Satellite retrieval of cloud base height and geometric thickness of low-level cloud based on CALIPSO

Lu, Xin; Mao, Feiyue; Rosenfeld, Daniel; Zhu, Yannian; Pan, Zengxin; Gong, Wei

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11979-2021

Articles | Volume 21, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11979-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11979-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 15

Research article

|

10 Aug 2021

Research article |

| 10 Aug 2021

Satellite retrieval of cloud base height and geometric thickness of low-level cloud based on CALIPSO

Xin Lu, Feiyue Mao, Daniel Rosenfeld, Yannian Zhu, Zengxin Pan, and Wei Gong

Data sets

CALIPSO Lidar Level 2 Vertical Feature Mask (VFM), V4-20 NASA/LARC/SD/ASDC https://doi.org/10.5067/CALIOP/CALIPSO/LID_L2_VFM-STANDARD-V4-20

Ceilometer (CEIL): cloud-base heights ARM https://adc.arm.gov/discovery/#/results/site_code::ena/meas_category_code::cloud/meas_subcategory_detail::cloud.macro

The Barbados Cloud Observatory BCO https://www.mpimet.mpg.de/en/science/the-atmosphere-in-the-earth-system/working-groups/tropical-cloud-observation/barbadosstation1/instrumentation-and-data/

Automated Surface Observation System: cloud-base heights ASOS https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/request/download.phtml

Short summary

In this paper, a novel method for retrieving cloud base height and geometric thickness is developed and applied to produce a global climatology of boundary layer clouds with a high accuracy. The retrieval is based on the 333 m resolution low-level cloud distribution as obtained from the CALIPSO lidar data. The main part of the study describes the variability of cloud vertical geometrical properties in space, season, and time of the day. Resultant new insights are presented.