Premium
New Insights Into the Vertical Structure of Clouds in Polar Lows, Using Radar‐Lidar Satellite Observations
Author(s) -
Listowski C.,
Rojo M.,
Claud C.,
Delanoë J.,
Rysman J.F.,
Cazenave Q.,
Noer G.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2020gl088785
Subject(s) - lidar , ice crystals , satellite , cloud top , polar , geology , effective radius , radar , liquid water content , ice cloud , meteorology , atmospheric sciences , remote sensing , environmental science , cloud computing , geography , physics , telecommunications , astronomy , computer science , quantum mechanics , galaxy , operating system
For the first time, we characterize the vertical distribution of cloud microphysical properties in polar lows (PLs). We base our investigation on colocations found between A‐Train satellites overpasses and 82 PL occurrences evidenced from AVHRR observations in the Nordic Seas. We use the raDAR/liDAR DARDAR satellite cloud products to retrieve the thermodynamic phase and ice microphysical properties of clouds (ice water content [IWC] and ice crystal effective radius [r eff ]). Two thirds of the investigated PLs show cloud tops higher than commonly documented (5 km), and up to 9 km. PLs are largely dominated by the ice phase, with more supercooled liquid occurrences in the eye. We also show that spiraliform clouds have larger average IWC in the few kilometers below cloud top, by up to a factor of 2, compared to comma‐shaped PLs.