Identification

Title

MODIS retrievals of cloud effective radius in marine stratocumulus exhibit no significant Bias

Abstract

Satellite retrievals of cloud effective radius re are frequently validated using aircraft in situ measurements. Past intercomparisons have found a significant bias toward larger remotely sensed re. Explanations for this bias have focused on retrieval algorithms and large-scale heterogeneity, with in situ measurement uncertainty regarded as a minor factor. We compare Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer re with in situ observations of marine stratocumulus clouds from three aircraft campaigns using a phase Doppler interferometer probe. Retrieved and in situ re typically agree within uncertainty in both nonprecipitating and drizzling conditions with no apparent systematic bias (mean bias of -0.22 mu m, mean relative bias 3%). Agreement depends on the choice of in situ probe as well as microphysical context. We demonstrate that probes must adequately characterize the width of the drop size distribution to avoid systematic underestimation of r(e).

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7h70jrp

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

2018-10-16T00:00:00Z

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