David P. Donovan

Cloudnet: Continuous Evaluation of Cloud Profiles in Seven Operational Models Using Ground-Based Observations

Cloud fraction, liquid and ice water contents derived from long-term radar, lidar and microwave radiometer data are systematically compared to models to quantify and improve their performance.

The EarthCARE Satellite: The Next Step Forward in Global Measurements of Clouds, Aerosols, Precipitation, and Radiation

AbstractThe collective representation within global models of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and their radiative properties remains unsatisfactory. They constitute the largest source of uncertainty in predictions of climatic change and hamper the ability of numerical weather prediction models to forecast high-impact weather events. The joint European Space Agency (ESA)–Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Earth Clouds, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite mission, scheduled for launch in 2018, will help to resolve these weaknesses by providing global profiles of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and associated radiative properties inferred from a combination of measurements made by its collocated active and passive sensors. EarthCARE will improve our understanding of cloud and aerosol processes by extending the invaluable dataset acquired by the A-Train satellites CloudSat, Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), and Aqua. Specifically, EarthCARE’s c...

Cloud effective particle size and water content profile retrievals using combined lidar and radar observations: 1. Theory and examples

In this paper, a novel lidar/radar method for simultaneously determining cloud particle effective size profiles (for water and ice clouds) and the lidar attenuation profile is described. Simulations and application to real data show that this procedure can be quite robust even in cases where significant lidar attenuation is present. In addition, the concept of a suitable lidar/radar effective particle size is introduced, and the determination of water contents for both water and ice clouds using this effective size together with the radar reflectivity profile is discussed. This paper concludes by presenting examples of effective size profiles and water content profiles inferred from measurements made during the Dutch Clouds and Radiation (CLARA) campaign. In a companion paper, it is demonstrated that the results of the inversion procedure compare favorably with infrared radiometer measurements as well as with in-situ measurement results.

Global observations of aerosol‐cloud‐precipitation‐climate interactions

Cloud drop condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN) particles determine to a large extent cloud microstructure and, consequently, cloud albedo and the dynamic response of clouds to aerosol-induced changes to precipitation. This can modify the reflected solar radiation and the thermal radiation emitted to space. Measurements of tropospheric CCN and IN over large areas have not been possible and can be only roughly approximated from satellite-sensor-based estimates of optical properties of aerosols. Our lack of ability to measure both CCN and cloud updrafts precludes disentangling the effects of meteorology from those of aerosols and represents the largest component in our uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing. Ways to improve the retrieval accuracy include multiangle and multipolarimetric passive measurements of the optical signal and multispectral lidar polarimetric measurements. Indirect methods include proxies of trace gases, as retrieved by hyperspectral sensors. Perhaps the most promising emerging direction is retrieving the CCN properties by simultaneously retrieving convective cloud drop number concentrations and updraft speeds, which amounts to using clouds as natural CCN chambers. These satellite observations have to be constrained by in situ observations of aerosol-cloud-precipitation-climate (ACPC) interactions, which in turn constrain a hierarchy of model simulations of ACPC. Since the essence of a general circulation model is an accurate quantification of the energy and mass fluxes in all forms between the surface, atmosphere and outer space, a route to progress is proposed here in the form of a series of box flux closure experiments in the various climate regimes. A roadmap is provided for quantifying the ACPC interactions and thereby reducing the uncertainty in anthropogenic climate forcing.

Testing IWC retrieval methods using radar and ancillary measurements with in-situ data

Abstract Vertical profiles of ice water content (IWC) can now be derived globally from spaceborne cloud satellite radar (CloudSat) data. Integrating these data with Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data may further increase accuracy. Evaluations of the accuracy of IWC retrieved from radar alone and together with other measurements are now essential. A forward model employing aircraft Lagrangian spiral descents through mid- and low-latitude ice clouds is used to estimate profiles of what a lidar and conventional and Doppler radar would sense. Radar reflectivity Ze and Doppler fall speed at multiple wavelengths and extinction in visible wavelengths were derived from particle size distributions and shape data, constrained by IWC that were measured directly in most instances. These data were provided to eight teams that together cover 10 retrieval methods. Almost 3400 vertically distributed points from 19 clouds were used. Approximate cloud optical depths ranged from...

Using Continuous Ground-Based Radar and Lidar Measurements for Evaluating the Representation of Clouds in Four Operational Models

The ability of four operational weather forecast models [ECMWF, Action de Recherche Petite Echelle Grande Echelle model (ARPEGE), Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO), and Met Office] to generate a cloud at the right location and time (the cloud frequency of occurrence) is assessed in the present paper using a two-year time series of observations collected by profiling ground-based active remote sensors (cloud radar and lidar) located at three different sites in western Europe (Cabauw, Netherlands; Chilbolton, United Kingdom; and Palaiseau, France). Particular attention is given to potential biases that may arise from instrumentation differences (especially sensitivity) from one site to another and intermittent sampling. In a second step the statistical properties of the cloud variables involved in most advanced cloud schemes of numerical weather forecast models (ice water content and cloud fraction) are characterized and compared with their counterparts in the models. The two years of observations are first considered as a whole in order to evaluate the accuracy of the statistical representation of the cloud variables in each model. It is shown that all models tend to produce too many high-level clouds, with too-high cloud fraction and ice water content. The midlevel and low-level cloud occurrence is also generally overestimated, with too-low cloud fraction but a correct ice water content. The dataset is then divided into seasons to evaluate the potential of the models to generate different cloud situations in response to different large-scale forcings. Strong variations in cloud occurrence are found in the observations from one season to the same season the following year as well as in the seasonal cycle. Overall, the model biases observed using the whole dataset are still found at seasonal scale, but the models generally manage to well reproduce the observed seasonal variations in cloud occurrence. Overall, models do not generate the same cloud fraction distributions and these distributions do not agree with the observations. Another general conclusion is that the use of continuous ground-based radar and lidar observations is definitely a powerful tool for evaluating model cloud schemes and for a responsive assessment of the benefit achieved by changing or tuning a model cloud parameterization.

Refinements to ice particle mass dimensional and terminal velocity relationships for ice clouds. Part II: Evaluation and parameterizations of ensemble ice particle sedimentation velocities

Abstract This two-part study addresses the development of reliable estimates of the mass and fall speed of single ice particles and ensembles. Part I of the study reports temperature-dependent coefficients for the mass-dimensional relationship, m = aDb, where D is particle maximum dimension. The fall velocity relationship, Vt = ADB, is developed from observations in synoptic and low-latitude, convectively generated, ice cloud layers, sampled over a wide range of temperatures using an assumed range for the exponent b. Values for a, A, and B were found that were consistent with the measured particle size distributions (PSD) and the ice water content (IWC). To refine the estimates of coefficients a and b to fit both lower and higher moments of the PSD and the associated values for A and B, Part II uses the PSD from Part I plus coincident, vertically pointing Doppler radar returns. The observations and derived coefficients are used to evaluate earlier, single-moment, bulk ice microphysical parameterization sc...

Independent Evaluation of the Ability of Spaceborne Radar and Lidar to Retrieve the Microphysical and Radiative Properties of Ice Clouds

Abstract The combination of radar and lidar in space offers the unique potential to retrieve vertical profiles of ice water content and particle size globally, and two algorithms developed recently claim to have overcome the principal difficulty with this approach—that of correcting the lidar signal for extinction. In this paper “blind tests” of these algorithms are carried out, using realistic 94-GHz radar and 355-nm lidar backscatter profiles simulated from aircraft-measured size spectra, and including the effects of molecular scattering, multiple scattering, and instrument noise. Radiation calculations are performed on the true and retrieved microphysical profiles to estimate the accuracy with which radiative flux profiles could be inferred remotely. It is found that the visible extinction profile can be retrieved independent of assumptions on the nature of the size distribution, the habit of the particles, the mean extinction-to-backscatter ratio, or errors in instrument calibration. Local errors in r...

Aerosols in the convective boundary layer: Shortwave radiation effects on the coupled land-atmosphere system

By combining observations and numerical simulations, we investigated the responses of the surface energy budget and the convective boundary layer (CBL) dynamics to the presence of aerosols. A detailed data set containing (thermo)dynamic observations at CESAR (Cabauw Experimental Site for Atmospheric Research) and aerosol information from the European Integrated Project on Aerosol, Cloud, Climate, and Air Quality Interactions was employed to design numerical experiments reproducing two typical clear-sky days, each characterized by contrasting thermodynamic initial profiles: (i) residual layer above a strong surface inversion and (ii) well-mixed CBL connected to the free troposphere by a capping inversion, without the residual layer in between. A large-eddy simulation (LES) model and a mixed-layer (MXL) model, coupled to a broadband radiative transfer code and a land surface model, were used to study the impacts of aerosols on shortwave radiation. Both the LES model and the MXL model results reproduced satisfactorily the observations for both days. A sensitivity analysis on a wide range of aerosol properties was conducted. Our results showed that higher loads of aerosols decreased irradiance imposing an energy restriction at the surface, delaying the morning onset of the CBL and advancing its afternoon collapse. Moderately to strongly absorbing aerosols increased the heating rate contributing positively to increase the afternoon CBL height and potential temperature and to decrease Bowen ratio. In contrast, scattering aerosols were associated with smaller heating rates and cooler and shallower CBLs. Our findings advocate the need for accounting for the aerosol influence in analyzing surface and CBL dynamics.

Feasibility study of integral property retrieval for tropospheric aerosol from Raman lidar data using principal component analysis

A method is introduced to derive integral properties of the aerosol size distribution, e.g., aerosol mass, from tropospheric multiwavelength Raman lidar aerosol extinction and backscatter data, using an adapted form of the principal component analysis (PCA) technique. Since the refractive index of general tropospheric aerosols is variable and aerosol types can vary within one profile, an inversion technique applied in the troposphere should account for varying aerosol refractive indices. Using PCA, if a sufficiently complete set of appropriate refractive index dependent kernels is used, no a priori information about the aerosol type is necessary for the inversion of integral properties. In principle, the refractive index itself can be retrieved, but this quantity is more sensitive to measurement errors than the various integral properties of the aerosol size distribution. Here, the PCA technique adapted for use in the troposphere is introduced, the refractive index information content of the kernel sets is investigated, and error analyses are presented. The technique is then applied to actual tropospheric Raman lidar measurements.