic mixed-phase clouds. The 9 April 2007 case study.

2009

Abstract. Airborne measurements in Arctic boundary-layer stratocumulus were carried out near Spitsbergen on 9 April 2007 during the Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation (ASTAR) campaign. A unique set of co-located observations is used to describe the cloud properties, including detailed in situ cloud microphysical and radiation measurements along with airborne and co-located spaceborne remote sensing data (Lidar on Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations [CALIPSO] and radar on CloudSat satellites). The CALIPSO profiles evidence a cloud top temperature which varies between −24°C and −21°C. The in situ cloud observations reveal that the attenua…

Lidar characterization of the Arctic atmosphere during ASTAR 2007: Four cases studies of boundary layer, mixed-phase and multi-layer clouds

2010

During the Arctic Study of Tropospheric Aerosol, Clouds and Radiation (ASTAR), which was conducted in Svalbard in March and April 2007, tropospheric Arctic clouds were observed with two ground-based backscatter lidar systems (micro pulse lidar and Raman lidar) and with an airborne elastic lidar. In the time period of the ASTAR 2007 campaign, an increase in low-level cloud cover (cloud tops below 2.5 km) from 51% to 65% was observed above Ny-Ålesund. Four different case studies of lidar cloud observations are analyzed: With the ground-based Raman lidar, a layer of spherical particles was observed at an altitude of 2 km after the dissolution of a cloud. The layer probably consisted of small h…

The effects of different radiation parametrizations on cloud evolution

1997

With the use of the microphysical stratus model (MISTRA), investigations into the effects of variations in the radiative-transfer parametrizations on cloud development have been undertaken. Two radiative-transfer schemes were coupled with the microphysical-thermodynamical section of MISTRA, one based on the exponential sumfitting method and the other based on the correlated k-distribution method of determining gaseous absorption properties. Model runs were initiated with parameter values in accordance with measurements made over the North Sea and comparisons made between model runs where only the radiation schemes were altered. Results indicated that differences between the two schemes had …

Comparison of ERA40 cloud top phase with POLDER-1 observations

2008

[1] A detailed grid-point-based comparison of the cloud top phase derived from the 40-year reanalyses (ERA40) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with satellite measurements is presented. For this purpose an algorithm is implemented to extract a two-dimensional “satellite-like” field of the cloud top phase from ERA40 data. This field is compared with cloud top phase data from the Polarization and Directionality of the Earth Reflectances (POLDER-1) instrument which was in orbit from November 1996 to June 1997. The thermodynamic cloud phase in ERA40 data is parameterized as a function of temperature with pure liquid clouds above 0°C, pure ice clouds below −23°C a…

Influence of Saharan dust on cloud glaciation in southern Morocco during the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment

2008

[1] Multiwavelength lidar, Sun photometer, and radiosonde observations were conducted at Ouarzazate (30.9°N, 6.9°W, 1133 m above sea level, asl), Morocco, in the framework of the Saharan Mineral Dust Experiment (SAMUM) in May–June 2006. The field site is close to the Saharan desert. Information on the depolarization ratio, backscatter and extinction coefficients, and lidar ratio of the dust particles, estimates of the available concentration of atmospheric ice nuclei at cloud level, profiles of temperature, humidity, and the horizontal wind vector as well as backward trajectory analysis are used to study cases of cloud formation in the dust with focus on heterogeneous ice formation. Surpris…