Comment on acp-2022-73

Abstract

The cloud drop effective radius, Re, of the drop size distribution derived from passive satellite sensors is a key variable used in climate research. Validation of these satellite products often took place in stratiform cloud conditions that favored the assumption of cloud horizontal homogeneity used by the retrieval techniques. However, many studies point to concerns of significant biases in retrieved Re arising from cloud heterogeneity, for example, in cumulus cloud fields. Here, we examine data collected during the 2019 Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex), which, in part, targeted the objective of providing the first detailed evaluation of Re retrieved across multiple platforms and techniques in a cumulus and congestus cloud region. Our evaluation consists of cross comparisons of Re between the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra satellite, the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) onboard the NASA P-3 aircraft, and in situ measurements from both the P-3 and Learjet aircrafts that are all taken in close space-time proximity of the same cloud fields. A particular advantage of our approach lies in RSP’s capability to retrieve Re using a bi-spectral MODIS approach and a polarimetric approach, which allows for evaluating bi-spectral and polarimetric Re retrievals from an airborne perspective using the same samples. Averaged over all P-3 flight segments examined here for warm clouds, the RSP-polarimetric, in situ, and the bias-adjusted MODIS method of Fu et al. (2019) show comparable median (mean and standard deviations) of Re samples of 9.6 (10.2 ± 4.0) μm, 11.0 (13.6 ± 11.3) μm, and 10.4 (10.8 ± 3.8) μm, respectively. These values are far lower than 15.1 (16.2 ± 5.5) μm and 17.2 (17.7 ± 5.7) μm from the bi-spectral retrievals of RSP and MODIS, respectively. Similar results are observed when Re is segregated by cloud top height and in detailed case studies. The clouds sampled during CAMP2Ex consist of mostly small (mean transect length ~1.4 km) and low clouds (mean cloud top height ~ 1 km), which are much smaller than the trade wind cumuli sampled in past field campaigns such as Rain in Shallow Cumulus over the Ocean (RICO) and the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX). RSP bi-spectral Re shows larger relative values compared to RSP polarimetric Re for smaller and optically thinner clouds. Drizzle, cloud top bumpiness and solar-zenith angle, however, are not closely correlated with the overestimate of bi-spectral Re. We show that for shallow, non-drizzling clouds that dominate the liquid cloud cover for the CAMP2Ex region and period, 3D radiative pathways appear to be the leading cause for the large positive biases in bi-spectral retrievals. Because this bias varies with the underlying structure of the cloud field, caution continues to be warranted in studies that use bi-spectral Re retrievals in cumulus cloud fields.