Articles | Volume 21, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5513-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5513-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Joint cloud water path and rainwater path retrievals from airborne ORACLES observations
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Tristan L'Ecuyer
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
Kenneth Sinclair
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA
Universities Space Research Association (USRA), Columbia, MD 21046,
USA
Bastiaan van Diedenhoven
Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, USA
Siddhant Gupta
Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Greg McFarquhar
Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS), University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA
Joseph R. O'Brien
School of Aerospace Sciences, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202, USA
Brian Cairns
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA
Andrzej P. Wasilewski
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA
SciSpace LLC, New York City, NY, USA
Mikhail Alexandrov
NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, USA
Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, USA
Related authors
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Dié Wang, Roni Kobrosly, Tao Zhang, Tamanna Subba, Susan van den Heever, Siddhant Gupta, and Michael Jensen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 9295–9314, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9295-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9295-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We aim to understand how tiny particles in the air, called aerosols, affect rain clouds in the Houston–Galveston area. More aerosols generally do not make these clouds grow much taller, with an average height increase of about 1 km. However, their effects on rainfall strength and cloud expansion are less certain. Clouds influenced by sea breezes show a stronger aerosol impact, possibly due to factors that are unaccounted for like vertical winds in near-surface layers.
Chanyoung Park, Brian J. Soden, Ryan J. Kramer, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, and Haozhe He
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7299–7313, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7299-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7299-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study addresses the long-standing challenge of quantifying the impact of aerosol–cloud interactions. Using satellite observations, reanalysis data, and a "perfect-model" cross-validation, we show that explicitly accounting for aerosol–cloud droplet activation rates is key to accurately estimating ERFaci (effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions). Our results indicate a smaller and less uncertain ERFaci than previously assessed, implying the reduced role of aerosol–cloud interactions in shaping climate sensitivity.
Yusuf Bhatti, Duncan Watson-Parris, Leighton Regayre, Hailing Jia, David Neubauer, Ulas Im, Carl Svenhag, Nick Schutgens, Athanasios Tsikerdekis, Athanasios Nenes, Irfan Muhammed, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Ardit Arifi, Guangliang Fu, and Otto Hasekamp
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2848, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2848, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosols (small airborne particles) impact Earth's climate, but their extent is unknown. By running climate model simulations and emulating millions of additional variants with different settings, we found that natural emissions like sea spray and sulfur are key sources of uncertainty in climate predictions. Our work shows that understanding these natural processes better can help improve climate models and make future climate projections more accurate.
Andrew M. Sayer, Brian Cairns, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Luca Lelli, Chamara Rajapakshe, Scott E. Giangrande, Gareth E. Thomas, and Damao Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2005, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2005, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Satellites can estimate cloud height in several ways: two include a thermal technique (colder clouds being higher up), and another looking at colours of light that oxygen in the atmosphere absorbs (darker clouds being lower down). It can also be measured (from ground or space) by radar and lidar. We compare satellite data we developed using the oxygen method with other estimates to help us refine our technique.
Florian Tornow, Ann Fridlind, George Tselioudis, Brian Cairns, Andrew Ackerman, Seethala Chellappan, David Painemal, Paquita Zuidema, Christiane Voigt, Simon Kirschler, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5053–5074, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5053-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The recent NASA campaign ACTIVATE (Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment) performed 71 tandem flights in mid-latitude marine cold-air outbreaks off the US eastern seaboard. We provide meteorological and cloud transition stage context, allowing us to identify days that are most suitable for Lagrangian modeling and analysis. Surveyed cloud properties show signatures of cloud microphysical processes, such as cloud-top entrainment and secondary ice formation.
Travis Hahn, Hershel Weiner, Calvin Brooks, Jie Xi Li, Siddhant Gupta, and Dié Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1328, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1328, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding how clouds evolve is important for improving weather predictions, but existing tools for tracking cloud changes are complex and difficult to compare. To address this, we developed the Community Cloud Model Evaluation Toolkit (CoCoMET) that makes it easier to analyze clouds in both models and observations. By simplifying data processing, standardizing results, and introducing new analysis features, CoCoMET helps researchers better evaluate cloud behavior and improve models.
Kerry Meyer, Steven Platnick, G. Thomas Arnold, Nandana Amarasinghe, Daniel Miller, Jennifer Small-Griswold, Mikael Witte, Brian Cairns, Siddhant Gupta, Greg McFarquhar, and Joseph O'Brien
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 981–1011, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-981-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-981-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite remote sensing retrievals of cloud droplet size are used to understand clouds and their interactions with aerosols and radiation but require many simplifying assumptions. Evaluation of these retrievals is typically done by comparing against direct measurements of droplets from airborne cloud probes. This paper details an evaluation of proxy airborne remote sensing droplet size retrievals against several cloud probes and explores the impact of key assumptions on retrieval agreement.
Jeonggyu Kim, Sungmin Park, Greg M. McFarquhar, Anthony J. Baran, Joo Wan Cha, Kyoungmi Lee, Seoung Soo Lee, Chang Hoon Jung, Kyo-Sun Sunny Lim, and Junshik Um
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12707–12726, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12707-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12707-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We developed idealized models to represent the shapes of ice particles found in deep convective clouds and calculated their single-scattering properties. By comparing these results with in situ measurements, we discovered that a mixture of shape models matches in situ measurements more closely than single-form models or aggregate models. This finding has important implications for enhancing the simulation of single-scattering properties of ice crystals in deep convective clouds.
Sanja Dmitrovic, Joseph S. Schlosser, Ryan Bennett, Brian Cairns, Gao Chen, Glenn S. Diskin, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Michael A. Jones, Jeffrey S. Reid, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Armin Sorooshian, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Luke D. Ziemba, and Snorre Stamnes
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3088, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3088, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study focuses on aerosol particles, which critically influence the atmosphere by scattering and absorbing light. To understand these interactions, airborne field campaigns deploy instruments that can measure these particles’ directly or indirectly via remote sensing. We introduce the In Situ Aerosol Retrieval Algorithm (ISARA) to ensure consistency between aerosol measurements and show that the two data sets generally align, with some deviation caused by the presence of larger particles.
Alexei Korolev, Zhipeng Qu, Jason Milbrandt, Ivan Heckman, Mélissa Cholette, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Greg M. McFarquhar, Paul Lawson, and Ann M. Fridlind
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11849–11881, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11849-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11849-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The phenomenon of high ice water content (HIWC) occurs in mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) when a large number of small ice particles with typical sizes of a few hundred micrometers is found at high altitudes. It was found that secondary ice production in the vicinity of the melting layer plays a key role in the formation and maintenance of HIWC. This study presents a conceptual model of the formation of HIWC in tropical MCSs based on in situ observations and numerical simulation.
Brent A. McBride, J. Vanderlei Martins, J. Dominik Cieslak, Roberto Fernandez-Borda, Anin Puthukkudy, Xiaoguang Xu, Noah Sienkiewicz, Brian Cairns, and Henrique M. J. Barbosa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5709–5729, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5709-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5709-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The Airborne Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (AirHARP) is a new Earth-observing instrument that provides highly accurate measurements of the atmosphere and surface. Using a physics-based calibration technique, we show that AirHARP achieves high measurement accuracy in laboratory and field environments and exceeds a benchmark accuracy requirement for modern aerosol and cloud climate observations. Therefore, the HARP design is highly attractive for upcoming NASA climate missions.
McKenna Stanford, Ann Fridlind, Andrew Ackerman, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Qian Xiao, Jian Wang, Toshihisa Matsui, Daniel Hernandez-Deckers, and Paul Lawson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2413, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2413, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The evolution of cloud droplets, from the point they are activated by atmospheric aerosol to the formation of precipitation, is an important process relevant to understanding cloud-climate feedbacks. This study demonstrates a benchmark framework for using novel airborne measurements and retrievals to constrain high-resolution simulations of moderately deep cumulus clouds and pathways for scaling results to large-scale models and space-based observational platforms.
