Cloud Optical Thickness Retrievals Research Articles

Correction of cloud optical thickness retrievals from nadir reflectances in the presence of 3D radiative effects. Part I: concept and tests on 3D RT simulations

3D effects cause substantial underestimation of cloud optical thickness (COT) in airborne and satellite retrievals based on 1D radiative transfer computations (such as in the case of widely used bispectral technique). For a single-layer isolated cloud we propose a simple linear correction of the retrieved COT with the renormalization factor dependent on the cloud’s aspect ratio (the ratio between vertical and horizontal dimensions of the cloud). This is an empirical assumption which we successfully test using synthetic 3D RT data. We introduce a heuristic “block model” of 3D radiative effects and show that the functional form of the renormalization factor is consistent with the process of radiation escape from cloud sides in an essentially 3D geometry. We also extend the block model to the case of single-layer broken cloud field with radiative interaction between the neighboring clouds. In this case the renormalization factor depends also on the distance between clouds.

The Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR3T) – towards the mitigation of 3D bias in airborne and spaceborne passive imagery cloud retrievals

Abstract. We introduce the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR3T, pronounced []) for quantifying and mitigating artifacts in atmospheric radiation science algorithms due to spatially inhomogeneous clouds and surfaces and show the benefits of automated, realistic radiance and irradiance generation along extended satellite orbits, flight tracks from entire aircraft field missions, and synthetic data generation from model data. EaR3T is a modularized Python package that provides high-level interfaces to automate the process of 3D radiative transfer (3D-RT) calculations. After introducing the package, we present initial findings from four applications, which are intended as blueprints to future in-depth scientific studies. The first two applications use EaR3T as a satellite radiance simulator for the NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) missions, which generate synthetic satellite observations with 3D-RT on the basis of cloud field properties from imagery-based retrievals and other input data. In the case of inhomogeneous cloud fields, we show that the synthetic radiances are often inconsistent with the original radiance measurements. This lack of radiance consistency points to biases in heritage imagery cloud retrievals due to sub-pixel resolution clouds and 3D-RT effects. They come to light because the simulator's 3D-RT engine replicates processes in nature that conventional 1D-RT retrievals do not capture. We argue that 3D radiance consistency (closure) can serve as a metric for assessing the performance of a cloud retrieval in presence of spatial cloud inhomogeneity even with limited independent validation data. The other two applications show how airborne measured irradiance data can be used to independently validate imagery-derived cloud products via radiative closure in irradiance. This is accomplished by simulating downwelling irradiance from geostationary cloud retrievals of Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI) along all the below-cloud aircraft flight tracks of the Cloud, Aerosol and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex, NASA 2019) and comparing the irradiances with the colocated airborne measurements. In contrast to case studies in the past, EaR3T facilitates the use of observations from entire field campaigns for the statistical validation of satellite-derived irradiance. From the CAMP2Ex mission, we find a low bias of 10 % in the satellite-derived cloud transmittance, which we are able to attribute to a combination of the coarse resolution of the geostationary imager and 3D-RT biases. Finally, we apply a recently developed context-aware Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) cloud retrieval framework to high-resolution airborne imagery from CAMP2Ex and show that the retrieved cloud optical thickness fields lead to better 3D radiance consistency than the heritage independent pixel algorithm, opening the door to future mitigation of 3D-RT cloud retrieval biases.

Time-Dependent Systematic Biases in Inferring Ice Cloud Properties from Geostationary Satellite Observations

Geostationary satellite-based remote sensing is a powerful tool to observe and understand the spatiotemporal variation of cloud optical-microphysical properties and their climatologies. Solar reflectances measured from the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instruments aboard Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites 16 and 17 correspond to different spatial pixel resolutions, from 0.5 km in a visible band, up to 2 km in infrared bands. For multi-band retrievals of cloud properties, reflectances with finer spatial resolution need to be resampled (averaged or sub-sampled) to match the coarsest resolution. Averaging all small pixels within a larger pixel footprint is more accurate but computationally demanding when the data volume is large. Thus, NOAA operational cloud products incorporate sub-sampling (selecting one high-resolution pixel) to resample the reflectance data, which could cause potential retrieval biases. In this study, we examine various error sources of retrieval biases of cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud effective radius (CER) caused by sub-sampling, including the solar zenith angle, viewing zenith angle, pixel resolutions, and cloud types. CER retrievals from ice clouds based on sub-sampling have larger biases and uncertainties than COT retrievals. The relative error compared to pixel averaging is positive for clouds that have small COT or CER, and negative for clouds that have large COT or CER. The relative error of COT decreases as the pixel resolution becomes coarser. The COT retrieval biases are attributed mainly to cirrus and cirrostratus clouds, while the largest biases of CER retrievals are associated with cirrus clouds.

