Comments on “A CloudSat–CALIPSO View of Cloud and Precipitation Properties across Cold Fronts over the Global Oceans”

Abstract

Naud et al. constructed satellite-based composite analyses of clouds and precipitation across cold fronts. However, their approach does not exclude occluded fronts, does not separate anafronts from katafronts, does not separate frontlike phenomena primarily identified by thermal gradients from those primarily identified by wind changes, and smooths over alongfront variability. By lumping these disparate frontal structures together, the front-centered composite cross sections reveal forward-sloping structures and weak gradients across them, raising questions about how to interpret their composite cross sections.