Natasha Vos, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, and Tim Michaels
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2040, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2040, 2024
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
PREFIRE uses two CubeSats to make novel measurements of outgoing energy. The CubeSats will frequently resample regions, forming orbit “intersections” that reveal how polar processes impact thermal emissions. This study develops new methods to characterize orbit intersections and applies them to simulated PREFIRE orbits to assess the hypothetical resampling distribution. Generalizing our results informs future missions that two CubeSats at different altitudes greatly enhance resampling coverage.
Ewan Crosbie, Luke D. Ziemba, Michael A. Shook, Taylor Shingler, Johnathan W. Hair, Armin Sorooshian, Richard A. Ferrare, Brian Cairns, Yonghoon Choi, Joshua DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Chris Hostetler, Simon Kirschler, Richard H. Moore, David Painemal, Claire Robinson, Shane T. Seaman, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, and Edward Winstead
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6123–6152, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6123-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Marine clouds are found to clump together in regions or lines, readily discernible from satellite images of the ocean. While clustering is also a feature of deep storm clouds, we focus on smaller cloud systems associated with fair weather and brief localized showers. Two aircraft sampled the region around these shallow systems: one incorporated measurements taken within, adjacent to, and below the clouds, while the other provided a survey from above using remote sensing techniques.
Michie Vianca De Vera, Larry Di Girolamo, Guangyu Zhao, Robert M. Rauber, Stephen W. Nesbitt, and Greg M. McFarquhar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5603–5623, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5603-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Tropical oceanic low clouds remain a dominant source of uncertainty in cloud feedback in climate models due to their macrophysical properties (fraction, size, height, shape, distribution) being misrepresented. High-resolution satellite imagery over the Philippine oceans is used here to characterize cumulus macrophysical properties and their relationship to meteorological variables. Such information can act as a benchmark for cloud models and can improve low-cloud generation in climate models.
Leong Wai Siu, Joseph S. Schlosser, David Painemal, Brian Cairns, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, Johnathan W. Hair, Chris A. Hostetler, Longlei Li, Mary M. Kleb, Amy Jo Scarino, Taylor J. Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Snorre A. Stamnes, and Xubin Zeng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2739–2759, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2739-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2739-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
An unprecedented 3-year aerosol dataset was collected from a recent NASA field campaign over the western North Atlantic Ocean, which offers a special opportunity to evaluate two state-of-the-art remote sensing instruments, one lidar and the other polarimeter, on the same aircraft. Special attention has been paid to validate aerosol optical depth data and their uncertainties when no reference dataset is available. Physical reasons for the disagreement between two instruments are discussed.
Zihao Yuan, Guangliang Fu, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Hai Xiang Lin, Jan Willem Erisman, and Otto P. Hasekamp
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2595–2610, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2595-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2595-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Currently, aerosol properties from spaceborne multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) instruments can only be retrieved in cloud-free areas or in areas where an aerosol layer is located above a cloud. Therefore, it is important to be able to identify cloud-free pixels for which an aerosol retrieval algorithm can provide meaningful output. The developed neural network cloud screening demonstrates that cloud masking for MAP aerosol retrieval can be based on the MAP measurements themselves.
Siddhant Gupta, Dié Wang, Scott E. Giangrande, Thiago S. Biscaro, and Michael P. Jensen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4487–4510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4487-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4487-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We examine the lifecycle of isolated deep convective clouds (DCCs) in the Amazon rainforest. Weather radar echoes from the DCCs are tracked to evaluate their lifecycle. The DCC size and intensity increase, reach a peak, and then decrease over the DCC lifetime. Vertical profiles of air motion and mass transport from different seasons are examined to understand the transport of energy and momentum within DCC cores and to address the deficiencies in simulating DCCs using weather and climate models.
Meng Gao, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Andrew M. Sayer, Xiaoguang Xu, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brian Cairns, Patricia Castellanos, Guangliang Fu, Neranga Hannadige, Otto Hasekamp, Yongxiang Hu, Amir Ibrahim, Frederick Patt, Anin Puthukkudy, and P. Jeremy Werdell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5863–5881, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5863-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5863-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluated the retrievability and uncertainty of aerosol and ocean properties from PACE's HARP2 instrument using enhanced neural network models with the FastMAPOL algorithm. A cascading retrieval method is developed to improve retrieval performance. A global set of simulated HARP2 data is generated and used for uncertainty evaluations. The performance assessment demonstrates that the FastMAPOL algorithm is a viable approach for operational application to HARP2 data after PACE launch.
Neranga K. Hannadige, Peng-Wang Zhai, Meng Gao, Yongxiang Hu, P. Jeremy Werdell, Kirk Knobelspiesse, and Brian Cairns
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5749–5770, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5749-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated the impact of three ocean optical models with different numbers of free parameters on the performance of an aerosol and ocean color remote sensing algorithm using the multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) measurements. It was demonstrated that the three- and seven-parameter bio-optical models can be used to accurately represent both open and coastal waters, whereas the one-parameter model has smaller retrieval uncertainty over open water.
Calvin Howes, Pablo E. Saide, Hugh Coe, Amie Dobracki, Steffen Freitag, Jim M. Haywood, Steven G. Howell, Siddhant Gupta, Janek Uin, Mary Kacarab, Chongai Kuang, L. Ruby Leung, Athanasios Nenes, Greg M. McFarquhar, James Podolske, Jens Redemann, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jenny P. S. Wong, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Yang Zhang, Jianhao Zhang, and Paquita Zuidema
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13911–13940, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13911-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand smoke properties and its interactions with clouds, we compare the WRF-CAM5 model with observations from ORACLES, CLARIFY, and LASIC field campaigns in the southeastern Atlantic in August 2017. The model transports and mixes smoke well but does not fully capture some important processes. These include smoke chemical and physical aging over 4–12 days, smoke removal by rain, sulfate particle formation, aerosol activation into cloud droplets, and boundary layer turbulence.
Brian Kahn, Cameron Bertossa, Xiuhong Chen, Brian Drouin, Erin Hokanson, Xianglei Huang, Tristan L'Ecuyer, Kyle Mattingly, Aronne Merrelli, Tim Michaels, Nate Miller, Federico Donat, Tiziano Maestri, and Michele Martinazzo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2463, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
A cloud detection mask algorithm is developed for the upcoming Polar Radiant Energy in the Far Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) satellite mission to be launched by NASA in May 2024. The cloud mask is compared to "truth" and is capable of detecting over 90 % of all clouds globally tested with simulated data, and about 87 % of all clouds in the Arctic region.
Rose Marie Miller, Robert M. Rauber, Larry Di Girolamo, Matthew Rilloraza, Dongwei Fu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Stephen W. Nesbitt, Luke D. Ziemba, Sarah Woods, and Kenneth Lee Thornhill
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8959–8977, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8959-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8959-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The influence of human-produced aerosols on clouds remains one of the uncertainties in radiative forcing of Earth’s climate. Measurements of aerosol chemistry from sources around the Philippines illustrate the linkage between aerosol chemical composition and cloud droplet characteristics. Differences in aerosol chemical composition in the marine layer from biomass burning, industrial, ship-produced, and marine aerosols are shown to impact cloud microphysical structure just above cloud base.
Armin Sorooshian, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Adam D. Bell, Ryan Bennett, Grace Betito, Sharon P. Burton, Megan E. Buzanowicz, Brian Cairns, Eduard V. Chemyakin, Gao Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Brian L. Collister, Anthony L. Cook, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan C. Crosbie, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sanja Dmitrovic, Eva-Lou Edwards, Marta A. Fenn, Richard A. Ferrare, David van Gilst, Johnathan W. Hair, David B. Harper, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Chris A. Hostetler, Nathan Jester, Michael Jones, Simon Kirschler, Mary M. Kleb, John M. Kusterer, Sean Leavor, Joseph W. Lee, Hongyu Liu, Kayla McCauley, Richard H. Moore, Joseph Nied, Anthony Notari, John B. Nowak, David Painemal, Kasey E. Phillips, Claire E. Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Joseph S. Schlosser, Shane T. Seaman, Chellappan Seethala, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth A. Sinclair, William L. Smith Jr., Douglas A. Spangenberg, Snorre A. Stamnes, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Holger Vömel, Andrzej P. Wasilewski, Hailong Wang, Edward L. Winstead, Kira Zeider, Xubin Zeng, Bo Zhang, Luke D. Ziemba, and Paquita Zuidema
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3419–3472, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3419-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) produced a unique dataset for research into aerosol–cloud–meteorology interactions. HU-25 Falcon and King Air aircraft conducted systematic and spatially coordinated flights over the northwest Atlantic Ocean. This paper describes the ACTIVATE flight strategy, instrument and complementary dataset products, data access and usage details, and data application notes.
