Optically thin clouds in the trades

Mieslinger, Theresa; Stevens, Bjorn; Kölling, Tobias; Brath, Manfred; Wirth, Martin; Buehler, Stefan A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6879-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6879-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6879-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 10

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

30 May 2022

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 30 May 2022

Optically thin clouds in the trades

Theresa Mieslinger, Bjorn Stevens, Tobias Kölling, Manfred Brath, Martin Wirth, and Stefan A. Buehler

Data sets

Retrieval results for optically thin clouds in the trades (1.0) Theresa Mieslinger https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5824818

The ASTER dataset for EUREC4A (0.0) Theresa Mieslinger https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6577775

Cloud top height derived from airborne measurements with the WALES lidar during the EUREC4A field campaign Martin Wirth https://doi.org/10.25326/216

Model code and software

Simplified Clear-Sky radiative transfer Model (SCSM) ('0.0') Theresa Mieslinger https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4842675

atmtools/typhon: Typhon Release 0.9.0 Oliver Lemke, Lukas Kluft, John Mrziglod, Simon Pfreundschuh, Gerrit Holl, Richard Larsson, Takayoshi Yamada, Theresa Mieslinger, and Jakob Doerr https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5786028

Short summary

The trades are home to a plethora of small cumulus clouds that are often barely visible to the human eye and difficult to detect with active and passive remote sensing methods. With the help of a new method and by means of high-resolution data we can detect small and particularly thin clouds. We find that optically thin clouds are a common phenomenon in the trades, covering a large area and influencing the radiative effect of clouds if they are undetected and contaminate the cloud-free signal.