 |
| Titel |
Remote sensing the vertical profile of cloud droplet effective radius, thermodynamic phase, and temperature |
| VerfasserIn |
J. V. Martins, A. Marshak, L. A. Remer, D. Rosenfeld, Y. J. Kaufman, R. Fernandez-Borda, I. Koren, A. L. Correia, V. Zubko, P. Artaxo |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| ISSN |
1680-7316
|
| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ; 11, no. 18 ; Nr. 11, no. 18 (2011-09-16), S.9485-9501 |
| Datensatznummer |
250010075
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/acp-11-9485-2011.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
Cloud-aerosol interaction is a key issue in the climate system,
affecting the water cycle, the weather, and the total energy balance
including the spatial and temporal distribution of latent heat release.
Information on the vertical distribution of cloud droplet microphysics and
thermodynamic phase as a function of temperature or height, can be correlated
with details of the aerosol field to provide insight on how these particles
are affecting cloud properties and their consequences to cloud lifetime,
precipitation, water cycle, and general energy balance. Unfortunately,
today's experimental methods still lack the observational tools that can
characterize the true evolution of the cloud microphysical, spatial and
temporal structure in the cloud droplet scale, and then link these
characteristics to environmental factors and properties of the cloud
condensation nuclei.
Here we propose and demonstrate a new experimental approach (the
cloud scanner instrument) that provides the microphysical information missed
in current experiments and remote sensing options. Cloud scanner measurements
can be performed from aircraft, ground, or satellite by scanning the side of
the clouds from the base to the top, providing us with the unique opportunity
of obtaining snapshots of the cloud droplet microphysical and thermodynamic
states as a function of height and brightness temperature in clouds at
several development stages. The brightness temperature profile of the cloud
side can be directly associated with the thermodynamic phase of the droplets
to provide information on the glaciation temperature as a function of
different ambient conditions, aerosol concentration, and type. An aircraft
prototype of the cloud scanner was built and flew in a field campaign in
Brazil.
The CLAIM-3D (3-Dimensional Cloud Aerosol Interaction Mission)
satellite concept proposed here combines several techniques to simultaneously
measure the vertical profile of cloud microphysics, thermodynamic phase,
brightness temperature, and aerosol amount and type in the neighborhood of
the clouds. The wide wavelength range, and the use of multi-angle
polarization measurements proposed for this mission allow us to estimate the
availability and characteristics of aerosol particles acting as cloud
condensation nuclei, and their effects on the cloud microphysical structure.
These results can provide unprecedented details on the response of cloud
droplet microphysics to natural and anthropogenic aerosols in the size scale
where the interaction really happens. |
| |
|
| Teil von |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|