scholarly journals Global Circuit Model with Clouds

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1143-1156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Limin Zhou ◽  
Brian A. Tinsley
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Circuit Model ◽  
Cloud Layer ◽  
Cloud Droplets ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Grid Element ◽  
Global Circuit ◽  
Fractional Cloud ◽  
Cloud Top Pressure ◽  
High Clouds

Abstract Cloud data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) database have been introduced into the global circuit model developed by Tinsley and Zhou. Using the cloud-top pressure data and cloud type information, the authors have estimated the cloud thickness for each type of cloud. A treatment of the ion pair concentration in the cloud layer that depends on the radii and concentration of the cloud droplets is used to evaluate the reduction of conductivity in the cloud layer. The conductivities within typical clouds are found to be in the range of 2%–5% of that of cloud-free air at the same altitude, for the range of altitudes for typical low clouds to typical high clouds. The global circuit model was used to determine the increase in columnar resistance of each grid element location for various months in years of high and low volcanic and solar activity, taking into account the observed fractional cloud cover for different cloud types and thickness in each location. For a single 5° × 5° grid element in the Indian Ocean, for example, with the observed fractional cloud cover amounts for low, middle, and high clouds each near 20%, the ionosphere-to-surface column resistance increased by about 10%. (For 100%, fraction—that is, uniformly overcast conditions—for each of the cloud types, the increase depends on the cloud height and thickness and is about a factor of 10 for each of the lower-level clouds in this example and a factor of 2 for the cirrus cloud.) It was found that treating clouds, in the fraction of each grid element in which they were present, as having zero conductivity made very little difference to the results. The increase in global total resistance for the global ensemble of columns in the ionosphere–earth return path in the global circuit was about 10%, applicable to the several solar and volcanic activity conditions, but this is probably an upper limit, in light of the unavailability of data on subkilometer breaks in cloud cover.

scholarly journals On the role of non-electrified clouds in the Global Electric Circuit

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 9815-9847 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. G. Baumgaertner ◽  
G. M. Lucas ◽  
J. P. Thayer ◽  
S. A. Mallios
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Electric Circuit ◽  
Time Averaging ◽  
Global Electric Circuit ◽  
Fair Weather ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Limited Mobility ◽  
Current Divergence ◽  
High Clouds

Abstract. Non-electrified clouds in the fair-weather part of the Global Electric Circuit (GEC) reduce conductivity because of the limited mobility of charge due to attachment to cloud water droplets, effectively leading to a loss of ions. A high-resolution GEC model, which numerically solves the Poisson equation, is used to show that in the fair-weather region currents partially flow around non-electrified clouds, with current divergence above the cloud, and convergence below the cloud. An analysis of this effect is presented for various types of non-electrified clouds, i.e. for different altitude extents, and for different horizontal dimensions, finding that the effect is most pronounced for high clouds with a diameter below 100 km. Based on these results, a method to calculate column and global resistance is developed that can account for all cloud sizes and altitudes. The CESM1(WACCM) Earth System Model as well as ISCCP cloud data are used to calculate the effect of this phenomenon on global resistance. From CESM1(WACCM), it is found that when including non-electrified clouds in the fair-weather estimate of resistance the global resistance increases by up to 73%, depending on the parameters used. Using ISCCP cloud cover leads to an even larger increase, which is likely to be overestimated because of time-averaging of cloud cover. Neglecting current divergence/convergence around small clouds overestimates global resistance by up to 20%, whereas the method introduced by previous studies underestimates global resistance by up to 40%. For global GEC models, a conductivity parametrization is developed to account for the current divergence/convergence phenomenon around non-electrified clouds. Conductivity simulations from CESM1(WACCM) using this parametrization are presented.

scholarly journals Total and partial cloud amount detection during summermonths 2005 at Westerland (Sylt, Germany)

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 13479-13505 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. H. Schade ◽  
A. Macke ◽  
H. Sandmann ◽  
C. Stick
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Cloud Amount ◽  
Cirrus Clouds ◽  
Total Cloud Amount ◽  
The North ◽  
Seaside Resort ◽  
The North Sea ◽  
Sky Imager ◽  
Downward Radiation ◽  
High Clouds

