Backscatter-to-Extinction Ratios in the Top Layers of Tropical Mesoscale Convective Systems and in Isolated Cirrus from LITE Observations.

Abstract Cloud-integrated attenuated backscatter from observations with the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment (LITE) was studied over a range of cirrus clouds capping some extensive mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) in the Tropical West Pacific. The integrated backscatter when the cloud is completely attenuating, and when corrected for multiple scattering, is a measure of the cloud particle backscatter phase function. Four different cases of MCS were studied. The first was very large, very intense, and fully attenuating, with cloud tops extending to 17 km and a maximum lidar pulse penetration of about 3 km. It also exhibited the highest integrated attenuated isotropic backscatter, with values in the 532-nm channel of up to 2.5 near the center of the system, falling to 0.6 near the edges. The second MCS had cloud tops that extended to 14.8 km. Although MCS2 was almost fully attenuating, the pulse penetration into the cloud was up to 7 km and the MCS2 had a more diffuse appearance than MCS1. The integr...

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