| 1. |
- Buehler, S.A., et al.
(författare)
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A cloud filtering method for microwave upper tropospheric humidity measurements
- 2007
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316. ; 7:21
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt)abstract
- The paper presents a cloud filtering method for upper tropospheric humidity (UTH) measurements at 183.31±1.00 GHz. The method uses two criteria: a viewing angle dependent threshold on the brightness temperature at 183.31±1.00 GHz, and a threshold on the brightness temperature difference between another channel and 183.31±1.00 GHz. Two different alternatives, using 183.31±3.00 GHz or 183.31±7.00 GHz as the other channel, are studied. The robustness of this cloud filtering method is demonstrated by a mid-latitudes winter case study. The paper then studies different biases on UTH climatologies. Clouds are associated with high humidity, therefore the possible dry bias introduced by cloud filtering is discussed and compared to the wet biases introduced by the clouds radiative effect if no filtering is done. This is done by means of a case study, and by means of a stochastic cloud database with representative statistics for midlatitude conditions. Both studied filter alternatives perform nearly equally well, but the alternative using 183.31±3.00 GHz as other channel is preferable, because that channel is less likely to see the Earth's surface than the one at 183.31±7.00 GHz. The consistent result of all case studies and for both filter alternatives is that both cloud wet bias and cloud filtering dry bias are modest for microwave data. The recommended strategy is to use the cloud filtered data as an estimate for the true all-sky UTH value, but retain the unfiltered data to have an estimate of the cloud induced uncertainty. The focus of the paper is on midlatitude data, since atmospheric data to test the filter for that case were readily available. The filter is expected to be applicable also to subtropical and tropical data, but should be further validated with case studies similar to the one presented here for those cases.
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| 2. |
- Buehler, S.A., et al.
(författare)
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A concept for a satellite mission to measure cloud ice water path, ice particle size, and cloud altitude
- 2007
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Ingår i: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. - 0035-9009. ; 133:S2, s. 109-128
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A passive satellite radiometer operating at submillimetre wavelengths can measure cloud ice water path (IWP), ice particle size, and cloud altitude. The paper first discusses the scientific background for such measurements. Formal scientific mission requirements are derived, based on this background and earlier assessments. The paper then presents a comprehensive prototype instrument and mission concept, and demonstrates that it meets the requirements. The instrument is a conically scanning 12-channel radiometer with channels between 183 and 664 GHz, proposed to fly in tandem with one of the Metop satellites. It can measure IWP with a relative accuracy of approximately 20% and a detection threshold of approximately 2 g m−2. The median mass equivalent sphere diameter of the ice particles can be measured with an accuracy of approximately 30 µm, and the median IWP cloud altitude can be measured with an accuracy of approximately 300 m. All the above accuracies are median absolute error values; root mean square error values are approximately twice as high, due to rare outliers.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Eriksson, Patrick, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison between early Odin-SMR, Aura MLS and CloudSat retrievals of cloud ice mass in the upper tropical troposphere
- 2008
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - 1680-7316. ; 8:7, s. 1937-1948
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emerging microwave satellite techniques are expected to provide improved global measurements of cloud ice mass. CloudSat, Aura MLS and Odin-SMR fall into this category and early cloud ice retrievals from these instruments are compared. The comparison follows the SMR retrieval product and is made for partial ice water columns above 12 km. None of the retrievals shows a significant degree of false cloud detections, the ratio between local mean values from the instruments is fairly constant and a consistent view of the geographical distribution of cloud ice is obtained. However, important differences on the absolute levels exist, where the overall mean is 9.6, 4.2 and 3.7 g m−2 for CloudSat, SMR and MLS, respectively. Assumptions about the particle size distribution (PSD) are a consideration for all three instruments and constitute the dominating retrieval uncertainty for CloudSat. The mean for CloudSat when applying the same PSD as for MLS and SMR was estimated to 6.3 g m−2. A second main consideration for MLS and SMR are the effects caused by the poorer spatial resolution: a possible vertical misplacement of retrieved values and an impact of cloud inhomogeneities. The latter effect was found to be the dominating retrieval uncertainty for SMR, giving a possible mean value range of 2.3–8.9 g m−2. The comparison indicates a common retrieval accuracy in the order of 70%. Already this number should suffice for improved validations of cloud ice parametrisation schemes in atmospheric models, but a substantially better consistency between the datasets should be attainable through an increased understanding of main retrieval error sources.