Meng Gao, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Brian Cairns, Xiaoguang Xu, and J. Vanderlei Martins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2067–2087, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2067-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2067-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Multi-angle polarimetric measurements have been shown to greatly improve the remote sensing capability of aerosols and help atmospheric correction for ocean color retrievals. However, the uncertainty correlations among different measurement angles have not been well characterized. In this work, we provided a practical framework to evaluate the impact of the angular uncertainty correlation in retrieval results and a method to directly estimate correlation strength from retrieval residuals.
Emily D. Lenhardt, Lan Gao, Jens Redemann, Feng Xu, Sharon P. Burton, Brian Cairns, Ian Chang, Richard A. Ferrare, Chris A. Hostetler, Pablo E. Saide, Calvin Howes, Yohei Shinozuka, Snorre Stamnes, Mary Kacarab, Amie Dobracki, Jenny Wong, Steffen Freitag, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2037–2054, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2037-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Small atmospheric particles, such as smoke from wildfires or pollutants from human activities, impact cloud properties, and clouds have a strong influence on climate. To better understand the distributions of these particles, we develop relationships to derive their concentrations from remote sensing measurements from an instrument called a lidar. Our method is reliable for smoke particles, and similar steps can be taken to develop relationships for other particle types.
Ruhi S. Humphries, Melita D. Keywood, Jason P. Ward, James Harnwell, Simon P. Alexander, Andrew R. Klekociuk, Keiichiro Hara, Ian M. McRobert, Alain Protat, Joel Alroe, Luke T. Cravigan, Branka Miljevic, Zoran D. Ristovski, Robyn Schofield, Stephen R. Wilson, Connor J. Flynn, Gourihar R. Kulkarni, Gerald G. Mace, Greg M. McFarquhar, Scott D. Chambers, Alastair G. Williams, and Alan D. Griffiths
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3749–3777, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3749-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Observations of aerosols in pristine regions are rare but are vital to constraining the natural baseline from which climate simulations are calculated. Here we present recent seasonal observations of aerosols from the Southern Ocean and contrast them with measurements from Antarctica, Australia and regionally relevant voyages. Strong seasonal cycles persist, but striking differences occur at different latitudes. This study highlights the need for more long-term observations in remote regions.
Andrew M. Sayer, Luca Lelli, Brian Cairns, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Amir Ibrahim, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Sergey Korkin, and P. Jeremy Werdell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 969–996, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-969-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-969-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a method to estimate the height of the top of clouds above Earth's surface using satellite measurements. It is based on light absorption by oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, which darkens the signal that a satellite will see at certain wavelengths of light. Clouds "shield" the satellite from some of this darkening, dependent on cloud height (and other factors), because clouds scatter light at these wavelengths. The method will be applied to the future NASA PACE mission.
Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Otto P. Hasekamp, Brian Cairns, Gregory L. Schuster, Snorre Stamnes, Michael Shook, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7411–7434, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7411-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7411-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The strong variability in the chemistry of atmospheric particulate matter affects the amount of water aerosols absorb and their effect on climate. We present a remote sensing method to determine the amount of water in particulate matter. Its application to airborne instruments indicates that the observed aerosols have rather low water contents and low fractions of soluble particles. Future satellites will be able to yield global aerosol water uptake data.
Paul A. Barrett, Steven J. Abel, Hugh Coe, Ian Crawford, Amie Dobracki, James Haywood, Steve Howell, Anthony Jones, Justin Langridge, Greg M. McFarquhar, Graeme J. Nott, Hannah Price, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Paquita Zuidema, Stéphane Bauguitte, Ryan Bennett, Keith Bower, Hong Chen, Sabrina Cochrane, Michael Cotterell, Nicholas Davies, David Delene, Connor Flynn, Andrew Freedman, Steffen Freitag, Siddhant Gupta, David Noone, Timothy B. Onasch, James Podolske, Michael R. Poellot, Sebastian Schmidt, Stephen Springston, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jamie Trembath, Alan Vance, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jianhao Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6329–6371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand weather and climate, it is vital to go into the field and collect observations. Often measurements take place in isolation, but here we compared data from two aircraft and one ground-based site. This was done in order to understand how well measurements made on one platform compared to those made on another. Whilst this is easy to do in a controlled laboratory setting, it is more challenging in the real world, and so these comparisons are as valuable as they are rare.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, Michael R. Poellot, David J. Delene, Ian Chang, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Jens Redemann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12923–12943, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12923-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12923-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The ability of NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites to retrieve cloud properties and estimate the changes in cloud properties due to aerosol–cloud interactions (ACI) was examined. There was good agreement between satellite retrievals and in situ measurements over the southeast Atlantic Ocean. This suggests that, combined with information on aerosol properties, satellite retrievals of cloud properties can be used to study ACI over larger domains and longer timescales in the absence of in situ data.
Alyson Rose Douglas and Tristan L'Ecuyer
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-688, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-688, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol, or small particles released by human activities, enter the atmosphere and eventually interact with clouds in what we term aerosol-cloud interactions. As more aerosol enter a cloud, they act as cloud droplet nuclei, increasing the number of cloud droplets in a cloud and delaying rain formation, leading to a larger cloud. We use machine learning and found that these interactions lead to 1.27 % more cloudiness on Earth and offset ~1/4 of the warming due to CO2.
Zhipeng Qu, Alexei Korolev, Jason A. Milbrandt, Ivan Heckman, Yongjie Huang, Greg M. McFarquhar, Hugh Morrison, Mengistu Wolde, and Cuong Nguyen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12287–12310, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12287-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Secondary ice production (SIP) is an important physical phenomenon that results in an increase in the cloud ice particle concentration and can have a significant impact on the evolution of clouds. Here, idealized simulations of a tropical convective system were conducted. Agreement between the simulations and observations highlights the impacts of SIP on the maintenance of tropical convection in nature and the importance of including the modelling of SIP in numerical weather prediction models.
Meng Gao, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Bryan A. Franz, Peng-Wang Zhai, Andrew M. Sayer, Amir Ibrahim, Brian Cairns, Otto Hasekamp, Yongxiang Hu, Vanderlei Martins, P. Jeremy Werdell, and Xiaoguang Xu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4859–4879, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4859-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4859-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, we assessed the pixel-wise retrieval uncertainties on aerosol and ocean color derived from multi-angle polarimetric measurements. Standard error propagation methods are used to compute the uncertainties. A flexible framework is proposed to evaluate how representative these uncertainties are compared with real retrieval errors. Meanwhile, to assist operational data processing, we optimized the computational speed to evaluate the retrieval uncertainties based on neural networks.
Assia Arouf, Hélène Chepfer, Thibault Vaillant de Guélis, Marjolaine Chiriaco, Matthew D. Shupe, Rodrigo Guzman, Artem Feofilov, Patrick Raberanto, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Seiji Kato, and Michael R. Gallagher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3893–3923, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3893-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3893-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We proposed new estimates of the surface longwave (LW) cloud radiative effect (CRE) derived from observations collected by a space-based lidar on board the CALIPSO satellite and radiative transfer computations. Our estimate appropriately captures the surface LW CRE annual variability over bright polar surfaces, and it provides a dataset more than 13 years long.
Dongwei Fu, Larry Di Girolamo, Robert M. Rauber, Greg M. McFarquhar, Stephen W. Nesbitt, Jesse Loveridge, Yulan Hong, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Brian Cairns, Mikhail D. Alexandrov, Paul Lawson, Sarah Woods, Simone Tanelli, Sebastian Schmidt, Chris Hostetler, and Amy Jo Scarino
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8259–8285, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8259-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8259-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite-retrieved cloud microphysics are widely used in climate research because of their central role in water and energy cycles. Here, we provide the first detailed investigation of retrieved cloud drop sizes from in situ and various satellite and airborne remote sensing techniques applied to real cumulus cloud fields. We conclude that the most widely used passive remote sensing method employed in climate research produces high biases of 6–8 µm (60 %–80 %) caused by 3-D radiative effects.
