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The article discusses the Fast Linear Inversion Trace gas System (FLITS) retrieval scheme for carbon monoxide (CO) from Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) measurements. It explores the use of Real time Air Quality Modelling System (RAQMS) as atmospheric background and states that FLITS can retrieve column CO concentrations at single field-of-view (FOV) regardless of cloud cover. A case study of a biomass burning plume over the Pacific region is also presented.

The impact of clouds and precipitation on the climate is a strong function of their spatial distribution and microphysical properties, characteristics that depend, in turn, on the environments in which they form. Simulating feedbacks between clouds, precipitation, and their surroundings therefore places an enormous burden on the parameterized physics used in current climate models. This paper uses multisensor observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) to assess the representation of the response of regional energy and water cycles in the tropical Pacific to the strong 1998 El Niño event in (Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project) AMIP-style simulations from the climate models that participated in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) most recent assessment report. The relationship between model errors and uncertainties in their representation of the impacts of clouds and precipitation on local energy budgets is also explored. With the exception of cloud radiative impacts that are often overestimated in both regions, the responses of atmospheric composition and heating to El Niño are generally captured in the east Pacific where the SST forcing is locally direct. Many models fail, however, to correctly predict the magnitude of induced trends in the west Pacific where the response depends more critically on accurate representation of the zonal atmospheric circulation. As a result, a majority of the models examined do not reproduce the apparent westward transport of energy in the equatorial Pacific during the 1998 El Niño event. Furthermore, the intermodel variability in the responses of precipitation, total heating, and vertical motion is often larger than the intrinsic ENSO signal itself, implying an inherent lack of predictive capability in the ensemble with regard to the response of the mean zonal atmospheric circulation in the tropical Pacific to ENSO. While ENSO does not necessarily provide a proxy for anthropogenic climate change, the results suggest that deficiencies remain in the representation of relationships between radiation, clouds, and precipitation in current climate models that cannot be ignored when interpreting their predictions of future climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper diagnostic estimates of cloud radiative forcing (CRF) and clear-sky radiation budget at the surface and in the atmosphere, based on satellite-observed radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) and empirical parameterizations derived from radiation models and field observations, are presented. This analysis is restricted to the tropical Pacific. High clouds over the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), the South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ), and the warm pool (WP) exert a positive CRF of about 70 W m within the atmosphere and a negative CRF of about -70 W m[sup -2] at the surface, although with a negligible net CRF at the TOA. On the other hand, low clouds over the eastern subtropical Pacific and the equatorial cold tongue exert a negative CRF of about -20 W m[sup -2] at the surface as well as in the atmosphere. The spatial gradients of the clear-sky radiation budget at the surface and in the atmosphere are small. In particular, it is shown that the clear-sky radiative cooling in the atmosphere is larger over the ITCZ, the SPCZ, and the WE when compared with that over the subtropics and the cold tongue. Next, based on these diagnostic estimates and available surface turbulent heat flux data, the role of atmospheric CRF in the large-scale atmospheric moist static energy (MSE) transport is quantified. It is found that the atmospheric CRF provides the major energy source for balancing the divergence of MSE transport (from the ITCZ, the SPCZ, and the WP to the subtropics and the cold tongue) by the large-scale atmospheric circulation. On the other hand, the clear-sky radiative flux convergence and the surface turbulent heat fluxes have just the reverse spatial pattern and hence cannot satisfy the large-scale atmospheric MSE transport requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of the effects of clouds on Earth’s radiation budget demand accurate representations of cloud top parameters, which can be efficiently obtained by large-scale satellite remote sensing approaches. However, the insufficient utilization of multiband information is one of the major sources of uncertainty in cloud top products derived from geostationary satellites. In this study, we developed a new algorithm to estimate Cloud, Atmospheric Radiation and renewal Energy application (CARE) version 1.0 cloud top properties [cloud top height (CTH), cloud top pressure (CTP), and cloud top temperature (CTT)]. The algorithm is constructed from ten thermal spectral measurements in Himawari-8 observations by using the random forest (RF) method to comprehensively consider the contribution of each band to the cloud top parameters. We chose the highly accurate Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) products in 2018 as the true values. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the products can be fully reproduced by using multiple Himawari-8 channels with the addition of the digital elevation model (DEM) data. The validation results of the 2019 CALIOP data confirm that the new algorithm shows an effective performance, with correlation coefficients ($R$) of 0.89, 0.89, and 0.90 for CTH, CTP, and CTT, respectively. Moreover, a significant improvement in the ice cloud estimation is achieved, in which the CTT $R$ value increased from 0.46 to 0.70, as well as an improvement in the sea area, where the CTT $R$ value increased from 0.71 to 0.84 compared with the Himawari-8 products of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) P-tree system. The further analyses performed here capture the diurnal cycle of cloud top parameters well in different temporal scales over the Asia–Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) is forced with patterns of observed sea surface tem- perature (SST) change and those output from atmosphere--ocean