On the Scattering-Angle Dependence of the Spectral Consistency of Ice Cloud Optical Thickness Retrievals Based on Geostationary Satellite Observations

On the Scattering-Angle Dependence of the Spectral Consistency of Ice Cloud Optical Thickness Retrievals Based on Geostationary Satellite Observations

Segmentation-based multi-pixel cloud optical thickness retrieval using a convolutional neural network

Abstract. We introduce a new machine learning approach to retrieve cloud optical thickness (COT) fields from visible passive imagery. In contrast to the heritage independent pixel approximation (IPA), our convolutional neural network (CNN) retrieval takes the spatial context of a pixel into account and thereby reduces artifacts arising from net horizontal photon transfer, which is commonly known as independent pixel (IP) bias. The CNN maps radiance fields acquired by imaging radiometers at a single wavelength channel to COT fields. It is trained with a low-complexity and therefore fast U-Net architecture with which the mapping is implemented as a segmentation problem with 36 COT classes. As a training data set, we use a single radiance channel (600 nm) generated from a 3D radiative transfer model using large eddy simulations (LESs) from the Sulu Sea. We study the CNN model under various conditions based on different permutations of cloud aspect ratio and morphology, and we use appropriate cloud morphology metrics to measure the performance of the retrievals. Additionally, we test the general applicability of the CNN on a new geographic location with LES data from the equatorial Atlantic. Results indicate that the CNN is broadly successful in overcoming the IP bias and outperforms IPA retrievals across all morphologies. Over the Atlantic, the CNN tends to overestimate the COT but shows promise in regions with high cloud fractions and high optical thicknesses, despite being outside the general training envelope. This work is intended to be used as a baseline for future implementations of the CNN that can enable generalization to different regions, scales, wavelengths, and sun-sensor geometries with limited training.

Effect of Cloud Droplet Spectrum Distribution on Retrievals of Water Cloud Optical Thickness and Effective Particle Radius by AGRI Onboard FY-4A Satellite

Effect of Cloud Droplet Spectrum Distribution on Retrievals of Water Cloud Optical Thickness and Effective Particle Radius by AGRI Onboard FY-4A Satellite

Temperature‐Independent Cloud Phase Retrieval From Shortwave‐Infrared Measurement of GCOM‐C/SGLI With Comparison to CALIPSO

AbstractThe shortwave infrared (SWIR) channels commonly accommodated in satellite‐borne passive sensors contain information on cloud thermodynamic phase as well as cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud effective radius (CER). This study develops algorithms for simultaneous retrieval of COT, CER, and cloud thermodynamic phase to estimate the fractional probability of the cloud phase as an alternative to discrete discrimination into liquid and ice typical of operational cloud retrievals. Two algorithms were developed and applied to the SWIR channels centered at 1.05, 1.63, and 2.21 μm of Second‐generation Global Imager (SGLI). The first algorithm retrieves COT, CER, and ice COT fractions relative to the total COT, which is a continuous quantity representing the partitioning into liquid and ice phases. The second represents the cloud phase partitioning in the form of differences between radiances observed and simulated under the assumptions of either liquid or ice clouds when retrieving COT and CER. The cloud phases from these algorithms agreed quantitatively with each other, and were able to characterize the phase occurrence on a global scale. The two types of cloud phase characterization were further compared against CALIPSO to find that the zonal‐mean occurrences of the cloud phase from the first algorithm were broadly consistent with those from CALIPSO, except for significantly smaller occurrences of supercooled water clouds in SGLI than in CALIPSO over middle‐to‐high latitude oceans. The cloud phase occurrences were also found to systematically vary with CER and cloud‐top temperature on a global scale in a manner significantly different between SGLI and CALIPSO.