Matthew S. Norgren, John Wood, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, Snorre A. Stamnes, Luke D. Ziemba, Ewan C. Crosbie, Michael A. Shook, A. Scott Kittelman, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Stephen Broccardo, Steffen Freitag, and Jeffrey S. Reid
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1373–1394, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1373-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1373-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A new spectral instrument (SPN-S), with the ability to partition solar radiation into direct and diffuse components, is used in airborne settings to study the optical properties of aerosols and cirrus. It is a low-cost and mechanically simple system but has higher measurement uncertainty than existing standards. This challenge is overcome by utilizing the unique measurement capabilities to develop new retrieval techniques. Validation is done with data from two NASA airborne research campaigns.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, Michael R. Poellot, David J. Delene, Rose M. Miller, and Jennifer D. Small Griswold
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2769–2793, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2769-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2769-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluates the impact of biomass burning aerosols on precipitation in marine stratocumulus clouds using observations from the NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign over the Southeast Atlantic. Instances of contact and separation between aerosol and cloud layers show polluted clouds have a lower precipitation rate and a lower precipitation susceptibility. This information will help improve cloud representation in Earth system models.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Ming Xue, Hugh Morrison, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, Yachao Hu, Zhipeng Qu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2365–2384, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2365-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Numerous small ice crystals in tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. Previous numerical simulations failed to reproduce this phenomenon and hypothesized that key microphysical processes are still lacking in current models to realistically simulate the phenomenon. This study uses numerical experiments to confirm the dominant role of secondary ice production in the formation of these large numbers of small ice crystals.
Michael R. Gallagher, Matthew D. Shupe, Hélène Chepfer, and Tristan L'Ecuyer
The Cryosphere, 16, 435–450, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-435-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-435-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
By using direct observations of snowfall and mass changes, the variability of daily snowfall mass input to the Greenland ice sheet is quantified for the first time. With new methods we conclude that cyclones west of Greenland in summer contribute the most snowfall, with 1.66 Gt per occurrence. These cyclones are contextualized in the broader Greenland climate, and snowfall is validated against mass changes to verify the results. Snowfall and mass change observations are shown to agree well.
Matthew W. Christensen, Andrew Gettelman, Jan Cermak, Guy Dagan, Michael Diamond, Alyson Douglas, Graham Feingold, Franziska Glassmeier, Tom Goren, Daniel P. Grosvenor, Edward Gryspeerdt, Ralph Kahn, Zhanqing Li, Po-Lun Ma, Florent Malavelle, Isabel L. McCoy, Daniel T. McCoy, Greg McFarquhar, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Sandip Pal, Anna Possner, Adam Povey, Johannes Quaas, Daniel Rosenfeld, Anja Schmidt, Roland Schrödner, Armin Sorooshian, Philip Stier, Velle Toll, Duncan Watson-Parris, Robert Wood, Mingxi Yang, and Tianle Yuan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 641–674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-641-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Trace gases and aerosols (tiny airborne particles) are released from a variety of point sources around the globe. Examples include volcanoes, industrial chimneys, forest fires, and ship stacks. These sources provide opportunistic experiments with which to quantify the role of aerosols in modifying cloud properties. We review the current state of understanding on the influence of aerosol on climate built from the wide range of natural and anthropogenic laboratories investigated in recent decades.
David Painemal, Douglas Spangenberg, William L. Smith Jr., Patrick Minnis, Brian Cairns, Richard H. Moore, Ewan Crosbie, Claire Robinson, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Edward L. Winstead, and Luke Ziemba
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6633–6646, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6633-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6633-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Cloud properties derived from satellite sensors are critical for the global monitoring of climate. This study evaluates satellite-based cloud properties over the North Atlantic using airborne data collected during NAAMES. Satellite observations of droplet size and cloud optical depth tend to compare well with NAAMES data. The analysis indicates that the satellite pixel resolution and the specific viewing geometry need to be taken into account in research applications.
Alyson Douglas and Tristan L'Ecuyer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15103–15114, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15103-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15103-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
When aerosols enter the atmosphere, they interact with the clouds above in what we term aerosol–cloud interactions and lead to a series of reactions which delay the onset of rain. This delay may lead to increased rain rates, or invigoration, when the cloud eventually rains. We show that aerosol leads to invigoration in certain environments. The strength of the invigoration depends on how large the cloud is, which suggests that it is highly tied to the organization of the cloud system.
Rose M. Miller, Greg M. McFarquhar, Robert M. Rauber, Joseph R. O'Brien, Siddhant Gupta, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Amie N. Dobracki, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Sharon P. Burton, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, and Caroline Dang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14815–14831, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14815-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14815-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A large stratocumulus cloud deck resides off the west coast of central Africa. Biomass burning in Africa produces a large plume of aerosol that is carried by the wind over this stratocumulus cloud deck. This paper shows that particles with sizes from 0.01 to 1 mm reside within this plume. Past studies have shown that biomass burning produces such particles, but this is the first study to show that they can be transported westward, over long distances, to the Atlantic stratocumulus cloud deck.
Ruhi S. Humphries, Melita D. Keywood, Sean Gribben, Ian M. McRobert, Jason P. Ward, Paul Selleck, Sally Taylor, James Harnwell, Connor Flynn, Gourihar R. Kulkarni, Gerald G. Mace, Alain Protat, Simon P. Alexander, and Greg McFarquhar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12757–12782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12757-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12757-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Southern Ocean region is one of the most pristine in the world and serves as an important proxy for the pre-industrial atmosphere. Improving our understanding of the natural processes in this region is likely to result in the largest reductions in the uncertainty of climate and earth system models. In this paper we present a statistical summary of the latitudinal gradient of aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei concentrations obtained from five voyages spanning the Southern Ocean.
Hossein Dadashazar, David Painemal, Majid Alipanah, Michael Brunke, Seethala Chellappan, Andrea F. Corral, Ewan Crosbie, Simon Kirschler, Hongyu Liu, Richard H. Moore, Claire Robinson, Amy Jo Scarino, Michael Shook, Kenneth Sinclair, K. Lee Thornhill, Christiane Voigt, Hailong Wang, Edward Winstead, Xubin Zeng, Luke Ziemba, Paquita Zuidema, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10499–10526, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10499-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10499-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates the seasonal cycle of cloud drop number concentration (Nd) over the western North Atlantic Ocean (WNAO) using multiple datasets. Reasons for the puzzling discrepancy between the seasonal cycles of Nd and aerosol concentration were identified. Results indicate that Nd is highest in winter (when aerosol proxy values are often lowest) due to conditions both linked to cold-air outbreaks and that promote greater droplet activation.
Erik Johansson, Abhay Devasthale, Michael Tjernström, Annica M. L. Ekman, Klaus Wyser, and Tristan L'Ecuyer
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 4087–4101, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4087-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-4087-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Understanding the coupling of clouds to large-scale circulation is a grand challenge for the climate community. Cloud radiative heating (CRH) is a key parameter in this coupling and is therefore essential to model realistically. We, therefore, evaluate a climate model against satellite observations. Our findings indicate good agreement in the seasonal pattern of CRH even if the magnitude differs. We also find that increasing the horizontal resolution in the model has little effect on the CRH.
Meng Gao, Bryan A. Franz, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Peng-Wang Zhai, Vanderlei Martins, Sharon Burton, Brian Cairns, Richard Ferrare, Joel Gales, Otto Hasekamp, Yongxiang Hu, Amir Ibrahim, Brent McBride, Anin Puthukkudy, P. Jeremy Werdell, and Xiaoguang Xu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4083–4110, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4083-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4083-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Multi-angle polarimetric measurements can retrieve accurate aerosol properties over complex atmosphere and ocean systems; however, most retrieval algorithms require high computational costs. We propose a deep neural network (NN) forward model to represent the radiative transfer simulation of coupled atmosphere and ocean systems and then conduct simultaneous aerosol and ocean color retrievals on AirHARP measurements. The computational acceleration is 103 times with CPU or 104 times with GPU.