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| 5. |
- Eriksson, Patrick, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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Diurnal variations of humidity and ice water content in the tropical upper troposphere
- 2010
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. - 1680-7316. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Observational results of diurnal variations of humidity from Odin-SMR and AURA-MLS, and cloud ice mass from Odin-SMR and CloudSat are presented for the first time. Comparisons show that the retrievals of humidity and cloud ice from these two satellite combinations are in good agreement. The retrieved data are combined from four almost evenly distributed times of the day allowing mean values, amplitudes and phases of the diurnal variations around 200 hPa to be estimated. This analysis is applied to six climatologically distinct regions, five located in the tropics and one over the subtropical northern Pacific Ocean. The strongest diurnal cycles are found over tropical land regions, where the amplitude is similar to 7% RHi for humidity and similar to 50% for ice mass. The greatest ice mass for these regions is found during the afternoon, and the humidity maximum is observed to lag this peak by similar to 6 h. Over tropical ocean regions the variations are smaller and the maxima in both ice mass and humidity are found during the early morning. Observed results are compared with output from three climate models (ECHAM, EC-EARTH and CAM3). Direct measurement-model comparisons were not possible because the measured and modelled cloud ice masses represent different quantities. To make a meaningful comparison, the amount of snow had to be estimated from diagnostic parameters of the models. There is a high probability that the models underestimate the average ice mass (outside the 1-sigma uncertainty). The models also show clear deficiencies when it comes to amplitude and phase of the regional variations, but to varying degrees.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Eriksson, Patrick, 1964-, et al.
(författare)
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On cloud ice induced absorption and polarisation effects in microwave limb sounding
- 2011
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381. ; 4:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt)abstract
- Microwave limb sounding in the presence of ice clouds was studied by detailed simulations, where clouds and other atmospheric variables varied in three dimensions and the full polarisation state was considered. Scattering particles were assumed to be horizontally aligned oblate spheroids with a size distribution parameterized in terms of temperature and ice water content. A general finding was that particle absorption is significant for limb sounding, which is in contrast to the down-looking case, where it is usually insignificant. Another general finding was that single scattering can be assumed for cloud optical paths below about 0.1, which is thus an important threshold with respect to the complexity and accuracy of retrieval algorithms. The representation of particle sizes during the retrieval is also discussed. Concerning polarisation, specific findings were as follows: Firstly, no significant degree of circular polarisation was found for the considered particle type. Secondly, for the +/- 45 degrees polarisation components, differences of up to 4 K in brightness temperature were found, but differences were much smaller when single scattering conditions applied. Thirdly, the vertically polarised component has the smallest cloud extinction. An important goal of the study was to derive recommendations for future limb sounding instruments, particularly concerning their polarisation setup. If ice water content is among the retrieval targets (and not just trace gas mixing ratios), then the simulations show that it should be best to observe any of the +/- 45 degrees and circularly polarised components. These pairs of orthogonal components also make it easier to combine information measured from different positions and with different polarisations
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| 8. |
- Jiménez, C., et al.
(författare)
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Performance simulations for a submillimetre-wave satellite instrument to measure cloud ice
- 2007
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Ingår i: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. - 0035-9009. ; 133:S2, s. 129-149
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The performance of a conically scanning satellite instrument for the measurement of cloud ice was studied. The instrument measures radiances in 12 channels placed around the 183, 325 and 448 GHz water vapour lines and the 243, 664 and 874 GHz window channels, and is designed to provide estimations of ice water path (IWP), the equivalent sphere diameter (DME), and the median ice mass height (ZME). Overall median relative errors of around 20% for IWP, 33 µm for DME, and 240 m for ZME for a midlatitude winter scenario, and 17% for IWP, 30 µm for DME, and 310 m for ZME for a tropical scenario were found. Detection limits (relative retrieval error reaching 100%) of around 2 gm−2 were estimated for both scenarios. The performance of a five-receiver instrument, where either the 664 or 874 GHz channel is dropped, was close, but with increased errors for very thin and high clouds. A trade-off between having the 874 GHz receiver or two infrared channels at 10.7 and 12 µm emerged, as very similar performance was found between the six-receiver instrument and the five-receiver instrument with the infrared channels. Another trade-off between receiver selection and noise was also apparent, with some of the four-receiver selections operating at half noise levels being able to compete with the standard six-receiver instrument. Dual-polarized measurements were also tested, but they did not significantly improve the retrievals of IWP or DME.
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| 9. |
- Rydberg, Bengt, 1979-, et al.
(författare)
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Non-Gaussian Bayesian retrieval of tropical upper tropospheric cloud ice and water vapour from Odin-SMR measurements
- 2009
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381. ; 2:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt)abstract
- Improved Odin-SMR retrievals of upper tropospheric water are presented. The new retrieval algorithm retrieves humidity and cloud ice mass simultaneously and takes into account of cloud inhomogeneities. Both these aspects are introduced for microwave limb sounding inversions for the first time. A Bayesian methodology is applied allowing for a formally correct treatment of non-unique retrieval problems involving non-Gaussian statistics. Cloud structure information from CloudSat is incorporated into the retrieval algorithm. This removes a major limitation of earlier inversion methods where uniform cloud layers were assumed and caused a systematic retrieval error. The core part of the retrieval technique is the generation of a database that must closely represent real conditions. Good agreement with Odin-SMR observations indicates that this requirement is met. The retrieval precision is determined to be about 5- 17% RHi and 65% for humidity and cloud ice mass, respectively. For both quantities, the vertical resolution is about 5 km and the best retrieval performance is found between 11 and 15 km. New data show a significantly improved agreement with CloudSat cloud ice mass retrievals, at the same time consistency with the Aura MLS humidity results is maintained. The basics of the approach presented can be applied for all passive cloud observations and should be of broad interest. The results can also be taken as a demonstration of the potential of down-looking sub-mm radiometry for global measurements of cloud ice properties.
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| 10. |
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