Evaluation of ground-based remotely sensed liquid water cloud properties using shortwave radiation measurements

Abstract

Water cloud optical and microphysical properties are required for a better understanding of the impact of aerosols on the solar radiation feedback. The introduced retrieval technique provides droplet concentration, effective radius and optical thickness on a basis of ground-based remote sensing observations and a vertical cloud model. Mainly cloud radar, microwave radiometer and ceilometer observations are used in this approach. The model assumptions are related to a sub-adiabatic approach, in which cloud mixing processes are predefined to be homogeneous. A gamma droplet size distribution with a fixed shape parameter is considered to relate the observations with the retrieval products. The technique is applied on a water cloud case and the uncertainties in relation to the model assumptions and errors in the measurements are determined. The greatest uncertainty in the retrieval of droplet concentration is related to the fixed shape parameter, which requires in-situ data for validation processes to quantify the results. The optical parameters are less sensitive to the model assumptions and they are evaluated with a radiative closure experiment. They are used as input for radiative transfer calculations in order to compare the simulations with radiation measurements at the ground. There is a relatively good agreement between the simulated and measured radiation considering the horizontal cloud inhomogeneity, although a bias of around 5% still exists. Therefore the technique might be a suitable approach of retrieving quantitative cloud optical properties independently from radiation observations.