Yongjie Huang, Wei Wu, Greg M. McFarquhar, Xuguang Wang, Hugh Morrison, Alexander Ryzhkov, Yachao Hu, Mengistu Wolde, Cuong Nguyen, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Jason Milbrandt, Alexei V. Korolev, and Ivan Heckman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6919–6944, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6919-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6919-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Numerous small ice crystals in the tropical convective storms are difficult to detect and could be potentially hazardous for commercial aircraft. This study evaluated the numerical models against the airborne observations and investigated the potential cloud processes that could lead to the production of these large numbers of small ice crystals. It is found that key microphysical processes are still lacking or misrepresented in current numerical models to realistically simulate the phenomenon.
Siddhant Gupta, Greg M. McFarquhar, Joseph R. O'Brien, David J. Delene, Michael R. Poellot, Amie Dobracki, James R. Podolske, Jens Redemann, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, and Kristina Pistone
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4615–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Observations from the 2016 NASA ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS (ORACLES) field campaign examine how biomass burning aerosols from southern Africa affect marine stratocumulus cloud decks over the Southeast Atlantic. Instances of contact and separation between aerosols and clouds are examined to quantify the impact of aerosol mixing into cloud top on cloud drop numbers and sizes. This information is needed for improving Earth system models and satellite retrievals.
Jens Redemann, Robert Wood, Paquita Zuidema, Sarah J. Doherty, Bernadette Luna, Samuel E. LeBlanc, Michael S. Diamond, Yohei Shinozuka, Ian Y. Chang, Rei Ueyama, Leonhard Pfister, Ju-Mee Ryoo, Amie N. Dobracki, Arlindo M. da Silva, Karla M. Longo, Meloë S. Kacenelenbogen, Connor J. Flynn, Kristina Pistone, Nichola M. Knox, Stuart J. Piketh, James M. Haywood, Paola Formenti, Marc Mallet, Philip Stier, Andrew S. Ackerman, Susanne E. Bauer, Ann M. Fridlind, Gregory R. Carmichael, Pablo E. Saide, Gonzalo A. Ferrada, Steven G. Howell, Steffen Freitag, Brian Cairns, Brent N. Holben, Kirk D. Knobelspiesse, Simone Tanelli, Tristan S. L'Ecuyer, Andrew M. Dzambo, Ousmane O. Sy, Greg M. McFarquhar, Michael R. Poellot, Siddhant Gupta, Joseph R. O'Brien, Athanasios Nenes, Mary Kacarab, Jenny P. S. Wong, Jennifer D. Small-Griswold, Kenneth L. Thornhill, David Noone, James R. Podolske, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Hong Chen, Sabrina P. Cochrane, Arthur J. Sedlacek, Timothy J. Lang, Eric Stith, Michal Segal-Rozenhaimer, Richard A. Ferrare, Sharon P. Burton, Chris A. Hostetler, David J. Diner, Felix C. Seidel, Steven E. Platnick, Jeffrey S. Myers, Kerry G. Meyer, Douglas A. Spangenberg, Hal Maring, and Lan Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Southern Africa produces significant biomass burning emissions whose impacts on regional and global climate are poorly understood. ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) is a 5-year NASA investigation designed to study the key processes that determine these climate impacts. The main purpose of this paper is to familiarize the broader scientific community with the ORACLES project, the dataset it produced, and the most important initial findings.
Norman B. Wood and Tristan S. L'Ecuyer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 869–888, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-869-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-869-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Although millimeter-wavelength radar reflectivity observations are used to investigate snowfall properties, their ability to constrain specific properties has not been well-quantified. An information-focused retrieval
method shows how well snowfall properties, including rate and size distribution, are constrained by reflectivity. Sources of uncertainty in snowfall rate are dominated by uncertainties in the retrieved size distribution properties rather than by other retrieval assumptions.
Elin A. McIlhattan, Claire Pettersen, Norman B. Wood, and Tristan S. L'Ecuyer
The Cryosphere, 14, 4379–4404, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4379-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4379-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Snowfall builds the mass of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and reduces melt by brightening the surface. We present satellite observations of GrIS snowfall events divided into two regimes: those coincident with ice clouds and those coincident with mixed-phase clouds. Snowfall from ice clouds plays the dominant role in building the GrIS, producing ~ 80 % of total accumulation. The two regimes have similar snowfall frequency in summer, brightening the surface when solar insolation is at its peak.
Johannes Quaas, Antti Arola, Brian Cairns, Matthew Christensen, Hartwig Deneke, Annica M. L. Ekman, Graham Feingold, Ann Fridlind, Edward Gryspeerdt, Otto Hasekamp, Zhanqing Li, Antti Lipponen, Po-Lun Ma, Johannes Mülmenstädt, Athanasios Nenes, Joyce E. Penner, Daniel Rosenfeld, Roland Schrödner, Kenneth Sinclair, Odran Sourdeval, Philip Stier, Matthias Tesche, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, and Manfred Wendisch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15079–15099, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15079-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Anthropogenic pollution particles – aerosols – serve as cloud condensation nuclei and thus increase cloud droplet concentration and the clouds' reflection of sunlight (a cooling effect on climate). This Twomey effect is poorly constrained by models and requires satellite data for better quantification. The review summarizes the challenges in properly doing so and outlines avenues for progress towards a better use of aerosol retrievals and better retrievals of droplet concentrations.
Kai-Wei Chang and Tristan L'Ecuyer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12499–12514, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12499-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12499-2020, 2020
Short summary
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.
Adeyemi A. Adebiyi, Paquita Zuidema, Ian Chang, Sharon P. Burton, and Brian Cairns
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11025–11043, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11025-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11025-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Over the southeast Atlantic, interactions between the low-level clouds and the overlying smoke aerosols have previously been highlighted, but no study has yet focused on the presence of the mid-level clouds that complicate the aerosol–cloud interactions. Here we show that these optically thin super-cooled mid-level clouds are relatively common, and they frequently occur at the top of the smoke layer between August and October with significant radiative impacts on the low-level clouds.
Anne Sophie Daloz, Marian Mateling, Tristan L'Ecuyer, Mark Kulie, Norm B. Wood, Mikael Durand, Melissa Wrzesien, Camilla W. Stjern, and Ashok P. Dimri
The Cryosphere, 14, 3195–3207, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3195-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3195-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The total of snow that falls globally is a critical factor governing freshwater availability. To better understand how this resource is impacted by climate change, we need to know how reliable the current observational datasets for snow are. Here, we compare five datasets looking at the snow falling over the mountains versus the other continents. We show that there is a large consensus when looking at fractional contributions but strong dissimilarities when comparing magnitudes.
Kirk Knobelspiesse, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Christine Bradley, Carol Bruegge, Brian Cairns, Gao Chen, Jacek Chowdhary, Anthony Cook, Antonio Di Noia, Bastiaan van Diedenhoven, David J. Diner, Richard Ferrare, Guangliang Fu, Meng Gao, Michael Garay, Johnathan Hair, David Harper, Gerard van Harten, Otto Hasekamp, Mark Helmlinger, Chris Hostetler, Olga Kalashnikova, Andrew Kupchock, Karla Longo De Freitas, Hal Maring, J. Vanderlei Martins, Brent McBride, Matthew McGill, Ken Norlin, Anin Puthukkudy, Brian Rheingans, Jeroen Rietjens, Felix C. Seidel, Arlindo da Silva, Martijn Smit, Snorre Stamnes, Qian Tan, Sebastian Val, Andrzej Wasilewski, Feng Xu, Xiaoguang Xu, and John Yorks
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2183–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2183-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Aerosol Characterization from Polarimeter and Lidar (ACEPOL) field campaign is a resource for the next generation of spaceborne multi-angle polarimeter (MAP) and lidar missions. Conducted in the fall of 2017 from the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, four MAP instruments and two lidars were flown on the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft over a variety of scene types and ground assets. Data are freely available to the public and useful for algorithm development and testing.
