Publications

Huang, JP, Minnis, P, Lin, B, Yi, YH, Fan, TF, Sun-Mack, S, Ayers, JK (2006). Determination of ice water path in ice-over-water cloud systems using combined MODIS and AMSR-E measurements. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 33(21), L21801.

Abstract
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).

DOI:
10.1029/2006GL027038

ISSN:
0094-8276