Cloud properties derived from airborne cloud radar observations collected in three climatic regions

Clouds observed by the airborne High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER) Cloud Radar (HCR) were classified into twelve categories, based on their convective/stratiform nature. Dimensional and convective cloud properties were analyzed in three climatic regions: The subtropical easterlies off the coast of California, the Southern Ocean, and the tropics surrounding Central America. The convective properties of the stratocumulus clouds in the subtropical easterlies are closely related to the degree of boundary layer decoupling. In regions of strong boundary layer coupling, convectivity and updrafts in the clouds are weak and precipitation is light. In regions where the boundary layer is more decoupled, convective properties increase together with cloud top altitudes and cloud depth. Cloud properties of stratocumulus and cumulus clouds over the Southern Ocean show similarities to those observed in the subtropics, but overall they are less convective, indicating a strongly coupled boundary layer. Sea surface temperatures are much lower and the development of clouds is driven by transient synoptic conditions rather than zonal ocean temperature gradients. Clouds observed over the tropical oceans are much more convective in nature. As in the two other regions, they are mostly shallow, but clouds in regions with high sea surface temperatures have high convectivity and reflectivity values and stronger updrafts. Some of them grow to extreme depths (>14 km) and widths (>500 km). They have strong and large updraft regions and are heavily precipitating throughout their life cycle as they transition from the convective to the stratiform stage.