Toward Cloud Tomography from Space Using MISR and MODIS: Locating the “Veiled Core” in Opaque Convective Clouds

Abstract For passive satellite imagers, current retrievals of cloud optical thickness and effective particle size fail for convective clouds with 3D morphology. Indeed, being based on 1D radiative transfer (RT) theory, they work well only for horizontally homogeneous clouds. A promising approach for treating clouds as fully 3D objects is cloud tomography, which has been demonstrated for airborne observations. However, more efficient forward 3D RT solvers are required for cloud tomography from space. Here, we present a path forward by acknowledging that optically thick clouds have “veiled cores” (VCs). Sunlight scattered into and out of this deep region does not contribute significant information about the inner structure of the cloud to the spatially detailed imagery. We investigate the VC location for the MISR and MODIS imagers. While MISR provides multiangle imagery in the visible and near-infrared (IR), MODIS includes channels in the shortwave IR, albeit at a single view angle. This combination will enable future 3D retrievals to disentangle the cloud’s effective particle size and extinction fields. We find that, in practice, the VC is located at an optical distance of ~5, starting from the cloud boundary along the line of sight. For MODIS’s absorbing wavelengths the VC covers a larger volume, starting at smaller optical distances. This concept will not only lead to a reduction in the number of unknowns for the tomographic reconstruction but also significantly increase the speed and efficiency of the 3D RT solver at the heart of the algorithm by applying, say, the photon diffusion approximation inside the VC.

An Improved Beta Method for Ice Cloud Property Retrievals: Theory

AbstractThe beta method has long been used for ice cloud property retrievals with the utilization of thermal infrared observations. The method assumes an idealized cloud that is isothermal and does not scatter radiation, which results in systematic biases in ice cloud property retrievals. We improve the beta method by taking into account, for the first time since the beta method was developed, a nonisothermal cloud layer and the cloud scattering effects. The improved beta method provides almost unbiased cloud optical thickness retrievals for typical cirrus clouds and reduces the systematic biases of effective particle radius retrievals for optically thin clouds. The improved beta method does not involve either Jacobian or iterative radiative transfer calculations. As a result, this method is computationally efficient, robustly applicable to any historical and current spaceborne thermal infrared observations, and capable of processing a large amount of satellite data.

The retrieval of cloud properties based on spectral solar light diffuse transmittance measurements under optically thick cloud cover conditions

We propose a simple and fast cloud retrieval technique based on the spectral diffuse transmittance measurements under optically thick clouds. The technique is aimed at retrieval of cloud optical thickness, liquid water path and effective radius of particles in cloudy media. It is based on the asymptotic radiative transfer solutions valid at cloud optical thicknesses above 10. Also we use the parametrizations of the Mie theory results for local optical properties of clouds such as the single scattering albedo, extinction coefficient, and asymmetry parameter. This makes it possible to reduce the inverse problem solution to finding a root of a simple transcendent equation.

Increasing the spatial resolution of cloud property retrievals from Meteosat SEVIRI by use of its high-resolution visible channel: evaluation of candidate approaches with MODIS observations

Abstract. This study presents and evaluates several candidate approaches for downscaling observations from the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) in order to increase the horizontal resolution of subsequent cloud optical thickness (τ) and effective droplet radius (reff) retrievals from the native ≈3km×3km spatial resolution of the narrowband channels to ≈1km×1km. These methods make use of SEVIRI's coincident broadband high-resolution visible (HRV) channel. For four example cloud fields, the reliability of each downscaling algorithm is evaluated by means of collocated 1 km×1 km MODIS radiances, which are reprojected to the horizontal grid of the HRV channel and serve as reference for the evaluation. By using these radiances, smoothed with the modulation transfer function of the native SEVIRI channels, as retrieval input, the accuracy at the SEVIRI standard resolution can be evaluated and an objective comparison of the accuracy of the different downscaling algorithms can be made. For the example scenes considered in this study, it is shown that neglecting high-frequency variations below the SEVIRI standard resolution results in significant random absolute deviations of the retrieved τ and reff of up to ≈14 and ≈6 µm, respectively, as well as biases. By error propagation, this also negatively impacts the reliability of the subsequent calculation of liquid water path (WL) and cloud droplet number concentration (ND), which exhibit deviations of up to ≈89gm-2 and ≈177cm-3, respectively. For τ, these deviations can be almost completely mitigated by the use of the HRV channel as a physical constraint and by applying most of the presented downscaling schemes. Uncertainties in retrieved reff at the native SEVIRI resolution are smaller, and the improvements from downscaling the observations are less obvious than for τ. Nonetheless, the right choice of downscaling scheme yields noticeable improvements in the retrieved reff. Furthermore, the improved reliability in retrieved cloud products results in significantly reduced uncertainties in derived WL and ND. In particular, one downscaling approach provides clear improvements for all cloud products compared to those obtained from SEVIRI's standard resolution and is recommended for future downscaling endeavors. This work advances efforts to mitigate impacts of scale mismatches among channels of multiresolution instruments on cloud retrievals.

