Convection in the Asian monsoon provides an important pathway for the transport of boundary layer and tropospheric air, and potentially pollution and chemically active species, into the stratosphere. We analyzed the distribution of the fastest and deepest convection with geostationary satellite detections for the months of May through October of 2017. We find significant differences in the geographic and monthly distributions of cross-tropopause convection across the Asian monsoon region.

We estimate plume heights for the April 2021 La Soufrière daytime eruptions using GOES-17 near-limb side views and GOES-16–MODIS stereo views. These geometric heights are then compared with brightness-temperature-based radiometric height estimates to characterize the biases of the latter. We also show that the side view method can be applied to infrared imagery and thus nighttime eruptions, albeit with larger uncertainty.

Ice clouds in the stratosphere (SICs) greatly affect the water vapor balance and radiation budget in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). We quantified the global SICs and analyzed their relationships with tropopause temperature, double tropopauses, UTLS clouds, gravity waves, and stratospheric aerosols. The correlations between SICs and all abovementioned processes indicate that the occurrence of and variability in SICs are spatiotemporally dependent on different processes.

Ice clouds in the lowermost stratosphere (SICs) have important impacts on the radiation budget and climate change. We quantified the occurrence of SICs over North America and analysed its relations with convective systems and gravity waves to investigate potential formation mechanisms of SICs. Deep convection is proved to be the primary factor linked to the occurrence of SICs over North America.

We combine spaceborne lidar observations of clouds in the troposphere and stratosphere to assess the outcome of ground-based polar stratospheric cloud (PSC) observations that are often performed at the mercy of tropospheric clouds. We find that the outcome of ground-based lidar measurements of PSCs depends on the location of the measurement. We also provide recommendations regarding the most suitable sites in the Arctic and Antarctic.