Abstract. The detection of cloudiness is investigated by means of partial and total cloud amount estimations from pyrgeometer radiation measurements and all-sky imager observations. The measurements have been performed in Westerland, a seaside resort on the North Sea island of Sylt, Germany, during summer 2005. An improvement to previous studies on this subject results from the fact that for the first time partial cloud amount (PCA), defined as total cloud amounts without high clouds, calculations from longwave downward radiation (LDR) according to the APCADA-Algorithm (Dürr and Philipona, 2004) are validated against both human observations from the German Weather Service DWD at the nearby airport of Sylt and digital all-sky imaging. Differences between the resulting total cloud amounts (TCA's), defined as total cloud amount for all-cloud situations, derived from the camera images and from human observations are within ±1 octa in 72% and within ±2 octa in 85% of the cases. Compared to human observations PCA measurements according to APCADA underestimate the observed cloud cover in 47% of all cases and the differences are within ±1 octa in 60% and ±2 octa in 74% of all cases. Since high cirrus clouds can not be derived from LDR, separate comparisons for all cases without high clouds have been performed showing an agreement within ±1(2) octa in 73(90)% for PCA and also for camera derived TCA. For this coastal mid-latitude site under investigation we find similar though slightly smaller agreements to human observations as reported in Dürr and Philipona (2004). Though limited to day-time the cloud cover retrievals from the sky imager are not much affected by cirrus clouds and provide a more reliable cloud climatology for all-cloud conditions than APCADA.

scholarly journals High Clouds over Oceans in the ECMWF 15- and 45-Yr Reanalyses

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 2647-2661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Chevallier ◽  
Graeme Kelly ◽  
Adrian J. Simmons ◽  
Sakari Uppala ◽  
Angeles Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Systematic Errors ◽  
Interannual Variations ◽  
The World ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Infrared Radiances ◽  
High Clouds ◽  
Seasonal And Interannual Variations ◽  
Ecmwf Reanalysis

Abstract The reanalysis programs of numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers provide global, comprehensive descriptions of the atmosphere and of the earth’s surface over long periods of time. The high realism of their representation of key NWP parameters, like temperature and winds, implies some realism for less emblematic parameters, such as cloud cover, but the degree of this realism needs to be documented. This study aims to evaluate the high clouds over open oceans in the ECMWF 15- and 45-yr reanalyses. The assessment is based on a new 23-yr climatology of monthly frequencies of high-cloud occurrence retrieved from the infrared radiances measured by operational polar satellites. It is complemented by data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project. It is shown that the 45-yr ECMWF reanalysis dramatically improves on the previous 15-yr reanalysis for the realism of seasonal and interannual variations in high clouds, despite remaining systematic errors. More than 60% of the observed anomalies during the January 1979–February 2002 period over large oceanic basins are captured by the latest reanalysis. However the realism of the analyses in the areas and in the years with sparse observations appears to be poor. Consequently, the interannual variations may not be reliable before January 1979 in most parts of the world. Possible improvements of the handling of assimilated satellite observations before and after this date are suggested.

scholarly journals Radiative and Convective Driving of Tropical High Clouds

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 5510-5526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence L. Kubar ◽  
Dennis L. Hartmann ◽  
Robert Wood
Keyword(s):  
Rain Rate ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Radiative Cooling ◽  
The West ◽  
High Cloud ◽  
West Pacific ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
East Pacific ◽  
High Clouds

Abstract Using satellite cloud data from the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and collocated precipitation rates from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR), it is shown that rain rate is closely related to the amount of very thick high cloud, which is a better proxy for precipitation than outgoing longwave radiation (OLR). It is also shown that thin high cloud, which has a positive net radiative effect on the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) energy balance, is nearly twice as abundant in the west Pacific compared to the east Pacific. For a given rain rate, anvil cloud is also more abundant in the west Pacific. The ensemble of all high clouds in the east Pacific induces considerably more TOA radiative cooling compared to the west Pacific, primarily because of more high, thin cloud in the west Pacific. High clouds are also systematically colder in the west Pacific by about 5 K. The authors examine whether the anvil cloud temperature is better predicted by low-level equivalent potential temperature (ΘE), or by the peak in upper-level convergence associated with radiative cooling in clear skies. The temperature in the upper troposphere where ΘE is the same as that at the lifting condensation level (LCL) seems to influence the temperatures of the coldest, thickest clouds, but has no simple relation to anvil cloud. It is shown instead that a linear relationship exists between the median anvil cloud-top temperature and the temperature at the peak in clear-sky convergence. The radiatively driven clear-sky convergence profiles are thus consistent with the warmer anvil clouds in the EP versus the WP.

scholarly journals Mesoscale spatio-temporal variability of airborne lidar-derived aerosol properties in the Barbados region during EUREC<sup>4</sup>A

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Chazette ◽  
Alexandre Baron ◽  
Cyrille Flamant
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Variability ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Tropical Atlantic ◽  
Trade Winds ◽  
Airborne Measurements ◽  
Fractional Cloud ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Humidity Field

Abstract. From 23 January to 13 February 2020, twenty ATR-42 scientific flights were conducted in the framework of the EUREC4A field campaign over the tropical Atlantic, off the coast of Barbados (−58°30' W 13°30' N). By means of a side-pointing lidar, these flights allowed to retrieve the optical properties of the aerosols found in the sub-cloud layer and below the trade winds inversion. Two distinct periods with significant aerosol contents were identified in relationship with the so-called trade wind and tropical regimes, respectively. A very strong spatial heterogeneity of the aerosol field has been highlighted at the airborne measurements scale of a few tens of kilometres. This heterogeneity, difficult to capture using spaceborne instruments, can be related to the highly variable relative humidity field and the fractional cloud cover encountered during all the flights.

scholarly journals Activity of southern Indiar1 Ocean convergence zone as seen in satellite cloud data during pre-monsoon months

MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-150
Author(s):  
G. R. GUPTA ◽  
ONKARI PRASAD
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Monsoon Rainfall ◽  
Indian Monsoon ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Southwest Monsoon ◽  
Convergence Zone ◽  
Indian Monsoon Rainfall ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
The Indian Ocean

The weekly mean cloud cover data for the pre-monsoon months of April and May over the Indian Ocean between20°S to 20°N latitudes and 40°E to 100" E longitudes have been studied for three good moon- soon years (1977, 1983, 1988) and three drought years (1972,1979, 1987). It is shown that while the characteristics of weekly mean cloud cover data during pre-monsoon months are similar for all the good monsoon years, they varied from one drought year to another. The study reveals some of the interesting features of southwest monsoon. An overall negative relationship between southern Indian Ocean convergence zone (SIOCZ) and monsoon activity is indicated. While at intraseasonal scale this may only be a simultaneous association, the pre-monsoon activity of SIOCZ may possibly have long-range predictive potential to some extent, for Indian monsoon rainfall.  

scholarly journals Sensitivity of PARASOL multi-angle photo-polarimetric aerosol retrievals to cloud contamination

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 10673-10714 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. A. Stap ◽  
O. Hasekamp ◽  
T. Röckmann
Keyword(s):  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Single Scattering ◽  
Retrieval Algorithm ◽  
Cloud Droplets ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Aerosol Parameters ◽  
Cloud Screening

Abstract. An important problem in satellite remote sensing of aerosols is related to the need to perform an adequate cloud screening. If a cloud screening is applied that is not strict enough, the ground scene has the probability of residual cloud cover which causes large errors on the retrieved aerosol parameters. On the other hand, if the cloud screening procedure is too strict, too many clear sky cases, especially near-cloud scenes, will falsely be flagged cloudy. The detrimental effects of cloud contamination as well as the importance of aerosol cloud interactions that can be studied in these near-cloud scenes call for new approaches to cloud screening. Multi-angle, multi-wavelength photo-polarimetric measurements have a unique capability to distinguish between scattering by (liquid) cloud droplets and aerosol particles. In this paper the sensitivity of aerosol retrievals from multi-angle, photo-polarimetric measurements to cloud contamination is investigated and the ability to intrinsically filter the cloud contaminated scenes based on a goodness-of-fit criteria is evaluated. Hereto, an aerosol retrieval algorithm is applied to a partially clouded, synthetic data-set including partial cloud cover as well as non-cloud screened POLDER-3/PARASOL observations It is found that a goodness-of-fit filter, together with a filter on the coarse mode refractive index (mrcoarse > 1.335) and a cirrus screening adequately reject the cloud contaminated scenes. No bias nor larger SD are found in the retrieved parameters for this intrinsic cloud filter compared to the parameters retrieved in a priori cloud screened data-set (using MODIS/AQUA cloud masks) of PARASOL observations. Moreover, less high aerosol load scenes are misinterpreted as cloud contaminated. The retrieved aerosol optical thickness, single scattering albedo and Ångström exponent show good agreement with AERONET observations. Furthermore, the synthetic retrievals give confidence in the ability of the algorithm to correctly retrieve the micro-physical aerosol parameters.

scholarly journals On the decadal increase in the tropical mean outgoing longwave radiation for the period 1984-2000

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1419-1425 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Hatzidimitriou ◽  
I. Vardavas ◽  
K. G. Pavlakis ◽  
N. Hatzianastassiou ◽  
C. Matsoukas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Atmospheric Temperature ◽  
Tropical Region ◽  
Transfer Model ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Low Level ◽  
High Level

Abstract. In the present paper, we have calculated the outgoing longwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere (OLR at TOA) using a deterministic radiation transfer model, cloud data from ISCCP-D, and atmospheric temperature and humidity data from NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, for the seventeen-year period 1984-2000. We constructed anomaly time-series of the OLR at TOA, as well as of all of the key input climatological data, averaged in the tropical region between 20°N and 20°S. We compared the anomaly time-series of the model calculated OLR at TOA with that obtained from the ERBE S-10N (WFOV NF edition 2) non-scanner measurements. The model results display very similar seasonal and inter-annual variability as the ERBS data, and indicate a decadal increase of OLR at TOA of 1.9±0.2Wm-2/decade, which is lower than that displayed by the ERBS time-series (3.5±0.3Wm-2). Analysis of the inter-annual and long-term variability of the various parameters determining the OLR at TOA, showed that the most important contribution to the observed trend comes from a decrease in high-level cloud cover over the period 1984-2000, followed by an apparent drying of the upper troposphere and a decrease in low-level cloudiness. Opposite but small trends are introduced by a decrease in low-level cloud top pressure, an apparent cooling of the lower stratosphere (at the 50mbar level) and a small decadal increase in mid-level cloud cover.

