Identification

Title

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

Abstract

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.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7bz6b43

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

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2023-10-27T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

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