The Sensitivity of Ice Cloud Optical and Microphysical Passive Satellite Retrievals to Cloud Geometrical Thickness

Most satellite-based ice cloud retrieval algorithms rely on precomputed lookup libraries for inferring the ice cloud optical thickness (tau) and effective particle size ( De). However, this retrieval methodology does not account for the case where cloud geometrical thickness may vary by several kilometers. In this paper, we investigate the effect of the ice cloud geometrical thickness on the retrieval of tau and De for algorithms using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer infrared (IR) bands at 8.5 and 11 mum (or 12 mum) or solar bands at 0.65 and 1.64 mum (or 2.13 mum). We use a rigorous radiative transfer package to simulate the IR brightness temperatures and solar reflectances, assuming that the ice cloud top height is fixed at 12 or 15 km with a variation of cloud geometrical thickness from 0.5 to 5 km. The simulated brightness temperatures and reflectances are then used to investigate the errors of cloud tau and De inferred from the precomputed lookup tables developed with a specific geometrical thickness. It is found that the retrieval errors in tau and De increase with increasing tau for the IR and solar methods. In both cases, cloud tau and De may be underestimated and overestimated, respectively, if the effect of the cloud geometrical thickness is not taken into account. The effect of the cloud geometrical thickness on the retrieval of cloud optical and microphysical properties is much larger for the IR algorithm than for the solar-band-based algorithm. This paper demonstrates that the inclusion of the information about the cloud geometrical thickness may improve the accuracy of the retrieval of the cloud properties on the basis of the precomputed lookup libraries

[1]  The 1996 Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study , 1996 .

[2]  W. Rossow,et al.  Advances in understanding clouds from ISCCP , 1999 .

[3]  H. Grassl,et al.  Satellite remote sensing of the optical depth and mean crystal size of thin cirrus and contrails , 1993 .

[4]  Richard C. Miake-Lye,et al.  Subsonic aircraft: Contrail and cloud effects special study (SUCCESS) , 1998 .

[5]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Contrails, Cirrus Trends, and Climate , 2004 .

[6]  W. Paul Menzel,et al.  Cloud and aerosol properties, precipitable water, and profiles of temperature and water vapor from MODIS , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[7]  David L. Mitchell,et al.  Modeling cirrus clouds. Part II: Treatment of radiative properties , 1996 .

[8]  William B. Rossow,et al.  Characterizing Tropical Cirrus Life Cycle, Evolution, and Interaction with Upper-Tropospheric Water Vapor Using Lagrangian Trajectory Analysis of Satellite Observations , 2004 .

[9]  Bryan A. Baum,et al.  Remote sensing of cloud properties using MODIS airborne simulator imagery during SUCCESS: 1. Data and models , 2000 .

[10]  Steven Platnick,et al.  The influence of thermodynamic phase on the retrieval of mixed-phase cloud microphysical and optical properties in the visible and near-infrared region , 2006, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[11]  M. Baker.  Cloud physics: Inside history on droplets , 2001, Nature.

[12]  G. McFarquhar,et al.  Sensitivity of cirrus bidirectional reflectance to vertical inhomogeneity of ice crystal habits and size distributions for two Moderate‐Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) bands , 2001 .

[13]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Inference of cirrus cloud properties using satellite-observed visible and infrared radiances. Part I: parameterization of radiance fields , 1993 .

[14]  W. Menzel,et al.  Eight Years of High Cloud Statistics Using HIRS , 1999 .

[15]  James D. Spinhirne,et al.  Split‐window retrieval of particle size and optical depth in contrails located above horizontally inhomogeneous ice clouds , 1996 .

[16]  K. Liou,et al.  Parameterization of the scattering and absorption properties of individual ice crystals , 2000 .

[17]  G. Mace,et al.  Cirrus Cloud Properties from a Cloud-Resolving Model Simulation Compared to Cloud Radar Observations , 2003 .

[18]  M. King,et al.  Determination of the optical thickness and effective particle radius of clouds from reflected solar , 1990 .

[19]  T. Nakajima,et al.  Geometrical thickness, liquid water content, and radiative properties of stratocumulus clouds over the Western North Pacific , 1995 .

[20]  A. Kokhanovsky,et al.  Semianalytical cloud retrieval algorithm as applied to the cloud top altitude and the cloud geometrical thickness determination from top‐of‐atmosphere reflectance measurements in the oxygen A band , 2004 .