Cited articles
Abel, S. J. and Boutle, I. A.: An improved representation of the raindrop
size
distribution for single-moment microphysics schemes, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc.,
138, 2151–2162, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.1949, 2012.
Abel, S. J., Barrett, P. A., Zuidema, P., Zhang, J., Christensen, M., Peers, F., Taylor, J. W., Crawford, I., Bower, K. N., and Flynn, M.: Open cells exhibit weaker entrainment of free-tropospheric biomass burning aerosol into the south-east Atlantic boundary layer, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4059–4084, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4059-2020, 2020.
Albrecht, B. A.: Aerosols, cloud microphysics, and fractional
cloudiness, Science, 245, 1227–1230, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.245.4923.1227, 1989.
Albrecht, B. A., Fairall, C. W., Thomson, D. W., White, A. B., Snider, J.
B., and Schubert,
W. H.: Surface-based remote sensing of the observed and the adiabatic liquid
water content of stratocumulus clouds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 17,
89–92, https://doi.org/10.1029/GL017i001p00089, 1990.
Alexandrov, M. D., Cairns, B., Emde, C., Ackerman, A. S., and van
Diedenhoven, B.: Accuracy assessments of cloud droplet size retrievals from
polarized reflectance measurements by the research scanning
polarimeter, Remote Sens. Environ., 125, 92–111, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2012.07.012, 2012.
Alexandrov, M. D., Cairns, B., Sinclair, K., Wasiliewski, A. P., Ziemba, L.,
Crosbie, E., Moore, R., Hair, J., Scarino, A. J., Hu, Y., Stamnes, S.,
Shook, M. A., and Chen, G.: Retrievals of cloud droplet size from the
research scanning polarimeter data: Validation using in situ
measurements, Remote Sens. Environ., 210, 76–95, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.03.005, 2018.
Baumgardner, D., Jonsson, H., Dawson, W., O'Connor, D., and Newton, R.: The
cloud, aerosol and precipitation spectrometer: a new instrument for cloud
investigations, Atmos. Res., 59, 251–264, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-8095(01)00119-3, 2001.
Bennartz, R.: Global assessment of marine boundary layer cloud droplet
number concentration from satellite, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D02201,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007547, 2007.
Cadeddu, M. P., Ghate, V. P., and Mech, M.: Ground-based observations of cloud and drizzle liquid water path in stratocumulus clouds, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1485–1499, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1485-2020, 2020.
Cairns, B., Russell, E. E., LaVeigne, J. D., and Tennant, P. M.: Research
scanning
polarimeter and airborne usage for remote sensing of aerosols, Proc. SPIE
5158, Polarization Science and Remote Sensing, 5158, 33–44, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.518320, 2003.
Cesana, G., Waliser, D. E., Henderson, D., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Jiang, X., and
Li, J. F.: The Vertical Structure of Radiative Heating Rates: A Multimodel
Evaluation Using A-Train Satellite Observations, J. Climate, 32, 1573–1590,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0136.1, 2019.
Chen, R., Li, Z., Kuligowski, R. J., Ferraro, R., and Weng, F.: A
study of warm rain detection using A-Train satellite data, Geophys. Res.
Lett., 38, L04804, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL046217, 2011.
Cochrane, S. P., Schmidt, K. S., Chen, H., Pilewskie, P., Kittelman, S., Redemann, J., LeBlanc, S., Pistone, K., Kacenelenbogen, M., Segal Rozenhaimer, M., Shinozuka, Y., Flynn, C., Platnick, S., Meyer, K., Ferrare, R., Burton, S., Hostetler, C., Howell, S., Freitag, S., Dobracki, A., and Doherty, S.: Above-cloud aerosol radiative effects based on ORACLES 2016 and ORACLES 2017 aircraft experiments, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6505–6528, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6505-2019, 2019.
Das, S., Harshvardhan, H., and Colarco, P. R.: The influence of elevated
smoke
layers on stratocumulus clouds over the SE Atlantic in the NASA Goddard
Earth Observing System (GEOS) model, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 125, e2019JD031209, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031209, 2020.
Dee, D. P., Uppala, S. M., Simmons, A. J., Berrisford, P., Poli, P.,
Kobayashi, S., Andrae,
U., Balmaseda, M. A., Balsamo, G., Bauer, P., Bechtold, P., Beljaars, A. C.
M., van de Berg, L., Bidlot, J., Bormann, N., Delsol, C., Dragani, R.,
Fuentes, M., Geer, A. J., Haimberger, L., Healy, S. B., Hersbach, H.,
Hólm, E. V., Isaksen, L., Kållberg, P., Köhler, M., Matricardi,
M., McNally, A. P., Monge-Sanz, B. M., Morcrette, J.-J., Park, B.-K.,
Peubey, C., de Rosnay, P., Tavolato, C., Thépaut, J.-N., and Vitart, F.:
The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data
assimilation system, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 553–597, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828, 2011.
Delene, D. J.: Airborne Data Processing and Analysis Software Package, Earth Sci. Inform., 4, 29–44, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-010-0061-4, 2011.
Diamond, M. S., Dobracki, A., Freitag, S., Small Griswold, J. D., Heikkila, A., Howell, S. G., Kacarab, M. E., Podolske, J. R., Saide, P. E., and Wood, R.: Time-dependent entrainment of smoke presents an observational challenge for assessing aerosol–cloud interactions over the southeast Atlantic Ocean, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14623–14636, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14623-2018, 2018.
Douglas, A. and L'Ecuyer, T.: Quantifying variations in shortwave aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions using local meteorology and cloud state constraints, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6251–6268, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6251-2019, 2019.
Douglas, A. and L'Ecuyer, T.: Quantifying cloud adjustments and the radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions in satellite observations of warm marine clouds, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 6225–6241, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-6225-2020, 2020.
Dzambo, A. M., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Sy, O. O., and Tanelli, S.: The Observed
Structure and
Precipitation Characteristics of Southeast Atlantic Stratocumulus from
Airborne Radar during ORACLES 2016–17, J. Appl. Meteor.
Climatol., 58, 2197–2215, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-19-0032.1, 2019.
Feingold, G., Cotton, W. R., Stevens, B., and Frisch, A. S.: The
Relationship
between Drop In-Cloud Residence Time and Drizzle Production in Numerically
Simulated Stratocumulus Clouds, J. Atmos. Sci., 53, 1108–1122, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1996)053<1108:TRBDIC>2.0.CO;2, 1996.
Fox, N. I. and Illingworth, A. J.: The Potential of a Spaceborne Cloud Radar
for
the Detection of Stratocumulus Clouds, J. Appl. Meteor., 36, 676–687,
https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450-36.6.676, 1997.
Gupta, S., McFarquhar, G. M., O'Brien, J. R., Delene, D. J., Poellot, M. R., Dobracki, A., Podolske, J. R., Redemann, J., LeBlanc, S. E., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., and Pistone, K.: Impact of the variability in vertical separation between biomass burning aerosols and marine stratocumulus on cloud microphysical properties over the Southeast Atlantic, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4615–4635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4615-2021, 2021.
Hang, Y., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Henderson, D. S., Matus, A. V., and Wang,
Z.: Reassessing the effect of cloud type on Earth's energy balance in the
age of active spaceborne observations. Part II: Atmospheric heating, J. Climate, 32, 6219–6236, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0754.1, 2019.
Haynes, J. M., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Stephens, G. L., Miller, S. D., Mitrescu,
C., Wood, N. B.,
and Tanelli, S.: Rainfall retrieval over the ocean with spaceborne W
band radar, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D00A22, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD009973, 2009.
Haywood, J. M., Osborne, S. R., Francis, P. N., Keil, A., Formenti,
P., Andreae, M. O.,
and Kaye, P. H.: The mean physical and optical properties of regional
haze dominated by biomass burning aerosol measured from the C-130 aircraft
during SAFARI 2000, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8473, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002226, 2003.
