Statistics of vertical velocities in supercooled cloud layers over Leipzig and Praia measured with Doppler lidar

Abstract. This study presents statistics of vertical air velocity at the bases of supercooled shallow cloud layers separately for mixed-phase and liquid-only clouds. For the first time, this statistics is compared for clouds observed over a sub-tropical site at Cape Verde (14.9° N, 26° W) and a mid-latitudinal site at Leipzig, Germany (51.3° N, 12.4° E). Phase properties and spatio-temporal extent of the cloud layers were obtained from combined observations with Doppler lidar, Raman polarization lidar, and cloud radar. The statistical properties of the vertical-velocity distributions in both mixed-phase and pure-liquid cloud layers are found to be similar at both measurement sites. Standard deviation of the vertical velocities at both sites was found to be 0.4 m s⁻¹ and was also the same in pure-liquid and mixed-phase layers. Skewness groups around −0.4 for both sites, pointing to radiative cooling as the driver for the cloud turbulence. Occasionally, positive skewness in some cloud layers indicated external drivers, e.g., gravity waves, for the turbulence. From the observed similarity in the vertical-velocity statistics derived at the base of supercooled liquid cloud layers at Praia and Leipzig it can be concluded that other factors besides cloud dynamics are responsible for the differences in ice formation efficiency reported previously for both sites.