Abstract
In this study, long-term (10 years) radiosonde-based cloud data are compared with the ground-based active remote sensing product under six prevailing large-scale synoptic patterns, i.e., cyclonic center (CC), weak pressure pattern (WP), the southeast bottom of cyclonic center (CB), cold front (CF), anticyclone edge (AE) and anticyclone center (AC) over the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site. The synoptic patterns are generated by applying the self-organizing map weather classification method to the daily National Centers for Environmental Protection mean sea level pressure records from the North American Regional Reanalysis. It reveals that the large-scale synoptic circulations can strongly influence the regional cloud formation, and thereby have impact on the consistency of cloud retrievals from the radiosonde and ground-based cloud product. The total cloud cover at the SGP site is characterized by the least in AC and the most in CF. The minimum and maximum differences between the two cloud methods are 10.3% for CC and 13.3% for WP. Compared to the synoptic patterns characterized by scattered cloudy and clear skies (AE and AC), the agreement of collocated cloud boundaries between the two cloud approaches tends to be better under the synoptic patterns dominated by overcast and cloudy skies (CC, WP and CB). The rainy and windy weather conditions in CF synoptic pattern influence the consistency of the two cloud retrieval methods associated with the limited capabilities inherent to the instruments. The cloud thickness distribution from the two cloud datasets compares favorably with each other in all synoptic patterns, with relative discrepancy of ≤0.3 km.
Highlights
Clouds have a critical influence on the Earth’s radiation budget and climate change [1].Cloud vertical structures can interact with atmospheric dynamics and have a pronounced impact on the climate sensitivity [2,3,4]
Significant discrepancies still exist in cloud retrievals from different cloud products associated with their various inherent features and the high complexity of cloud distributions
Comparison of cloud profiles from different methods is of significance that is absolutely required for the improvement of these methods
Summary
Clouds have a critical influence on the Earth’s radiation budget and climate change [1]. The identification of large-scale synoptic patterns could be the basis on which to improve the understanding of the consistencies in cloud retrievals from various observational data as well as to determine the potential attributed sources of their differences Based on this consideration, a comprehensive comparison of long-term (2001–2010) cloud products generated from the radiosonde and ground-based cloud retrieval approaches is performed at the SGP site on the basis of the classification of large-scale synoptic patterns in this study. A comprehensive comparison of long-term (2001–2010) cloud products generated from the radiosonde and ground-based cloud retrieval approaches is performed at the SGP site on the basis of the classification of large-scale synoptic patterns in this study It will help prompt knowledge of the interaction between the large-scale synoptic circulations and the regional cloud properties, and thereby quantitatively evaluate whether/how the synoptic patterns can influence the consistency and/or discrepancy between the cloud retrievals from the radiosonde and ARSCL data.
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