Influence of gravity wave temperature anomalies and their vertical gradients on cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer – a satellite-based view

Chang, Kai-Wei; L'Ecuyer, Tristan

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12499-2020

Articles | Volume 20, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12499-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12499-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 21

Research article

|

31 Oct 2020

Research article |

| 31 Oct 2020

Influence of gravity wave temperature anomalies and their vertical gradients on cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer – a satellite-based view

Kai-Wei Chang and Tristan L'Ecuyer

Data sets

COSMIC-1 Data Products atmprf UCAR COSMIC Program https://doi.org/10.5065/ZD80-KD74

MLS/Aura Level 2 Water Vapor (H2O) Mixing Ratio V004 A. Lambert, W. Read, and N. Livesey https://doi.org/10.5067/Aura/MLS/DATA2009

Cloudsat and CALIPSO Ice Cloud Property Product (2C-ICE), P1_R05 CloudSat Data Processing Center http://www.cloudsat.cira.colostate.edu/data-products/level-2c/2c-ice

CALIPSO Lidar Level 25 km cloud layer data V4-10 NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/LID_L2_05KMCLAY-STANDARD-V4-10

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 Cloud Profile data V4-10 NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/LID_L2_05KMCPRO-STANDARD-V4-10

Short summary

High-altitude clouds in the tropics that reside in the transition layer between the troposphere and stratosphere are important as they influence the amount of water vapor going into the stratosphere. Waves in the atmosphere can influence the temperature and form these high-altitude cirrus clouds. We use satellite observations to explore the connection between atmospheric waves and clouds and show that cirrus clouds occurrence and properties are closely correlated with waves.