Articles | Volume 16, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-933-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-933-2016
Research article
 | 
26 Jan 2016
Research article |  | 26 Jan 2016

Investigation of the adiabatic assumption for estimating cloud micro- and macrophysical properties from satellite and ground observations

D. Merk, H. Deneke, B. Pospichal, and P. Seifert

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Cited articles

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Short summary
A 2-year data set is analyzed to evaluate the consistency and limitations of current ground-based and satellite-retrieved cloud property data sets. We demonstrate that neither the assumption of a completely adiabatic cloud nor the assumption of a constant sub-adiabatic factor is fulfilled. As cloud adiabaticity is required to estimate the cloud droplet number concentration, but is not available from passive satellite observations, we need an independent method to estimate the adiabatic factor.
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