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- Title
Global Spectroscopic Survey of Cloud Thermodynamic Phase at High Spatial Resolution, 2005-2015.
- Authors
Thompson, David R.; Kahn, Brian H.; Green, Robert O.; Chien, Steve A.; Middleton, Elizabeth M.; Tran, Daniel Q.
- Abstract
The distribution of ice, liquid, and mixed phase clouds is important for Earth's planetary radiation budget, impacting cloud optical properties, evolution, and solar reflectivity. Most remote orbital thermodynamic phase measurements observe kilometer scales and are insensitive to mixed phases. This under-constrains important processes having outsize radiative forcing impact, such as spatial partitioning in mixed phase clouds. To date, the fine spatial structure of cloud phase has not been measured at global scales. Imaging spectroscopy of reflected solar energy from 1.4-1.8 microns can address this gap: it directly measures ice and water absorption, a robust indicator of cloud top thermodynamic phase, with spatial resolution of tens to hundreds of meters. We report the first such global high spatial resolution survey based on data from 2005-2015 acquired by the Hyperion imaging spectrometer onboard NASA's Earth Observer 1 (EO-1) spacecraft. Seasonal and latitudinal trends corroborate observations by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS). For extra tropical cloud systems, just 25 % of variance observed at GCM grid scales of 100 km was related to irreducible measurement error, while 75 % was explained by spatial correlations possible at finer resolutions.
- Subjects
RADIATIVE forcing; THERMODYNAMICS; MEASUREMENT errors
- Publication
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions, 2017, p1
- ISSN
1867-8610
- Publication type
Abstract
- DOI
10.5194/amt-2017-361