A Climatology of Midlatitude Continental Clouds from the ARM SGP Central Facility. Part II: Cloud Fraction and Surface Radiative Forcing

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 1765-1783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiquan Dong ◽  
Baike Xi ◽  
Patrick Minnis
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
Surface Albedo ◽  
Cloud Fraction ◽  
Total Cloud Cover ◽  
Cloud Radiative Forcing ◽  
Low Clouds ◽  
High Clouds ◽  
Central Facility

Abstract Data collected at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (SCF) are analyzed to determine the monthly and hourly variations of cloud fraction and radiative forcing between January 1997 and December 2002. Cloud fractions are estimated for total cloud cover and for single-layered low (0–3 km), middle (3–6 km), and high clouds (&gt;6 km) using ARM SCF ground-based paired lidar–radar measurements. Shortwave (SW) and longwave (LW) fluxes are derived from up- and down-looking standard precision spectral pyranometers and precision infrared radiometer measurements with uncertainties of ∼10 W m−2. The annual averages of total and single-layered low-, middle-, and high-cloud fractions are 0.49, 0.11, 0.03, and 0.17, respectively. Both total- and low-cloud amounts peak during January and February and reach a minimum during July and August; high clouds occur more frequently than other types of clouds with a peak in summer. The average annual downwelling surface SW fluxes for total and low clouds (151 and 138 W m−2, respectively) are less than those under middle and high clouds (188 and 201 W m−2, respectively), but the downwelling LW fluxes (349 and 356 W m−2) underneath total and low clouds are greater than those from middle and high clouds (337 and 333 W m−2). Low clouds produce the largest LW warming (55 W m−2) and SW cooling (−91 W m−2) effects with maximum and minimum absolute values in spring and summer, respectively. High clouds have the smallest LW warming (17 W m−2) and SW cooling (−37 W m−2) effects at the surface. All-sky SW cloud radiative forcing (CRF) decreases and LW CRF increases with increasing cloud fraction with mean slopes of −0.984 and 0.616 W m−2 %−1, respectively. Over the entire diurnal cycle, clouds deplete the amount of surface insolation more than they add to the downwelling LW flux. The calculated CRFs do not appear to be significantly affected by uncertainties in data sampling and clear-sky screening. Traditionally, cloud radiative forcing includes not only the radiative impact of the hydrometeors, but also the changes in the environment. Taken together over the ARM SCF, changes in humidity and surface albedo between clear and cloudy conditions offset ∼20% of the NET radiative forcing caused by the cloud hydrometeors alone. Variations in water vapor, on average, account for 10% and 83% of the SW and LW CRFs, respectively, in total cloud cover conditions. The error analysis further reveals that the cloud hydrometeors dominate the SW CRF, while water vapor changes are most important for LW flux changes in cloudy skies. Similar studies over other locales are encouraged where water and surface albedo changes from clear to cloudy conditions may be much different than observed over the ARM SCF.

Arctic Cloud Changes from Surface and Satellite Observations

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (15) ◽  
pp. 4233-4242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Eastman ◽  
Stephen G. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Satellite Data ◽  
Cloud Cover ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Interannual Variations ◽  
Infrared Observation ◽  
Cloud Data ◽  
Surface Data ◽  
Avhrr Data ◽  
Very High

Abstract Visual cloud reports from land and ocean regions of the Arctic are analyzed for total cloud cover. Trends and interannual variations in surface cloud data are compared to those obtained from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Television and Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) satellite data. Over the Arctic as a whole, trends and interannual variations show little agreement with those from satellite data. The interannual variations from AVHRR are larger in the dark seasons than in the sunlit seasons (6% in winter, 2% in summer); however, in the surface observations, the interannual variations for all seasons are only 1%–2%. A large negative trend for winter found in the AVHRR data is not seen in the surface data. At smaller geographic scales, time series of surface- and satellite-observed cloud cover show some agreement except over sea ice during winter. During the winter months, time series of satellite-observed clouds in numerous grid boxes show variations that are strangely coherent throughout the entire Arctic.

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