[21]  Claudia J. Stubenrauch,et al.  Retrieval of effective ice crystal size in the infrared: Sensitivity study and global measurements from TIROS‐N Operational Vertical Sounder , 2003 .

[22]  Vladimir V. Rozanov,et al.  Cloud bottom altitude determination from a satellite , 2005, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[23]  Nobuyuki Kikuchi,et al.  Absorption of solar radiation by stratocumulus clouds: aircraft measurements and theoretical calculations , 1995 .

[24]  Bryan A. Baum,et al.  The spectral signature of mixed-phase clouds composed of non-spherical ice crystals and spherical liquid droplets in the terrestrial window region , 2003 .

[25]  Frédéric Parol,et al.  Information Content of AVHRR Channels 4 and 5 with Respect to the Effective Radius of Cirrus Cloud Particles , 1991 .

[26]  Steven Platnick,et al.  Remote Sensing of Liquid Water and Ice Cloud Optical Thickness and Effective Radius in the Arctic: Application of Airborne Multispectral MAS Data , 2004 .

[27]  F. Rose,et al.  ACCOUNTING FOR MOLECULAR ABSORPTION WITHIN THE SPECTRAL RANGE OF THE CERES WINDOW CHANNEL , 1999 .

[28]  K. Liou,et al.  Surface variability effects on the remote sensing of thin cirrus optical and microphysical properties , 2001 .

[29]  Michael D. King,et al.  Remote sensing of optical and microphysical properties of cirrus clouds using Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer channels: Methodology and sensitivity to physical assumptions , 2000 .

[30]  G. Kattawar,et al.  Scattering and absorption property database for nonspherical ice particles in the near- through far-infrared spectral region. , 2005, Applied optics.

[31]  Vladimir V. Rozanov,et al.  Determination of cloud geometrical thickness using backscattered solar light in a gaseous absorption band , 2006, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.

[32]  W. Paul Menzel,et al.  Remote sensing of cloud properties using MODIS airborne simulator imagery during SUCCESS: 2. Cloud thermodynamic phase , 2000 .

[33]  David Oc. Starr,et al.  A Cirrus-Cloud Experiment: Intensive Field Observations Planned for Fire , 1987 .

[34]  Paul W. Stackhouse,et al.  The Relevance of the Microphysical and Radiative Properties of Cirrus Clouds to Climate and Climatic Feedback , 1990 .

[35]  Ralph Holz,et al.  Retrieval of cirrus ice crystal sizes from 8.3 and 11.1 μm emissivities determined by the improved initialization inversion of TIROS‐N Operational Vertical Sounder observations , 1999 .

[36]  Bryan A. Baum,et al.  Remote sensing of cloud properties using MODIS airborne simulator imagery during SUCCESS: 3. Cloud Overlap , 2000 .

[37]  Andrew A. Lacis,et al.  Sensitivity of cirrus cloud albedo, bidirectional reflectance and optical thickness retrieval accuracy to ice particle shape , 1996 .

[38]  Ping Yang,et al.  The Distribution of Tropical Thin Cirrus Clouds Inferred from Terra MODIS Data , 2003 .

[39]  Patrick Minnis,et al.  Inference of Cirrus Cloud Properties Using Satellite-observed Visible and Infrared Radiances. Part II: Verification of Theoretical Cirrus Radiative Properties , 1993 .

[40]  W. Paul Menzel,et al.  The MODIS cloud products: algorithms and examples from Terra , 2003, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[41]  E. O'connor,et al.  The CloudSat mission and the A-train: a new dimension of space-based observations of clouds and precipitation , 2002 .

[42]  Q. Fu.  An Accurate Parameterization of the Infrared Radiative Properties of Cirrus Clouds for Climate Models , 1996 .

[43]  Qiang Fu,et al.  Retrieval of cirrus particle sizes using a split-window technique: a sensitivity study , 2001 .

[44]  David P. Kratz,et al.  THE CORRELATED k-DISTRIBUTION TECHNIQUE AS APPLIED TO THE AVHRR CHANNELS , 1995 .

[45]  K. Liou.  Influence of Cirrus Clouds on Weather and Climate Processes: A Global Perspective , 1986 .

[46]  K. Stamnes,et al.  Numerically stable algorithm for discrete-ordinate-method radiative transfer in multiple scattering and emitting layered media. , 1988, Applied optics.

[47]  M. King.  Determination of the Scaled Optical Thickness of Clouds from Reflected Solar Radiation Measurements , 1987 .