Ice cloud microphysical trends observed by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Kahn, Brian H.; Takahashi, Hanii; Stephens, Graeme L.; Yue, Qing; Delanoë, Julien; Manipon, Gerald; Manning, Evan M.; Heymsfield, Andrew J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10715-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 14

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10715-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-10715-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 14

Research article

|

26 Jul 2018

Research article |

| 26 Jul 2018

Ice cloud microphysical trends observed by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

Brian H. Kahn, Hanii Takahashi, Graeme L. Stephens, Qing Yue, Julien Delanoë, Gerald Manipon, Evan M. Manning, and Andrew J. Heymsfield

Data sets

AIRS-AMSU variables-CloudSat cloud mask, radar reflectivities, and cloud classification matchups V3.2 E. Fetzer, B. Wilson, and G. Manipon https://doi.org/10.5067/MEASURES/WVCC/DATA201

AIRS/Aqua L2 Standard Physical Retrieval (AIRS+AMSU) V006 J. Teixeira https://doi.org/10.5067/AQUA/AIRS/DATA201

Remote Sensing Systems AQUA AMSR-E Daily Environmental Suite on 0.25 deg grid F. J., T. Wentz, T. Meissner, C. Gentemann, and M. Brewer http://remss.com/missions/amsr

Remote Sensing Systems GCOM-W1 AMSR2 Daily Environmental Suite on 0.25 deg grid F. J. Wentz, T. Meissner, C. Gentemann, K. A. Hilburn, and J. Scott http://remss.com/missions/amsr

Short summary

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) satellite instrument shows statistically significant global trends in ice cloud properties between September 2002 and August 2016. The trends are not explained by known AIRS instrument limitations. Significant differences in the ice cloud particle size is found between convective clouds and thin ice clouds in the tropics. These results will be a useful benchmark for other studies of global ice cloud properties.