The impact of aerosol on MODIS cloud detection and property retrieval in seriously polluted East China

Previous researches proved that aerosols have a significant influence on the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) cloud observation. In East China, this impact is much greater and special compared with other regions because of the frequent haze pollution. This study evaluated the impact of aerosols on cloud detection, cloud top height (CTH) and cloud optical thickness (COT) retrieval in East China primarily using the MODIS and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) observation, combined with a cloud detection rectification algorithm. The results showed that, in haze weather, MODIS misjudged large-scale of dense aerosols as “clouds”, which increased the observed cloud cover by 0.4 to 0.6 in the most seriously polluted regions. Compared with the clear condition, high aerosol loading with AOD >2 would increase the misjudgment possibility by 35%. Another influence is that MODIS has a 30% higher possibility to obtain an over low CTH of high and thin clouds, and overestimate the COT of thin ice clouds by 2.15 to 3.74 under serious air pollution. Further analyzes found that the cloud detection and COT retrieval was mainly influenced by the dense aerosols, while the CTH retrieval is vulnerable to both thin and dense aerosol. This study made a quantitative measurement of the aerosol influence on MODIS cloud observation, and first made a deep explanation for the effect of air pollution density.

Retrieval of Cloud Optical Thickness from Sky-View Camera Images using a Deep Convolutional Neural Network based on Three-Dimensional Radiative Transfer

Observation of the spatial distribution of cloud optical thickness (COT) is useful for the prediction and diagnosis of photovoltaic power generation. However, there is not a one-to-one relationship between transmitted radiance and COT (so-called COT ambiguity), and it is difficult to estimate COT because of three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer effects. We propose a method to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) based on a 3D radiative transfer model, which enables the quick estimation of the slant-column COT (SCOT) distribution from the image of a ground-mounted radiometrically calibrated digital camera. The CNN retrieves the SCOT spatial distribution using spectral features and spatial contexts. An evaluation of the method using synthetic data shows a high accuracy with a mean absolute percentage error of 18% in the SCOT range of 1–100, greatly reducing the influence of the 3D radiative effect. As an initial analysis result, COT is estimated from a sky image taken by a digital camera, and a high correlation is shown with the effective COT estimated using a pyranometer. The discrepancy between the two is reasonable, considering the difference in the size of the field of view, the space–time averaging method, and the 3D radiative effect.

Sensitivity of liquid cloud optical thickness and effective radius retrievals to cloud bow and glory conditions using two SEVIRI imagers

Abstract. Retrievals of cloud properties from geostationary satellite sensors offer extensive spatial and temporal coverage and resolution. The high temporal resolution allows the observation of diurnally resolved cloud properties. However, retrievals are sensitive to varying illumination and viewing geometries, including cloud glory and cloud bow conditions, which can lead to irregularities in the diurnal data record. In this study, these conditions and their effects on liquid cloud optical thickness and effective radius retrievals are analyzed using the Cloud Physical Properties (CPP) algorithm. This analysis is based on the use of Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) reflectances and products from Meteosat-8 and Meteosat-10, which are located over the Indian and Atlantic Ocean, respectively, and cover an extensive common area under different viewing angles. Comparisons of the retrievals from two full days, over ocean and land, and using different spectral combinations of visible and shortwave-infrared channels, are performed, to assess the importance of these factors in the retrieval process. The sensitivity of the cloud-bow- and cloud-glory-related irregularities to the width of the assumed droplet size distribution is analyzed by using different values of the effective variance of the size distribution. The results suggest for marine stratocumulus clouds an effective variance of around 0.05, which implies a narrower size distribution than typically assumed in satellite-based retrievals. For the case with continental clouds a broader size distribution (effective variance around 0.15) is obtained. This highlights the importance of appropriate size distribution assumptions and provides a way to improve the quality of cloud products in future climate data record releases.

Cloud Products from the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC): Algorithms and Initial Evaluation.

This paper presents the physical basis of the EPIC cloud product algorithms and an initial evaluation of their performance. Since June 2015, EPIC has been providing observations of the sunlit side of the Earth with its 10 spectral channels ranging from the UV to the near-IR. A suite of algorithms has been developed to generate the standard EPIC Level 2 Cloud Products that include cloud mask, cloud effective pressure/height, and cloud optical thickness. The EPIC cloud mask adopts the threshold method and utilizes multichannel observations and ratios as tests. Cloud effective pressure/height is derived with observations from the O2 A-band (780 nm and 764 nm), and B-band (680 nm and 688 nm) pairs. The EPIC cloud optical thickness retrieval adopts a single channel approach where the 780 nm and 680 nm channels are used for retrievals over ocean and over land, respectively. Comparison with co-located cloud retrievals from geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites shows that the EPIC cloud product algorithms are performing well and are consistent with theoretical expectations. These products are publicly available at the Atmospheric Science Data Center at the NASA Langley Research Center for climate studies and for generating other geophysical products that require cloud properties as input.

Improvement of airborne retrievals of cloud droplet number concentration of trade wind cumulus using a synergetic approach

Abstract. In situ measurements of cloud droplet number concentration N are limited by the sampled cloud volume. Satellite retrievals of N suffer from inherent uncertainties, spatial averaging, and retrieval problems arising from the commonly assumed strictly adiabatic vertical profiles of cloud properties. To improve retrievals of N it is suggested in this paper to use a synergetic combination of passive and active airborne remote sensing measurement, to reduce the uncertainty of N retrievals, and to bridge the gap between in situ cloud sampling and global averaging. For this purpose, spectral solar radiation measurements above shallow trade wind cumulus were combined with passive microwave and active radar and lidar observations carried out during the second Next Generation Remote Sensing for Validation Studies (NARVAL-II) campaign with the High Altitude and Long Range Research Aircraft (HALO) in August 2016. The common technique to retrieve N is refined by including combined measurements and retrievals of cloud optical thickness τ, liquid water path (LWP), cloud droplet effective radius reff, and cloud base and top altitude. Three approaches are tested and applied to synthetic measurements and two cloud scenarios observed during NARVAL-II. Using the new combined retrieval technique, errors in N due to the adiabatic assumption have been reduced significantly.

Improving Cloud Optical Property Retrievals for Partly Cloudy Pixels Using Coincident Higher‐Resolution Single Band Measurements: A Feasibility Study Using ASTER Observations

AbstractClear‐sky contamination is a challenging and long‐lasting problem for cloud optical thickness (τ) and effective droplet radius (reff) retrievals using passive satellite sensors. This study explores the feasibility of improving both τ and reff retrievals for partly cloudy (PCL) pixels by using available subpixel samples in a visible to near‐infrared band, which many satellite sensors offer. Data are provided by high‐resolution reflectance (R) observations and cloud property retrievals by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) at horizontal resolutions between 30‐960m. For partly cloudy 960‐m observations, the clear‐sky component of the pixels induces significant underestimations of up to 58% for τ, while overestimations in reff can exceed 41%. This yields underestimations in the derived liquid water path and cloud droplet number concentration of up to 68% and 72%, respectively. By means of three different assumptions it is shown that subpixel R observations in the visible to near‐infrared band can be used to estimate higher‐resolution R for the second band in the retrieval scheme, as well as the subpixel cloud cover. The estimated values compare well to actually observed ASTER results and are used to retrieve cloud properties, which are unbiased by the clear‐sky component of PCL pixels. While the presented retrieval approach is only evaluated for marine boundary layer clouds, it is computationally efficient and can be easily applied to observations from different imagers. As an example, the PCL retrieval scheme is applied to data by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, where similar biases for PCL pixels are observed.

