The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder version 6 cloud products
The version 6 cloud products of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) instrument suite are described. The cloud top temperature, pressure, and height and effective cloud fraction are now reported at the AIRS field-of-view (FOV) resolution. Significant im...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2014-01-01
|
Series: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
Online Access: | http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/14/399/2014/acp-14-399-2014.pdf |
Summary: | The version 6 cloud products of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and
Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) instrument suite are described. The
cloud top temperature, pressure, and height and effective cloud fraction are
now reported at the AIRS field-of-view (FOV) resolution. Significant
improvements in cloud height assignment over version 5 are shown with
FOV-scale comparisons to cloud vertical structure observed by the CloudSat
94 GHz radar and the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization
(CALIOP). Cloud thermodynamic phase (ice, liquid, and unknown phase), ice
cloud effective diameter (<i>D</i><sub>e</sub>), and ice cloud optical thickness (τ)
are derived using an optimal estimation methodology for AIRS FOVs, and
global distributions for 2007 are presented. The largest values of τ
are found in the storm tracks and near convection in the tropics, while
<i>D</i><sub>e</sub> is largest on the equatorial side of the midlatitude storm tracks in
both hemispheres, and lowest in tropical thin cirrus and the winter polar
atmosphere. Over the Maritime Continent the diurnal variability of τ
is significantly larger than for the total cloud fraction, ice cloud
frequency, and <i>D</i><sub>e</sub>, and is anchored to the island archipelago morphology.
Important differences are described between northern and southern
hemispheric midlatitude cyclones using storm center composites. The
infrared-based cloud retrievals of AIRS provide unique, decadal-scale and
global observations of clouds over portions of the diurnal and annual
cycles, and capture variability within the mesoscale and synoptic scales at
all latitudes. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1680-7316 1680-7324 |