Determination of ice water path in ice-over-water cloud systems using combined MODIS and AMSR-E measurements

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 33; no. 21; pp. L21801 - n/a
• Main Authors: Huang, Jianping, Minnis, Patrick, Lin, Bing, Yi, Yuhong, Fan, T.-F., Sun-Mack, Sunny, Ayers, J. K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Geophysical Union 01.11.2006; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Atmospheric Composition and Structure; Atmospheric Processes; Climate dynamics; Cloud physics and chemistry; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Global Change; Radiative processes; microwaves; Water cloud; High altitude; models; Liquid water path; instruments; Earth Observing System; accuracy; ice; Optical thickness; Ice cloud; radiance
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1029/2006GL027038

To provide more accurate ice cloud microphysical properties, the multi‐layered cloud retrieval system (MCRS) is used to retrieve ice water path (IWP) in ice‐over‐water cloud systems globally over oceans using combined instrument data from Aqua. The liquid water path (LWP) of lower‐layer water clouds is estimated from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for EOS (AMSR‐E) measurements. The properties of the upper‐level ice clouds are then derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) measurements by matching simulated radiances from a two‐cloud‐layer radiative transfer model. The results show that the MCRS can significantly improve the accuracy and reduce the over‐estimation of optical depth and IWP retrievals for ice‐over‐water cloud systems. The mean daytime ice cloud optical depth and IWP for overlapped ice‐over‐water clouds over oceans from Aqua are 7.6 and 146.4 gm−2, respectively, down from the initial single‐layer retrievals of 17.3 and 322.3 gm−2. The mean IWP for actual single‐layer clouds is 128.2 gm−2.