Hitschfeld, W. and Borden, J.: Errors inherent in the radar measurement of
rainfall at attenuating wavelengths, J. Meteor., 11, 58–67, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1954)011<0058:EIITRM>2.0.CO;2, 1954.
Hou, P., Wu, S., McCarty, J. L., and Gao, Y.: Sensitivity of atmospheric aerosol scavenging to precipitation intensity and frequency in the context of global climate change, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8173–8182, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8173-2018, 2018.
Kacarab, M., Thornhill, K. L., Dobracki, A., Howell, S. G., O'Brien, J. R., Freitag, S., Poellot, M. R., Wood, R., Zuidema, P., Redemann, J., and Nenes, A.: Biomass burning aerosol as a modulator of the droplet number in the southeast Atlantic region, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3029–3040, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3029-2020, 2020.
Kay, J. E., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Pendergrass, A., Chepfer, H., Guzman, R.,
and Yettella, V.: Scale-aware and definition-aware evaluation of modeled
near-surface precipitation frequency using CloudSat observations, J.
Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123, 4294–4309, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD028213, 2018.
King, N. J., Bower, K. N., Crosier, J., and Crawford, I.: Evaluating MODIS cloud retrievals with in situ observations from VOCALS-REx, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 191–209, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-191-2013, 2013.
Koch, D. and Del Genio, A. D.: Black carbon semi-direct effects on cloud cover: review and synthesis, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 7685–7696, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-7685-2010, 2010.
Lance, S., Brock, C. A., Rogers, D., and Gordon, J. A.: Water droplet calibration of the Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) and in-flight performance in liquid, ice and mixed-phase clouds during ARCPAC, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 1683–1706, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-3-1683-2010, 2010.
Lawson, R. P., O'Connor, D., Zmarzly, P., Weaver, K., Baker, B., Mo, Q., and
Jonsson, H.: The 2D-S (Stereo) Probe: Design and Preliminary Tests of a New
Airborne, High-Speed, High-Resolution Particle Imaging Probe, J. Atmos.
Ocean. Tech., 23, 1462–1477, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH1927.1, 2006.
Lebsock, M. D. and L'Ecuyer, T. S.: The Retrieval of Warm Rain from
CloudSat, J.
Geophys. Res., 116, D20209, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016076, 2011.
Lebsock, M. D., L'Ecuyer, T. S., and Stephens, G. L.,: Detecting the Ratio
of Rain and
Cloud Water in Low-Latitude Shallow Marine Clouds. J. Appl. Meteor.
Climatol., 50, 419–432, https://doi.org/10.1175/2010JAMC2494.1, 2011.
L'Ecuyer, T. S. and Stephens, G. L.: An estimation-based precipitation
retrieval
algorithm for attenuating radars, Journal of applied meteorology, 41,
272–285, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2002)041<0272:AEBPRA>2.0.CO;2, 2002.
L'Ecuyer, T. S., Hang, Y., Matus, A. V., and Wang, Z.: Reassessing the effect of
cloud type on Earth's energy balance in the age of active spaceborne
observations. Part I: Top-of-atmosphere and surface, J. Climate, 32,
6197–6217, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0753, 2019.
Leinonen, J., Lebsock, M. D., Tanelli, S., Sy, O. O., Dolan, B., Chase, R. J., Finlon, J. A., von Lerber, A., and Moisseev, D.: Retrieval of snowflake microphysical properties from multifrequency radar observations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5471–5488, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5471-2018, 2018.
Liu, Y., Geerts, B., Miller, M., Daum, P., and McGraw, R.: Threshold radar
reflectivity for drizzling clouds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L03807,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GL031201, 2008.
Mace, G. G. and Sassen, K.: A constrained algorithm for retrieval of
stratocumulus cloud properties using solar radiation, microwave radiometer,
and millimeter cloud radar data, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 29099–29108,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900403, 2000.
Mace, G. G., Avey, S., Cooper, S., Lebsock, M. D., Tanelli, S.,
and Dobrowalski,
G.: Retrieving co-occurring cloud and precipitation properties of warm
marine boundary layer clouds with A-Train data, J. Geophys. Res.
Atmos., 121, 4008–4033, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023681,
2016.
Mann, J. A. L., Chiu, J. C., Hogan, R. J., O'Connor, E. J., L'Ecuyer, T. S.,
Stein, T. H. M., and Jefferson, A.: Aerosol impacts on drizzle properties in
warm clouds from ARM Mobile Facility maritime and continental deployments,
J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 119, 4136–4148, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD021339, 2014.
McFarquhar, G. M. and Wang, H.: Effects of aerosols on trade wind cumuli
over the Indian Ocean: Model simulations, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 132,
821–843, https://doi.org/10.1256/qj.04.179, 2006.
McFarquhar, G. M., Finlon, J. A., Stechman, D. M., Wu, W., Jackson, R., and Freer, M.: University of Illinois/Oklahoma Optical Array Probe (OAP) Processing Software, Software, Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1285968, 2018.
Meneghini, R., Jones, J. A., Iguchi, T., Okamoto, K., and Kwiatkowski, J.:
Statistical Methods of Estimating Average Rainfall over Large
Space–Timescales Using Data from the TRMM Precipitation Radar, J. Appl.
Meteor., 40, 568–585, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2001)040<0568:SMOEAR>2.0.CO;2, 2001.
Merk, D., Deneke, H., Pospichal, B., and Seifert, P.: Investigation of the adiabatic assumption for estimating cloud micro- and macrophysical properties from satellite and ground observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 933–952, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-933-2016, 2016.
Miller, D. J., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., Knobelspiesse, K., Redemann, J., Cairns, B., Alexandrov, M., van Diedenhoven, B., and Wasilewski, A.: Low-level liquid cloud properties during ORACLES retrieved using airborne polarimetric measurements and a neural network algorithm, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3447–3470, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3447-2020, 2020.
Mülmenstädt, J., Nam, C., Salzmann, M., Kretzschmar, J., L'Ecuyer,
T. S., Lohmann, U., Ma, P-L, Myhre, G., Neubauer, D., Stier, P., Suzuki, K.,
Wang, M., and Quaas, J.: Reducing the aerosol forcing uncertainty using
observational constraints on warm rain processes, Sci. Adv., 6,
eaaz6433, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz6433, 2020.
Nakajima, T. and King, M. D.: Determination of the Optical Thickness and
Effective Particle Radius of Clouds from Reflected Solar Radiation
Measurements. Part I: Theory, J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 1878–1893, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1990)047<1878:DOTOTA>2.0.CO;2, 1990.
Nelson, E. L. and L'Ecuyer, T. S.: Global character of latent heat release
in
oceanic warm rain systems, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos.,
123, 4797–4817, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-15-0205.1,
2018.
Nelson, E. L., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Saleeby, S. M., Berg, W., Herbener, S. R.,
and van den
Heever, S. C.: Toward an Algorithm for Estimating Latent Heat Release in
Warm Rain Systems, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 33, 1309–1329, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-15-0205.1, 2016.
ORACLES Science Team: Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard P3 During ORACLES 2016, Version 2, Moffett Field, CA, NASA Ames Earth Science Project Office (ESPO), https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/P3/2016_V2, 2020a.
ORACLES Science Team: Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard P3 During ORACLES 2017, Version 2, Moffett Field, CA, NASA Ames Earth Science Project Office (ESPO), https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/P3/2017_V2, 2020b.
ORACLES Science Team: Suite of Aerosol, Cloud, and Related Data Acquired Aboard P3 During ORACLES 2018, Version 2, Moffett Field, CA, NASA Ames Earth Science Project Office (ESPO), https://doi.org/10.5067/Suborbital/ORACLES/P3/2018_V2, 2020c.
Painemal, D., Chang, F.-L., Ferrare, R., Burton, S., Li, Z., Smith Jr., W. L., Minnis, P., Feng, Y., and Clayton, M.: Reducing uncertainties in satellite estimates of aerosol–cloud interactions over the subtropical ocean by integrating vertically resolved aerosol observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7167–7177, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7167-2020, 2020.
