Jonathan H. Jiang

The Earth observing system microwave limb sounder (EOS MLS) on the aura Satellite

The Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder measures several atmospheric chemical species (OH, HO/sub 2/, H/sub 2/O, O/sub 3/, HCl, ClO, HOCl, BrO, HNO/sub 3/, N/sub 2/O, CO, HCN, CH/sub 3/CN, volcanic SO/sub 2/), cloud ice, temperature, and geopotential height to improve our understanding of stratospheric ozone chemistry, the interaction of composition and climate, and pollution in the upper troposphere. All measurements are made simultaneously and continuously, during both day and night. The instrument uses heterodyne radiometers that observe thermal emission from the atmospheric limb in broad spectral regions centered near 118, 190, 240, and 640 GHz, and 2.5 THz. It was launched July 15, 2004 on the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations Aura satellite and started full-up science operations on August 13, 2004. An atmospheric limb scan and radiometric calibration for all bands are performed routinely every 25 s. Vertical profiles are retrieved every 165 km along the suborbital track, covering 82/spl deg/S to 82/spl deg/N latitudes on each orbit. Instrument performance to date has been excellent; data have been made publicly available; and initial science results have been obtained.

Touring the atmosphere aboard the A-Train

A convoy of satellites orbiting Earth measures cloud properties, greenhouse gas concentrations, and more to provide a multifaceted perspective on the processes that affect climate.

Transport above the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone inferred from Aura Microwave Limb Sounder tracers

[1] Tracer variability above the Asian summer monsoon anticyclone is investigated using Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) measurements of carbon monoxide, ozone, water vapor, and temperature during Northern Hemisphere summer (June to August) of 2005. Observations show persistent maxima in carbon monoxide and minima in ozone within the anticyclone in the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere (UTLS) throughout summer, and variations in these tracers are closely related to the intensity of underlying deep convection. Temperatures in the UTLS are also closely coupled to deep convection (cold anomalies are linked with enhanced convection), and the three-dimensional temperature patterns are consistent with a dynamical response to near- equatorial convection. Upper tropospheric water vapor in the monsoon region is strongly coherent with deep convection, both spatially and temporally. However, at the altitude of the tropopause, maximum water vapor is centered within the anticyclone, distant from the deepest convection, and is also less temporally correlated with convective intensity. Because the main outflow of deep convection occurs near 12 km, well below the tropopause level (16 km), we investigate the large-scale vertical transport within the anticyclone. The mean vertical circulation obtained from the ERA40 reanalysis data set and a free-running general circulation model is upward across the tropopause on the eastern end of the anticyclone, as part of the balanced threedimensional monsoon circulation. In addition to deep transport from the most intense convection, this large-scale circulation may help explain the transport of constituents to tropopause level.

A Multiscale Modeling System: Developments, Applications, and Critical Issues

A multiscale modeling framework (MMF), which replaces the conventional cloud parameterizations with a cloud-resolving model (CRM) in each grid column of a GCM, constitutes a new and promising approach for climate modeling. The MMF can provide for global coverage and two-way interactions between the CRMs and their parent GCM. The CRM allows for explicit simulation of cloud processes and their interactions with radiation and surface processes, and the GCM allows for global coverage. A new MMF has been developed that is based on the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) finite-volume GCM (fvGCM) and the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model. This Goddard MMF produces many features that are similar to another MMF that was developed at Colorado State University (CSU), such as an improved surface precipitation pattern, better cloudiness, improved diurnal variability over both oceans and continents, and a stronger propagating Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) compared to their parent GCMs using traditional cloud ...

Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) MLS observation of mountain waves over the Andes

Abstract : Stratospheric air temperature (radiance) fluctuations over the Andes observed by the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are presented. The MLS radiance variances show strong annual variability over the Andes mountains in South America, which is closely correlated to the background wind conditions associated with mountain wave generation and propagation. The variances are significantly larger in southern hemispheric winter when the winds in the troposphere and stratosphere over the Andes are both westerly and mountain wave critical levels (zerowind lines) are absent. The annual variation of MLS radiance variance agrees well with data from radiosondes and output from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Mountain Wave Forecast Model (MWFM) over the same region and period. The amplitude of the radiance variances seems to correlate well with the intensity of surface wind at upstream positions westward of the Andes, which is also related to the meridional temperature gradient in the region. Horizontal scale analysis suggests that mountain waves over the Andes might have two preferential horizontal wavelengths at 110 and 400 km.

Assessing the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on Pacific storm track using a multiscale global climate model

Significance Increasing levels of air pollutants in Asia have recently drawn considerable attention, but the effects of Asian pollution outflows on regional climate and global atmospheric circulation remain to be quantified. Using a multiscale global aerosol–climate model (GCM), we demonstrate long-range transport of the Asian pollution, large resulting variations in the aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud and ice water paths; enhanced shortwave and longwave cloud radiative forcings; and increased precipitation and poleward heat transport. Our work provides, for the first time to the authors’ knowledge, a global multiscale perspective of the climatic effects of pollution outflows from Asia. The results reveal that the multiscale modeling framework is essential in simulating the aerosol invigoration effect of deep convective cloud systems by a GCM. Atmospheric aerosols affect weather and global general circulation by modifying cloud and precipitation processes, but the magnitude of cloud adjustment by aerosols remains poorly quantified and represents the largest uncertainty in estimated forcing of climate change. Here we assess the effects of anthropogenic aerosols on the Pacific storm track, using a multiscale global aerosol–climate model (GCM). Simulations of two aerosol scenarios corresponding to the present day and preindustrial conditions reveal long-range transport of anthropogenic aerosols across the north Pacific and large resulting changes in the aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud and ice water paths. Shortwave and longwave cloud radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere are changed by −2.5 and +1.3 W m−2, respectively, by emission changes from preindustrial to present day, and an increased cloud top height indicates invigorated midlatitude cyclones. The overall increased precipitation and poleward heat transport reflect intensification of the Pacific storm track by anthropogenic aerosols. Hence, this work provides, for the first time to the authors’ knowledge, a global perspective of the effects of Asian pollution outflows from GCMs. Furthermore, our results suggest that the multiscale modeling framework is essential in producing the aerosol invigoration effect of deep convective clouds on a global scale.

Comparisons of EOS MLS Cloud Ice Measurements with ECMWF analyses and GCM Simulations: Initial Results

To assess the status of global climate models (GCMs) in simulating upper-tropospheric ice water content (IWC), a new set of IWC measurements from the Earth Observing Systems Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are used. Comparisons are made with ECMWF analyses and simulations from several GCMs, including two with multi-scale-modeling framework. For January 2005 monthly and daily mean values, the spatial agreement between MLS and ECMWF is quite good, although MLS estimates are higher by a factor of 2-3 over the Western Pacific, tropical Africa and South America. For the GCMs, the model-data agreement is within a factor of 2-4 with larger values of disagreement occurring over Eastern Pacific and Atlantic ITCZs, tropical Africa and South America. The implications arising from sampling and uncertainties in the observations, the modeled values and their comparison are discussed. These initial results demonstrate the potential usefulness of this data set for evaluating GCM performance and guiding development efforts.

Weakening and strengthening structures in the Hadley Circulation change under global warming and implications for cloud response and climate sensitivity

It has long been recognized that differences in climate model-simulated cloud feedbacks are a primary source of uncertainties for the model-predicted surface temperature change induced by increasing greenhouse gases such as CO_2. Large-scale circulation broadly determines when and where clouds form and how they evolve. However, the linkage between large-scale circulation change and cloud radiative effect (CRE) change under global warming has not been thoroughly studied. By analyzing 15 climate models, we show that the change of the Hadley Circulation exhibits meridionally varying weakening and strengthening structures, physically consistent with the cloud changes in distinct cloud regimes. The regions that experience a weakening (strengthening) of the zonal-mean circulation account for 54% (46%) of the multimodel-mean top-of-atmosphere (TOA) CRE change integrated over 45°S–40°N. The simulated Hadley Circulation structure changes per degree of surface warming differ greatly between the models, and the intermodel spread in the Hadley Circulation change is well correlated with the intermodel spread in the TOA CRE change. This correlation underscores the close interactions between large-scale circulation and clouds and suggests that the uncertainties of cloud feedbacks and climate sensitivity reside in the intimate coupling between large-scale circulation and clouds. New model performance metrics proposed in this work, which emphasize how models reproduce satellite-observed spatial variations of zonal-mean cloud fraction and relative humidity associated with the Hadley Circulation, indicate that the models closer to the satellite observations tend to have equilibrium climate sensitivity higher than the multimodel mean.

EOS MLS cloud ice measurements and cloudy-sky radiative transfer model

A cloud ice retrieval technique is described here using measurements at frequencies near 118, 190, 240, and 640 GHz and 2.5 THz from the Earth Observing System Microwave Limb Sounder on the NASA Aura satellite. Measurement principles, methods for cloud detection, and radiative transfer models for retrieving cloud properties are discussed. The 240-GHz data from high-tangent heights are used to retrieve ice water content at pressures <215 hPa, and the 118-, 190-, 240-, and 640-GHz radiances from low-tangent heights are used to retrieve ice water paths with different penetration depths. Some early Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) results are highlighted, and the observed cloud signatures are consistent with the expectation from model simulations, in general. The simultaneous measurements from MLS 240 and 640 GHz radiometers contain useful information on particle sizes. There are significant cloud-induced radiances at 2.5 THz, despite strong attenuation from the atmosphere. Cloud-scattering signatures are polarized at 122 GHz, but the polarization differences are typically less than 10% of the total cloud-induced radiance.

Tropical Clouds and Circulation Changes during the 2006/07 and 2009/10 El Niños

AbstractChanges in tropical cloud vertical structure, cloud radiative forcing (CRF), and circulation exhibit distinctly different characteristics during the 2006/07 and 2009/10 El Ninos, revealed by CloudSat and Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite (CALIPSO) observations and reanalysis data. On the tropical average, the 2009/10 has a decrease of clouds from 2 to 14 km, an increase of clouds in the boundary layer, and an increase of cirrus clouds above 14 km. The tropical-mean cloud anomalies in the middle to upper troposphere (6–14 km) for the 2006/07 El Nino are nearly opposite to those in 2009/10 El Nino. The tropical averaged net CRF anomaly at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) is 0.6–0.7 W m−2 cooling (0.02–0.5 W m−2 warming) for the 2009/10 (2006/07) El Nino. The 2009/10 El Nino is associated with a strengthening of tropical circulation, increased high (low) clouds in extremely strong ascending (descending) regimes, and decreased clouds in the middle and high altitudes in a broad range...