Identification

Title

Unprecedented observations of a nascent in situ cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer

Abstract

A nascent in situ cirrus was observed on January 11, 2019 in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) over the southwestern Indian Ocean, with the use of balloon-borne instruments. Data from cryogenic frost point hygrometer (CFH) and Compact Optical Backscatter and AerosoL Detector (COBALD) instruments were used to characterize the cirrus and its environment. Optical modeling was employed to estimate the cirrus microphysical properties from the COBALD backscatter measurements. Newly fomed ice crystals with radius <1 mu m and concentration similar to 500 L-1 were reported at the tropopause. The relatively low concentration and CFH ice supersaturation (1.5) suggests a homogeneous freezing event stalled by a high-frequency gravity wave. The observed vertical wind speed and temperature anomalies that triggered the cirrus formation were due to a 1.5-km vertical-scale wave, as shown by a spectral analysis. This cirrus observation shortly after nucleation is beyond remote sensing capabilities and presents a type of cirrus never reported before.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d70c504m

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

2021-02-28T00:00:00Z

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