Abstract
Ice water content (IWC) is one of the critical parameters in determining the cloud radiative impact. In this work lidar-based IWC retrievals obtained in tropical mesoscale convective systems are evaluated in the context of an extensive in-situ and remote sensing instrumentation suite. Based on a test case of May 27, 2015 lidar-derived IWC values at 50 m above the aircraft were on average within 25% of the in-situ IWC measurements obtained using an isokinetic probe.
Highlights
We have found no works that evaluate the potential of lidar IWC retrievals in the high ice water content (HIWC) environment, with IWC values reaching as high as 2-3 g/m3
The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe the Airborne Elastic Cloud Lidar (AECL) lidar system, discuss the AECL performance and evaluate AECL capabilities in supplying IWC information as compared to in-situ measurements
Listed from top to bottom are: 1) lidar backscatter power, 2) lidar depolarization, 3) lidar extinction coefficient profiles obtained from Klett inversion, 4) radar W-band reflectivity, 5) computed particle concentration, L-1, 6) computed particle median diameter, μm, 7) extinction coefficient from insitu data and lidar extinction at 50 m above aircraft, 8) IWC measured by isokinetic probes (IKP) and lidar-based IWC taken at 50 m above aircraft (g/m3)
Summary
Ice and mixed-phase clouds cover roughly 25% of the Earth’s surface and can have a significant and variable effect on the Earth’s radiation budget [1]. We have found no works that evaluate the potential of lidar IWC retrievals in the high ice water content (HIWC) environment, with IWC values reaching as high as 2-3 g/m3. The quality of the remotely sensed IWC measurements is often evaluated through comparisons with in-situ data. This can turn out to be problematic in HIWC, because the standard measurement techniques of estimating IWC, either from 2D particle imagery or hot-wire probes, can suffer from numerous instrumental issues [3]. In May 2015, the NRC Convair-580 aircraft participated in the HAIC (High Altitude Ice Crystals)-HIWC project from an operational base in Cayenne (French Guiana, 5°N 52°W).
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