Identification

Title

Cloud ice water content retrieved from the CALIOP space-based lidar

Abstract

Ice water content (IWC) profiles are derived from retrievals of optical extinction from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) satellite lidar, using a parameterization derived from particle probe measurements acquired during several aircraft field campaigns. With more than five years of data now available, CALIOP IWC is well suited for characterization of the climate-sensitive upper troposphere/lower stratosphere where reliable global IWC measurements are needed to reduce climate model uncertainty. We describe CALIOP IWC and compare it with global satellite-based and regional airborne IWC measurements made during August 2007. IWC distributions in a convective cloud sampled during the Tropical Clouds, Chemistry, Composition and Climate experiment show temperature-dependent differences between in situ measured IWC, IWC retrieved from CloudSat and CALIOP, and IWC parameterized from the airborne Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) 532 nm volume extinction coefficients. At temperatures above −50°C the CALIOP IWC retrieval indicates less cloud ice than the other instruments, due to signal attenuation and screening for horizontally-oriented ice crystals. Above 12 km where temperatures drop below −50°C CALIOP compares well with in situ IWC measurements. In situ measurements are limited above 12 km, and more cold-temperature comparisons are needed. Global zonal in-cloud IWC averages at altitudes above 9 km show that CloudSat IWC is roughly an order of magnitude higher than CALIOP IWC, consistent with a higher detection threshold. When averaged to the vertical resolution characteristic of Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS), global zonal averages of CALIOP and MLS IWC were found to agree to about +/−50%.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7gb24qr

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

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South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-03-13T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

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Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright 2012 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). All rights reserved. The user is granted the right to use this resource for non-commercial, non-profit research, or educational purposes only, as are more fully described in the UCAR Terms of Use.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact