Ralf Bennartz

Cloud Liquid Water Path from Satellite-Based Passive Microwave Observations: A New Climatology over the Global Oceans

Abstract This work describes a new climatology of cloud liquid water path (LWP), termed the University of Wisconsin (UWisc) climatology, derived from 18 yr of satellite-based passive microwave observations over the global oceans. The climatology is based on a modern retrieval methodology applied consistently to the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), and the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) for Earth Observing System (EOS) (AMSR-E) microwave sensors on eight different satellite platforms, beginning in 1988 and continuing through 2005. It goes beyond previously published climatologies by explicitly solving for the diurnal cycle of cloud liquid water by providing statistical error estimates, and includes a detailed discussion of possible systematic errors. A novel methodology for constructing the climatology is used in which a mean monthly diurnal cycle as well as monthly means of the liquid water path are derived simul...

July 2012 Greenland melt extent enhanced by low-level liquid clouds

Melting of the world’s major ice sheets can affect human and environmental conditions by contributing to sea-level rise. In July 2012, an historically rare period of extended surface melting was observed across almost the entire Greenland ice sheet, raising questions about the frequency and spatial extent of such events. Here we show that low-level clouds consisting of liquid water droplets (‘liquid clouds’), via their radiative effects, played a key part in this melt event by increasing near-surface temperatures. We used a suite of surface-based observations, remote sensing data, and a surface energy-balance model. At the critical surface melt time, the clouds were optically thick enough and low enough to enhance the downwelling infrared flux at the surface. At the same time they were optically thin enough to allow sufficient solar radiation to penetrate through them and raise surface temperatures above the melting point. Outside this narrow range in cloud optical thickness, the radiative contribution to the surface energy budget would have been diminished, and the spatial extent of this melting event would have been smaller. We further show that these thin, low-level liquid clouds occur frequently, both over Greenland and across the Arctic, being present around 30–50 per cent of the time. Our results may help to explain the difficulties that global climate models have in simulating the Arctic surface energy budget, particularly as models tend to under-predict the formation of optically thin liquid clouds at supercooled temperatures—a process potentially necessary to account fully for temperature feedbacks in a warming Arctic climate.

The Role of Aerosols in the Evolution of Tropical North Atlantic Ocean Temperature Anomalies

Dust in the Wind The temperature of North Atlantic surface waters has a major effect on climate in a variety of ways, not least because its heat content helps to control hurricane formation and strength. The North Atlantic surface has warmed considerably in recent decades, a trend generally associated with global or regional air temperature increases, or with changes in ocean circulation. Evan et al. (p. 778, published online 26 March) use nearly 30 years of satellite data to examine another source of ocean temperature variability, the radiative effects of atmospheric aerosols. Low frequency changes in local tropical North Atlantic surface temperatures seem mostly to be caused by variability in mineral and stratospheric aerosol abundances. Thus, to provide more accurate projections of these temperatures, general circulation models will need to account for long-term changes in dust loadings. Changes in tropical North Atlantic sea surface temperatures are caused by variability in atmospheric aerosol abundances. Observations and models show that northern tropical Atlantic surface temperatures are sensitive to regional changes in stratospheric volcanic and tropospheric mineral aerosols. However, it is unknown whether the temporal variability of these aerosols is a key factor in the evolution of ocean temperature anomalies. We used a simple physical model, incorporating 26 years of satellite data, to estimate the temperature response of the ocean mixed layer to changes in aerosol loadings. Our results suggest that the mixed layer’s response to regional variability in aerosols accounts for 69% of the recent upward trend, and 67% of the detrended and 5-year low pass–filtered variance, in northern tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures.

The Sensitivity of Microwave Remote Sensing Observations of Precipitation to Ice Particle Size Distributions

Abstract This study investigates the effect of variable size distribution and density of precipitation ice particles on microwave brightness temperatures. For this purpose, a set of self-consistent relationships among rain rate, size parameters of an exponential drop size distribution, and the radar reflectivity–rain rate relations for frozen and liquid precipitation was derived. Further, a scaling factor was introduced that is the ratio between the average melted diameter of the frozen and liquid precipitation and allows the specification of different sizes of the frozen particles. For given radar observations, this method allows size distributions of frozen and liquid precipitation to be derived, which are then used as input for a radiative transfer model. These relationships were used to perform Mie calculations for different precipitation rates and different types of hydrometeors (snow, graupel, and hail) and to investigate the dependence of their respective optical properties on rain rate as well as ...

The Successive-Order-of-Interaction Radiative Transfer Model. Part I: Model Development

Abstract This study, the first part of a two-part series, develops the method of “successive orders of interaction” (SOI) for a computationally efficient and accurate solution for radiative transfer in the microwave spectral region. The SOI method is an iterative approximation to the traditional adding and doubling method for radiative transfer. Results indicate that the approximations made in the SOI method are accurate for atmospheric layers with scattering properties typical of those in the infrared and microwave regions. In addition, an acceleration technique is demonstrated that extends the applicability of the SOI approach to atmospheres with greater amounts of scattering. A comparison of the SOI model with a full Monte Carlo model using the atmospheric profiles given by Smith et al. was used to determine the optimal parameters for the simulation of microwave top-of-atmosphere radiances. This analysis indicated that a four-stream model with a maximum initial-layer optical thickness of approximately ...

High and Dry: New Observations of Tropospheric and Cloud Properties above the Greenland Ice Sheet

Cloud and atmospheric properties strongly influence the mass and energy budgets of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS). To address critical gaps in the understanding of these systems, a new suite of cloud- and atmosphere-observing instruments has been installed on the central GIS as part of the Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric State, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) project. During the first 20 months in operation, this complementary suite of active and passive ground-based sensors and radiosondes has provided new and unique perspectives on important cloud–atmosphere properties. High atop the GIS, the atmosphere is extremely dry and cold with strong near-surface static stability predominating throughout the year, particularly in winter. This low-level thermodynamic structure, coupled with frequent moisture inversions, conveys the importance of advection for local cloud and precipitation formation. Cloud liquid water is observed in all months of the year, even the particularly cold...

Retrieval of columnar water vapour over land from backscattered solar radiation using the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer

Abstract We describe a new algorithm to derive columnar water vapour under cloud-free conditions over land from backscattered solar radiation in the near-infrared. The algorithm will be used in ESAs Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) ground processor. It is based on radiative transfer simulations, where the radiance ratio between the MERIS channels 15 (900 nm) and 14 (885 nm) is used in an inversion procedure based on regressions. The theoretical accuracy of the algorithm is about 1.7 kg/m 2 . We discuss and quantify possible error sources using radiative transfer simulations. These error sources are variable aerosol optical thickness, type, and vertical distribution, spectral variations in land surface reflectance, deviations between the actual and nominal bandsetting of the MERIS, sensor noise, variations in surface pressure; and temperature variations. For validation, we re-calibrate the algorithm to the bandsettings of the Modular Optoelectronical Scanner (MOS), which has been flown on the Indian IRS platform since 1996. Comparisons of the retrieved water vapour path (WVP) with colocated radiosoundings for 239 cases in the period 1996–1999 show a RMSE of 2.49 kg/m 2 with a BIAS component of 0.04 kg/m 2 .

Assessment of the potential of MERIS near‐infrared water vapour products to correct ASAR interferometric measurements

Atmospheric water vapour is a major limitation for high precision Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) applications due to its significant impact on microwave signals. We propose a statistical criterion to test whether an independent water vapour product can reduce water vapour effects on InSAR interferograms, and assess the potential of the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) near‐infrared water vapour products for correcting Advanced SAR (ASAR) data. Spatio‐temporal comparisons show c. 1.1 mm agreement between MERIS and GPS/radiosonde water vapour products in terms of standard deviations. One major limitation with the use of MERIS water vapour products is the frequency of cloud free conditions. Our analysis indicates that in spite of the low global cloud free conditions (∼25%), the frequency can be much higher for certain areas such as Eastern Tibet (∼38%) and Southern California (∼48%). This suggests that MERIS water vapour products show potential for correcting ASAR interferometric measurements in certain regions.

Uncertainties in Microwave Properties of Frozen Precipitation: Implications for Remote Sensing and Data Assimilation

A combined active/passive modeling system that converts CloudSat observations to simulated microwave brightness temperatures (TB) is used to assess different ice particle models under precipitating conditions. Simulationresultsindicatethatcertainicemodels(e.g.,low-densityspheres)produceexcessivescatteringand implausibly low simulated TBs for stratiform precipitation events owing to excessive derived ice water paths (IWPs), while other ice models produce unphysical TB depressions due to the combined effects of elevated derived IWP and excessive particle size distribution‐averaged extinction. An ensemble of nonspherical ice particle models, however, consistently produces realistic results under most circumstances and adequately captures the radiative properties of frozen hydrometeors associated with precipitation—with the possible exception of very high IWP events. Large derived IWP uncertainties exceeding 60% are also noted and may indicateIWP retrieval accuracy deficiencies using high-frequency passive microwave observations. Simulated TB uncertainties due to the ice particle model ensemble members approach 9 (5) K at 89 (157) GHz for high ice water path conditions associated with snowfall and ;2‐3 (;1‐2) K under typical stratiform rain conditions. These uncertainties, however, display considerable variability owing to ice water path, precipitation type, satellite zenith angle, and frequency. Comparisons between 157-GHz simulations and observations under precipitating conditions produce low biases (,1.5 K) and high correlations, but lower-frequency channels display consistent negative biases of 3‐4 K in precipitating regions. Sample error correlations and covariance matrices for select microwave frequencies also show strong functional relationships with ice water path and variability depending on precipitation type.

Utilizing Spaceborne Radars to Retrieve Dry Snowfall

Abstract A dataset consisting of one year of CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) near-surface radar reflectivity Z associated with dry snowfall is examined in this study. The CPR observations are converted to snowfall rates S using derived Ze–S relationships, which were created from backscatter cross sections of various nonspherical and spherical ice particle models. The CPR reflectivity histograms show that the dominant mode of global near-surface dry snowfall has extremely light reflectivity values (∼3–4 dBZe), and an estimated 94% of all CPR dry snowfall observations are less than 10 dBZe. The average conditional global snowfall rate is calculated to be about 0.28 mm h−1, but is regionally highly variable as well as strongly sensitive to the ice particle model chosen. Further, ground clutter contamination is found in regions of complex terrain even when a vertical reflectivity continuity threshold is utilized. The potential of future multifrequency spaceborne radars is evaluated using proxy 35–13.6-GH...