Cirrus Horizontal Heterogeneity and 3‐D Radiative Effects on Cloud Optical Property Retrievals From MODIS Near to Thermal Infrared Channels as a Function of Spatial Resolution

AbstractTo retrieve cloud optical properties, current satellite operational imager algorithms simplify the forward radiative transfer problem by assuming that cloudy pixels are horizontally homogeneous and radiatively independent. This study investigates the effects of cirrus horizontal heterogeneity and 3‐D radiative effects on cloud optical thickness (COT) and ice crystal effective radius (CER) retrievals obtained using simulated nadir near‐infrared/shortwave‐infrared (NIR/SWIR) reflectances at 0.86 and 2.13 μm and thermal infrared (TIR) radiances at 8.5, 11.0, and 12.0 μm, first separately and next using the five wavelengths together. Synthetic cirrus radiation fields are generated using a cirrus 3‐D cloud generator and a 3‐D radiative transfer code. When both cloud 3‐D and heterogeneity effects are considered, the solar reflectance‐based retrievals have the largest errors (up to 10% for COT and 80% for CER, depending on solar angles) for spatial resolutions less than 500–1,000 m, while the TIR‐based retrievals have the largest errors (up to 30% for COT and 50% for CER) above this resolution due to parallel homogeneous approximation bias. Therefore, TIR radiance‐based retrievals are preferable for spatial resolutions equal or higher than ~500 m to 1 km, while NIR/SWIR reflectance‐based retrievals are preferable for coarser spatial resolutions. The combination of NIR/SWIR and TIR measurements performed better together than individually for CER retrieval only for resolutions coarser than 2.5 km because 3‐D effects are negligible at this scale. Thus, the spectral dependence of subpixel cloud horizontal heterogeneity and 3‐D radiative effects has strong consequences when simultaneously using different channels for retrieving cirrus properties.

The Community Cloud retrieval for CLimate (CC4CL) – Part 2: The optimal estimation approach

Abstract. The Community Cloud retrieval for Climate (CC4CL) is a cloud property retrieval system for satellite-based multispectral imagers and is an important component of the Cloud Climate Change Initiative (Cloud_cci) project. In this paper we discuss the optimal estimation retrieval of cloud optical thickness, effective radius and cloud top pressure based on the Optimal Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud (ORAC) algorithm. Key to this method is the forward model, which includes the clear-sky model, the liquid water and ice cloud models, the surface model including a bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF), and the "fast" radiative transfer solution (which includes a multiple scattering treatment). All of these components and their assumptions and limitations will be discussed in detail. The forward model provides the accuracy appropriate for our retrieval method. The errors are comparable to the instrument noise for cloud optical thicknesses greater than 10. At optical thicknesses less than 10 modeling errors become more significant. The retrieval method is then presented describing optimal estimation in general, the nonlinear inversion method employed, measurement and a priori inputs, the propagation of input uncertainties and the calculation of subsidiary quantities that are derived from the retrieval results. An evaluation of the retrieval was performed using measurements simulated with noise levels appropriate for the MODIS instrument. Results show errors less than 10 % for cloud optical thicknesses greater than 10. Results for clouds of optical thicknesses less than 10 have errors up to 20 %.

Vertical Profiles of Ice Cloud Microphysical Properties and Their Impacts on Cloud Retrieval Using Thermal Infrared Measurements

AbstractDespite the vertically inhomogeneous (VIH) structure of ice clouds, current passive remote sensing methods assume plane‐parallel homogeneous (PPH) layers, which can lead to retrieval errors. An adequate VIH cloud model is required to improve retrieval performance. In this study, CloudSat and CALIPSO satellite measurements in a 1‐year period were analyzed to model cloud vertical inhomogeneity, and its impacts on cloud retrieval were assessed using thermal infrared (TIR) measurements. The satellite measurements revealed that the peak ice water content (IWC) located around the cloud vertical midpoint moved toward the cloud base as the ice water path (IWP) increased in clouds with small IWP values; thicker clouds exhibited a gradual shift in IWC peak location toward the cloud top as IWP increased. The vertical profiles of both the cloud‐particle effective radius (CER) and a proxy of cloud‐particle number concentration showed close associations with the vertical IWC profile. An empirical model linking cloud geometrical thickness to columnar optical properties (IWP and column‐mean CER) as a function of cloud‐top temperature was also proposed. Compared with a model assuming PPH clouds, the VIH cloud model improved retrieval performance by reducing the retrieval error of the TIR‐based passive remote sensing algorithm. Further, by increasing the retrieved values of cloud‐top height noticeably for high‐level clouds and column‐mean CER considerably, with minimal effects on cloud optical thickness retrieval, the VIH cloud model yielded results that were in better agreement with radar/lidar ice cloud products than those obtained under the assumption of PPH cloud layers.