Estimating glaciation temperature of deep convective clouds with remote sensing data

Abstract

Major uncertainties exist for observing and modeling ice content inside deep convective clouds (DCC). One of the difficulties has been the lack of characterization of vertical profiles of cloud hydrometeor phase. Here we propose a technique to estimate the DCC glaciation temperature using passive remote sensing data. It is based on a conceptual model of vertical hydrometeor size profiles inside DCCs. Estimates from the technique agree well with our general understanding of the problem. Furthermore, the link between vertical profiles of cloud particle size and hydrometeor thermodynamic phase is confirmed by a 3‐D cloud retrieval technique. The technique is applied to aircraft measurements of cloud side reflectance and the result was compared favorably with an independent retrieval of thermodynamic phase based on different refractive indices at 2.13 μm and 2.25 μm. Possible applications of the technique are discussed.