The prevalence of Arctic multilayer clouds and their observed and modelled characteristics

Wallentin, Gabriella; Ickes, Luisa; Achtert, Peggy; Tesche, Matthias; Hoose, Corinna

doi:10.5194/acp-26-3069-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3069-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-3069-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 4

Research article

|

27 Feb 2026

Research article |

| 27 Feb 2026

The prevalence of Arctic multilayer clouds and their observed and modelled characteristics

Gabriella Wallentin, Luisa Ickes, Peggy Achtert, Matthias Tesche, and Corinna Hoose

Data sets

Model Data for "The Prevalence of Arctic Multilayer Clouds and their Observed and Modelled Characteristics" Gabriella Wallentin https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18325385

Model code and software

Classification of Arctic multilayer clouds using radiosonde and radar data in Svalbard (https://github.com/maikenv/Classification_algorithm_of_multilayer_clouds) M. Vassel et al. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5111-2019

SEE-GEO/Classification_algorithm_of_multilayer_clouds: v1_Achtert_et_al_2026 (v1_Achtert_et_al_2026) L. Ickes https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18757319

Short summary

Multilayer clouds are cloud systems with two or more vertically stacked cloud layers. Using a weather prediction model, we simulate clouds in the Arctic during a month. The model is evaluated against observations collected during the ship campaign MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate). We find that multilayer clouds frequently occur in the region, in fact, they dominate the cloud occurrence. The study highlights the importance of representing these clouds in simulations over the Arctic.