Anatomy of cirrus clouds: Results from the Emerald airborne campaigns

Abstract

The Emerald airborne measurement campaigns have provided a view of the anatomy of cirrus clouds in both the tropics and mid‐latitudes. These experiments have involved two aircraft that combine remote sensing and in‐situ measurements. Results are presented here from two separate flights: one in frontal cirrus above Adelaide, Australia, the other in the cirrus outflow from convection above Darwin. Recorded images of ice crystals are shown in relation to the cloud structure measured simultaneously by an airborne lidar. In mid‐latitude frontal cirrus, columnar and irregular ice crystals were observed throughout the cloud while rosettes were found only at the top. The cirrus outflow from a tropical thunderstorm extended for hundreds of kilometres between the heights of 12.2 and 15.8 km. This was composed mainly of hexagonal plates, columns, and large crystal aggregates that originated from within the main core region of the convection. A small number of bullet rosettes were found at the top of the outflow cirrus and this is interpreted as an indication of in‐situ crystal formation. It was found that the largest aggregates fell to the lower regions of the outflow cirrus cloud while the single crystals and small aggregates remained at the top.