GCM (AOGCM) climate change simula- tions to demonstrate a strong dependence of climate feedback on the spatial structure of surface temperature change. Cloud and lapse rate feedbacks are found to vary the most, depending strongly on the pattern of tropical Pacific SST change. When warming is focused in the southeast tropical Pacific--a region of clima- tological subsidence and extensivemarine lowcloud cover--warming reduces the lower-tropospheric stability (LTS) and lowcloud cover but is largely trapped under an inversion and hence has little remote effect. The net result is a relatively weak negative lapse rate feedback and a large positive cloud feedback. In contrast, when warming is weak in the southeast tropical Pacific and enhanced in the west tropical Pacific--a strong con- vective region--warming is efficiently transported throughout the free troposphere. The increased atmo- spheric stability results in a strong negative lapse rate feedback and increases the LTS in low cloud regions, resulting in a low cloud feedback of weak magnitude. These mechanisms help explain why climate feedback and sensitivity change on multidecadal time scales in AOGCM abrupt4xCO2 simulations and are different from those seen in AGCM experiments forced with observed historical SST changes. From the physical understanding developed here, one should expect unusually negative radiative feedbacks and low effective climate sensitivities to be diagnosed from real-world variations in radiative fluxes and temperature over decades in which the eastern Pacific has lacked warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud profiling radar (CPR) onboard CloudSat allows for deep penetration into dense clouds/precipitation. In this study, tropical cyclones (TCs) are classified into three stages as developing, mature, and decaying. The circular TC area with the radius of 500 km is divided into five regions. The vertical structure characteristics of 94 Western Pacific TCs at different stages in different regions from June 2006 to February 2014 are statistically quantified using the CloudSat tropical cyclone overpass product (the CSTC Product). Contoured frequency by altitude diagrams (CFADs) of radar reflectivity show an arc-like feature and exhibit opposite distributions with a boundary at 5 km. Bright bands are found at this altitude, indicating melting layers. Deep convective (DC) clouds have the largest occurrence probability in the inner region, while Ci clouds occur more frequently in the outer region at 10-15 km. As clouds have the second largest vertical scale after DC clouds. Distributions of Ac, Cu, and Ns clouds at different stages have few distinctions. As the altitude increases, the ice effective radius and the distribution width parameter decrease while the particle number concentration increases. Moist static energy (MSE), cloud thickness (CT), liquid water path (LWP), ice water path (IWP), water vapor (WV), and rain rate (RR) all diminish along the radial direction and are significantly larger at the mature stage. The average value of MSE at the developing stage is larger than that at the decaying stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Utilizing the unique characteristics of the cloud over the Southeast Pacific (SEP) off the coast of Chile during the VOCALS field campaign, we compared satellite remote sensing of cloud microphysical properties against in-situ data from multi-aircraft observations, and studied the extent to which these retrieved properties are sufficiently constrained and consistent to reliably quantify the influence of aerosol loading on cloud droplet sizes. After constraining the spatial-temporal coincidence between satellite retrievals and in-situ measurements, we selected 17 non-drizzle comparison pairs. For these cases the mean aircraft profiling times were within one hour of Terra overpasses at both projected and un-projected (actual) aircraft positions for two different averaging domains of 5 km and 25 km. Retrieved quantities that were averaged over a larger domain of 25 km compared better statistically with in-situ observations than averages over a smaller domain of 5 km. Comparison at projected aircraft positions was slightly better than un-projected aircraft positions for some parameters. Overall, both MODISretrieved effective radius and LWP were larger but highly correlated with the in-situ measured effective radius and LWP, e.g., for averaging domains of 5 km, the biases are up to 1.75 µm and 0.02mm whilst the correlation coefficients are about 0.87 and 0.85, respectively. The observed effective radius difference between the two decreased with increasing cloud drop number concentration (CDNC), and increased with increasing cloud geometrical thickness. Compared to the absolute effective radius difference, the correlations between the relative effective radius difference and CDNC or cloud geometric thickness are weaker. For averaging domains of 5 km and 25 km, the correlation coefficients between MODIS-retrieved and in-situ measured CDNC are 0.91 and 0.93 with fitting slopes of 1.23 and 1.27, respectively. If the cloud adiabaticity is taken into account, better agreements are achieved for both averaging domains (the fitting slopes are 1.04 and 1.07, respectively). Our comparison and sensitivity analysis of simulated retrievals demonstrate that both cloud geometrical thickness and cloud adiabaticity are important factors in satellite retrievals of effective radius and cloud drop number concentration. The large variabilities in cloud geometrical thickness and adiabaticity, the dependencies of cloud microphysical properties on both quantities (as demonstrated in our sensitivity study of simulated retrievals), and the inability to accurately account for either of them in retrievals lead to some uncertainties and biases in satellite retrieved cloud effective radius, cloud liquid water path, and cloud drop number concentration. However, strong correlations between satellite retrievals and in-situ measurements suggest that satellite retrievals of cloud effective radius, cloud liquid water path, and cloud drop number concentration can be used to investigate aerosol indirect effects qualitatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiosonde measurements and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 rainfall are used to construct composite anomaly patterns of temperature, relative humidity, and divergence about high rainfall events in the western Pacific. The observed anomaly patterns are compared with anomaly patterns from four general circulation models [Third and Fourth Generation Atmospheric General Circulation Model (AGCM3 and AGCM4), Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Climate Model version 2.1 (GFDL CM2.1), and European Center Hamburg Model version 5 (ECHAM5)] and two reanalysis products [40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-40) and ERA-Interim]. In general, the models and reanalyses do not fully represent the timing, strength, or altitude of the midlevel congestus divergence that precedes peak rainfall or the midlevel stratiform convergence that occurs after peak rainfall. The surface cold pools that develop in response to high rainfall events are also either not present or somewhat weaker than observations. Surface cold pools originate from the downward transport within mesoscale downdrafts of midtropospheric air with low moist static energy into the boundary layer. Differences between the modeled and observed response to high rainfall events suggest that the convective parameterizations used by the models and reanalyses discussed here may underrepresent the strength of the mesoscale downdraft circulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Preliminary VOCALS Model Assessment (PreVOCA) aims to assess contemporary atmospheric modeling of the subtropical South East Pacific, with a particular focus on the clouds and the marine boundary layer (MBL). Models results from fourteen modeling centers were collected including operational forecast models, regional models, and global climate models for the month of October 2006. Forecast models and global climate models produced daily forecasts, while most regional models were run continuously during the study period, initialized and forced at the boundaries with global model analyses. Results are compared in the region from 40° S to the equator and from 110° W to 70° W, corresponding to the Pacific coast of South America. Mean-monthly model surface winds agree well with QuikSCAT observed winds and models agree fairly well on mean weak large-scale subsidence in the region next to the coast. However they have greatly differing geographic patterns of mean cloud fraction with only a few models agreeing well with MODIS observations. Most models also underestimate the MBL depth by several hundred meters in the eastern part of the study region. The diurnal cycle of liquid water path is underestimated by most models at the 85° W 20° S stratus buoy site compared with satellite, consistent with previous modeling studies. The low cloud fraction is also underestimated during all parts of the diurnal cycle compared to surface-based climatologies. Most models qualitatively capture the MBL deepening around 15 October 2006 at the stratus buoy, associated with colder air at 700 hPa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synoptic surface cloud observations primarily made by volunteer observing ships are used to construct global climatologies of the frequency of occurrence of individual low cloud types over the ocean for daytime during summer and winter seasons for the time period 1954--92. This essentially separates the previous S. Warren et al. "stratus," "cumulus," and "cumulonimbus" climatologies into their constituent cloud types. The different geographical and seasonal distributions of low cloud types indicate that each type within the Warren et al. categories is associated with different meteorological conditions. Hence, investigations based on individual low cloud types instead of broader categories will best identify the processes and variability in meteorological parameters responsible for observed variability in cloudiness. The present study is intended to provide a foun-dation for future investigations by documenting the climatological distributions of low cloud type frequency and demonstrating the physical consistency with expected patterns of boundary layer structure, advection, surface divergence, and synoptic activity over the global ocean. Further analyses are conducted to examine in greater detail transitions in low cloud type and related boundary layer processes in the eastern subtropical North Pacific, eastern equatorial Pacific, and western North Pacific during summer. Maxima in the climatological frequencies of stratocumulus, cumulus-with-stratocumulus, and cumulus occur progressively equatorward over eastern subtropical oceans, consistent with an increasing decou-pled boundary layer. This transition is also observed north of the equatorial cold tongue, but advection over colder SST on the southern side of equatorial cold tongue sometimes produces an absence of low cloudiness. A transition between cumuliform low cloud types to the south and stratiform low cloud types to the north occurs over the region of strong SST gradient in the wester. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface cloud observations and coincident surface meteorological observations and soundings from five ocean weather stations are used to establish representative relationships between low cloud type and marine boundary layer (MBL) properties for the subtropics and midlatitudes by compositing soundings and meteorological ob-servations for which the same low cloud type was observed. Physically consistent relationships are found to exist between low cloud type, MBL structure, and surface meteorology at substantially different geographical locations and seasons. Relative MBL height and inferred decoupling between subcloud and cloud layers are increasingly greater for stratocumulus, cumulus-under-stratocumulus, and cumulus, respectively, at midlatitude locations as well as the eastern subtropical location during both summer and winter. At the midlatitude locations examined, cloudiness identified as fair-weather stratus often occurs in a deep, stratified cloud layer with little or no capping inversion. This strongly contrasts with cloudiness identified as stratocumulus, which typically occurs in a relatively well-mixed MBL under a strong capping inversion at both midlatitude and eastern sub-tropical locations. At the transition between subtropics and midlatitudes in the western North Pacific, cloudiness identified as fair-weather stratus occurs in a very shallow layer near the surface. Above this layer the associated profile of temperature and moisture is similar to that for cumulus at the same location, and neither of these cloud types is associated with a discernible MBL. Sky-obscuring fog and observations of no low cloudiness typically occur with surface-based inversions. These observed relationships can be used in future studies of cloudiness and cloudiness variability to infer processes and MBL structure where above-surface observations are lacking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]