Integrating Cloud Observations from Ground and Space - a Way to Combine Time and Space Information (ICOS)
Final Report Abstract
Within the course of this project, significant progress has been made in the joint use of satellite and ground-based remote sensing for characterizing clouds. The improvements can be summarized in five major points: • A formal technique to combine ground-based and satellite borne radiance measurements including the radiative transfer in the infrared- and microwave spectral range for the retrieval of temperature and humidity was developed. The information content of individual sensors and the synergy benefit resulting from their combination could be quantified. • The spatial representativeness of individual point observations from supersite observations was investigated based on multispectral satellite data. While spectral channels corresponding to geometrical features exhibited correlation length scales of 20km, microphysical proxies showed much smaller scales of 4km, highlighting the importance of observations with high temporal and spatial resolution for process studies. • The spectral signatures of cloud processes has been used to study the temporal evolution of frontal and convective cloud systems, considering both solar and infrared radiances. • Based on Lagrangian trajectories, the spatio-temporal evolution of frontal systems was investigated and compared for ground-based supersite and geostationary satellite observations. Methodology to contrast and contrast and combine both perspectives was developed. • First steps were taken towards defining metrics for cloud spatial structure based on the high-resolution visible channel of Meteosat, and towards assessing the radiative effect of clouds based on closure studies. These two aspects were the focus of a follow-up proposal to ICOS, but will also be pursued within the frame of the second phase of the HD(CP)2 project.
Publications
- (2011). Cloud statistics and cloud radiative effect for a low‐mountain site. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 137(S1), 306-324
Ebell, K., Crewell, S., Löhnert, U., Turner, D. D., & O'Connor, E. J.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.748) - (2012). Evaluation of the shortwave cloud radiative effect over the ocean by use of ship and satellite observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12(24), 12243-12253
Hanschmann, T., Deneke, H., Roebeling, R., & Macke, A.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-12243-2012) - (2013). Combining ground with satellite based measurements in the atmospheric state retrieval: Assessment of the information content. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 118, 6940-6956
Ebell, K., Orlandi, E., Hünerbein, A., Löhnert, U., & Crewell, S.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50548) - (2013). Using SEVIRI radiances to retrieve cloud optical properties of convective cloud systems. Radiation Processes in the Atmosphere and ocean (IRS2012): Proceedings of the International Radiation Symposium (IRC/IAMAS). Vol. 1531. No. 1. AIP Publishing, 2013
Slobodda (Müller), J. et al.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4804808) - (2014). Combining the perspective of satellite-and ground-based observations to analyze cloud frontal systems. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 53(11), 2538-2552
Hünerbein, A., Deneke, H., Macke, A., Ebell, K., & Görsdorf, U.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-13-0274.1) - (2014). Information Content and Uncertainties in Thermodynamic Profiles and Liquid Cloud Properties Retrieved from the Ground-Based Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI). Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 53(3), 752-771
Turner, D. D., & Löhnert, U.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-13-0126.1) - (2014). Multichannel analysis of correlation length of SEVIRI images around groundbased cloud observatories to determine their representativeness. Atmos. Meas. Tech. (7), 5769-5794
Slobodda, J., Hünerbein, A., R. Lindstrot, R., Preusker, R., Ebell, K. and Fischer, J.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-567-2015) - (2015). Characterization of initiation and growth of selected severe convective storms over Central Europe with MSG- SEVIRI. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
Senf, F., Dietzsch, F., Hünerbein A. & Deneke, H.
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-14-0144.1) - (2015). JOYCE: Jülich Observatory for Cloud Evolution, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Löhnert, U., J. H. Schween, C. Acquistapace, K. Ebell, M. Maahn, M. Barrera-Verdejo, A. Hirsikko, B. Bohn, A. Knaps, E. O'Connor, C. Simmer, A. Wahner, S. Crewell
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00105.1) - (2016): Parallel developments and formal collaborations between European atmospheric profiling observatories and US ARM research programs, in “The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program: The first 20 years”, American Meteorological Society Monograph series
Haeffelin, M., S. Crewell, A. Illingworth, G. Pappalardo, H. Russchenberg, M. Chiriaco, K. Ebell, R. Hogan, F. Madonna
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1175/AMSMONOGRAPHS-D-15-0045.1)
