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Cloud occurrences and cloud radiative effects (CREs) from CERES‐CALIPSO‐CloudSat‐MODIS (CCCM) and CloudSat radar‐lidar (RL) products
Author(s) -
Ham SeungHee,
Kato Seiji,
Rose Fred G.,
Winker David,
L'Ecuyer Tristan,
Mace Gerald G.,
Painemal David,
SunMack Sunny,
Chen Yan,
Miller Walter F.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2017jd026725
Subject(s) - lidar , environmental science , cloud top , shortwave , remote sensing , longwave , radar , meteorology , satellite , atmospheric sciences , radiative transfer , geology , geography , computer science , telecommunications , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering , aerospace engineering
Two kinds of cloud products obtained from Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO), CloudSat, and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are compared and analyzed in this study: Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES)‐CALIPSO‐CloudSat‐MODIS (CCCM) product and CloudSat radar‐lidar products such as GEOPROF‐LIDAR and FLXHR‐LIDAR. Compared to GEOPROF‐LIDAR, low‐level (<1 km) cloud occurrences in CCCM are larger over tropical oceans because the CCCM algorithm uses a more relaxed threshold of cloud‐aerosol discrimination score for CALIPSO Vertical Feature Mask product. In contrast, midlevel (1–8 km) cloud occurrences in GEOPROF‐LIDAR are larger than CCCM at high latitudes (>40°). The difference occurs when hydrometeors are detected by CALIPSO lidar but are undetected by CloudSat radar. In the comparison of cloud radiative effects (CREs), global mean differences between CCCM and FLXHR‐LIDAR are mostly smaller than 5 W m −2 , while noticeable regional differences are found. For example, CCCM shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) CREs are larger than FXLHR‐LIDAR along the west coasts of Africa and America because the GEOPROF‐LIDAR algorithm misses shallow marine boundary layer clouds. In addition, FLXHR‐LIDAR SW CREs are larger than the CCCM counterpart over tropical oceans away from the west coasts of America. Over midlatitude storm‐track regions, CCCM SW and LW CREs are larger than the FLXHR‐LIDAR counterpart.