Pistone, K., Redemann, J., Doherty, S., Zuidema, P., Burton, S., Cairns, B., Cochrane, S., Ferrare, R., Flynn, C., Freitag, S., Howell, S. G., Kacenelenbogen, M., LeBlanc, S., Liu, X., Schmidt, K. S., Sedlacek III, A. J., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., Shinozuka, Y., Stamnes, S., van Diedenhoven, B., Van Harten, G., and Xu, F.: Intercomparison of biomass burning aerosol optical properties from in situ and remote-sensing instruments in ORACLES-2016, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9181–9208, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9181-2019, 2019.
Redemann, J., Wood, R., Zuidema, P., Doherty, S. J., Luna, B., LeBlanc, S. E., Diamond, M. S., Shinozuka, Y., Chang, I. Y., Ueyama, R., Pfister, L., Ryoo, J.-M., Dobracki, A. N., da Silva, A. M., Longo, K. M., Kacenelenbogen, M. S., Flynn, C. J., Pistone, K., Knox, N. M., Piketh, S. J., Haywood, J. M., Formenti, P., Mallet, M., Stier, P., Ackerman, A. S., Bauer, S. E., Fridlind, A. M., Carmichael, G. R., Saide, P. E., Ferrada, G. A., Howell, S. G., Freitag, S., Cairns, B., Holben, B. N., Knobelspiesse, K. D., Tanelli, S., L'Ecuyer, T. S., Dzambo, A. M., Sy, O. O., McFarquhar, G. M., Poellot, M. R., Gupta, S., O'Brien, J. R., Nenes, A., Kacarab, M., Wong, J. P. S., Small-Griswold, J. D., Thornhill, K. L., Noone, D., Podolske, J. R., Schmidt, K. S., Pilewskie, P., Chen, H., Cochrane, S. P., Sedlacek, A. J., Lang, T. J., Stith, E., Segal-Rozenhaimer, M., Ferrare, R. A., Burton, S. P., Hostetler, C. A., Diner, D. J., Seidel, F. C., Platnick, S. E., Myers, J. S., Meyer, K. G., Spangenberg, D. A., Maring, H., and Gao, L.: An overview of the ORACLES (ObseRvations of Aerosols above CLouds and their intEractionS) project: aerosol–cloud–radiation interactions in the southeast Atlantic basin, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1507–1563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1507-2021, 2021.
Sarkar, M., Zuidema, P., Albrecht, B., Ghate, V., Jensen, J., Mohrmann, J.,
and Wood, R.: Observations Pertaining to Precipitation within the Northeast
Pacific Stratocumulus-to-Cumulus Transition, Mon. Weather
Rev., 148, 1251–1273, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-19-0235.1,
2020.
Sinclair, K., van Diedenhoven, B., Cairns, B., Yorks, J., Wasilewski, A., and McGill, M.: Remote sensing of multiple cloud layer heights using multi-angular measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2361–2375, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2361-2017, 2017.
Sockol, A. and Small Griswold, J. D.: Intercomparison between CMIP5 model
and MODIS satellite-retrieved data of aerosol optical depth, cloud fraction,
and cloud-aerosol interactions, Earth Space Sci., 4, 485–505,
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017EA000288, 2017.
Stephens, G. L., L'Ecuyer, T., Forbes, R., Gettelmen, A., Golaz,
J.-C., Bodas-Salcedo, A., Suzuki, K., Gabriel, P., and Haynes, J.: Dreary
state of precipitation in global models, J. Geophys. Res., 115, D24211,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014532, 2010.
Stephens, G. L., Li, J., Wild, M., Clayson, C. A., Loeb, N., Kato, S.,
L'Ecuyer, T. S., Stackhouse Jr., P. W., Lebsock, M., and Andrews, T.: An update
on Earth's energy balance in light of the latest global observations, Nat.
Geosci., 5, 691–696, https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1580, 2012.
Stevens, B., Lenschow, D. H., Vali, G., Gerber, H., Bandy, A., Blomquist,
B., Brenguier, J.-., Bretherton, C. S., Burnet, F., Campos, T., Chai, S.,
Faloona, I., Friesen, D., Haimov, S., Laursen, K., Lilly, D. K., Loehrer, S.
M., Malinowski, S. P., Morley, B., Petters, M. D., Rogers, D. C., Russell,
L., Savic-Jovcic, V., Snider, J. R., Straub, D., Szumowski, M. J., Takagi,
H., Thornton, D. C., Tschudi, M., Twohy, C., Wetzel, M., and van Zanten, M.
C.: Dynamics and Chemistry of Marine Stratocumulus – DYCOMS-II, B. Am.
Meteorol. Soc., 84, 579–594, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-84-5-579, 2003.
Travis, L. D.: Remote sensing of aerosols with the earth-observing scanning
Polarimeter, Proc. SPIE 5158, Polarization Science and Remote Sensing, 1747,
154-164, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.138823, 1992.
Tridon, F., Battaglia, A., Chase, R. J., Turk, F. J., Leinonen, J., Kneifel,
S., Mroz, K., Finlon, J., Bansemer, A., Tanelli, S., Heymsfield, A. J., and
Nesbitt, S. W.: The microphysics of stratiform precipitation during OLYMPEX:
Compatibility between triple-frequency radar and airborne in situ
observations, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 124, 8764–8792, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029858, 2019.
Twomey, S.: The influence of pollution on the short wave albedo of
clouds, J.
Atmos. Sci., 34, 1149–1152, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1977)034<1149:TIOPOT>2.0.CO;2, 1977.
Werner, F. and Deneke, H.: Increasing the spatial resolution of cloud property retrievals from Meteosat SEVIRI by use of its high-resolution visible channel: evaluation of candidate approaches with MODIS observations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1089–1111, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1089-2020, 2020.
Witte, M. K., Morrison, H., Jensen, J. B., Bansemer, A., and Gettelman, A.:
On the Covariability of Cloud and Rain Water as a Function of Length
Scale, J. Atmos. Sci., 76, 2295–2308, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-19-0048.1, 2019.
Wood, R.: Drizzle in Stratiform Boundary Layer Clouds. Part I: Vertical and
Horizontal Structure, J. Atmos. Sci., 62, 3011–3033, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS3529.1, 2005.
Wood, R. and Bretherton, C. S.: On the Relationship between Stratiform Low
Cloud Cover and Lower-Tropospheric Stability, J. Climate, 19, 6425–6432,
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3988.1, 2006.
Wu, P., Dong, X., Xi, B., Tian, J., and Ward, D. M.: Profiles of MBL cloud
and drizzle microphysical properties retrieved from ground-based
observations and validated by aircraft in situ measurements over the Azores,
J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 125, e2019JD032205, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD032205, 2020.
Yang, F., Luke, E. P., Kollias, P., Kostinski, A. B., and Vogelmann, A.
M.: Scaling
of drizzle virga depth with cloud thickness for marine stratocumulus
clouds, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 3746–3753, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077145, 2018.
Zhang, J. and Zuidema, P.: The diurnal cycle of the smoky marine boundary layer observed during August in the remote southeast Atlantic, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14493–14516, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14493-2019, 2019.
Zhou, X., Kollias, P., and Lewis, E. R.: Clouds, Precipitation, and
Marine Boundary Layer Structure during the MAGIC Field Campaign, J.
Climate, 28, 2420–2442, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00320.1, 2015.
Zuidema, P., Redemann, J., Haywood, J., Wood, R., Piketh, S., Hipondoka, M.,
and
Formenti, P.: Smoke and Clouds above the Southeast Atlantic: Upcoming Field
Campaigns Probe Absorbing Aerosol's Impact on Climate, B. Am. Meteorol.
Soc., 97, 1131–1135, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00082.1, 2016.
Short summary
This work highlights a new algorithm using data collected from the 2016–2018 NASA ORACLES field campaign. This algorithm synthesizes cloud and rain measurements to attain estimates of cloud and precipitation properties over the southeast Atlantic Ocean. Estimates produced by this algorithm compare well against in situ estimates. Increased rain fractions and rain rates are found in regions of atmospheric instability. This dataset can be used to explore aerosol–cloud–precipitation interactions.
This work highlights a new algorithm using data collected from the 2016–2018 NASA ORACLES field...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint