Arctic cloudiness in spring from satellite imagery: Some comments

Abstract The April cloud amounts recently presented by Barry et al. (1987) were significantly larger than expected. It was suggested that this discrepancy was caused by the obscuration of surface features by Arctic haze, which is believed by Barry et al. to consist of pollution aerosol transported f...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Climatology
Main Author: Curry, Judith A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1988
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.3370080510
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjoc.3370080510
https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.3370080510
Description
Summary:Abstract The April cloud amounts recently presented by Barry et al. (1987) were significantly larger than expected. It was suggested that this discrepancy was caused by the obscuration of surface features by Arctic haze, which is believed by Barry et al. to consist of pollution aerosol transported from middle latitudes. The present note suggests that a significant portion of the surface obscuration that occurs in April is due to small ice crystals that form in the lower troposphere of high latitudes before the summer warming begins. These ice crystals appear to be a major feature of the Arctic heat regime, and should be included in cloud statistics.