Multi-sensor measurements of mixed-phase clouds above Greenland

Liquid-only and mixed-phase clouds in the Arctic strongly affect the regional surface energy and ice mass budgets, yet much remains unknown about the nature of these clouds due to the lack of intensive measurements. Lidar measurements of these clouds are challenged by very large signal dynamic range...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:EPJ Web of Conferences
Main Authors: Stillwell Robert A., Shupe Matthew D., Thayer Jeffrey P., Neely Ryan R., Turner David D.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: EDP Sciences 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/201817608006
https://doaj.org/article/9f8c28ddef9d4a70a0cf64e802b25226
Description
Summary:Liquid-only and mixed-phase clouds in the Arctic strongly affect the regional surface energy and ice mass budgets, yet much remains unknown about the nature of these clouds due to the lack of intensive measurements. Lidar measurements of these clouds are challenged by very large signal dynamic range, which makes even seemingly simple tasks, such as thermodynamic phase classification, difficult. This work focuses on a set of measurements made by the Clouds Aerosol Polarization and Backscatter Lidar at Summit, Greenland and its retrieval algorithms, which use both analog and photon counting as well as orthogonal and non-orthogonal polarization retrievals to extend dynamic range and improve overall measurement quality and quantity. Presented here is an algorithm for cloud parameter retrievals that leverages enhanced dynamic range retrievals to classify mixed-phase clouds. This best guess retrieval is compared to co-located instruments for validation.