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- Title
Examining Cloud Macrophysical Changes over the Pacific for 2007-17 Using CALIPSO, CloudSat, and MODIS Observations.
- Authors
SEUNG-HEE HAM; SEIJI KATO; ROSE, FRED G.; LOEB, NORMAN G.; KUAN-MAN XU; THORSEN, TYLER; BOSILOVICH, MICHAEL G.; SUN-MACK, SUNNY; YAN CHEN; MILLER, WALTER F.
- Abstract
Cloud macrophysical changes over the Pacific Ocean from 2007 to 2017 are examined by combining CALIPSO and CloudSat (CALCS) active-sensor measurements, and these are compared withMODIS passive-sensor observations. Both CALCS andMODIS capture well-known features of cloud changes over the Pacific associated with meteorological conditions during El Niño--Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. For example, midcloud (cloud tops at 3--10 km) and high cloud (cloud tops at 10--18 km) amounts increase with relative humidity (RH) anomalies. However, a better correlation is obtained between CALCS cloud volume and RH anomalies, confirming more accurate CALCS cloud boundaries than MODIS. Both CALCS and MODIS show that low cloud (cloud tops at 0--3 km) amounts increase with EIS and decrease with SST over the eastern Pacific, consistent with earlier studies. It is also further shown that the low cloud amounts do not increase with positive EIS anomalies if SST anomalies are positive. While similar features are found between CALCS and MODIS low cloud anomalies, differences also exist. First, relative to CALCS, MODIS shows stronger anticorrelation between low and mid/high cloud anomalies over the central and western Pacific, which is largely due to the limitation in detecting overlapping clouds from passiveMODIS measurements. Second, relative to CALCS, MODIS shows smaller impacts of mid- and high clouds on the low troposphere (<3 km). The differences are due to the underestimation of MODIS cloud layer thicknesses of mid- and high clouds.
- Subjects
SOUTHERN oscillation; CLOUDINESS; EL Nino; TROPOSPHERE; HUMIDITY; STRATOCUMULUS clouds
- Publication
Journal of Applied Meteorology & Climatology, 2021, Vol 60, Issue 8, p1105
- ISSN
1558-8424
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1175/JAMC-D-20-0226.1