Abstract
This study examines the characteristics of orographic ice clouds in steep mountain regions using 3 years of CloudSat and CALIPSO satellite products. A combination of radar and lidar cloud fraction data is used to identify ice cloud systems. Additionally, the retrieved ice water content (IWC) and ice number concentration (NI) are used to analyze the dominant ice cloud microphysics in convective- and cirrus-type clouds. The analysis shows that temporally averaged values of the IWC and NI are larger in mountain regions than in land and ocean regions. For convective clouds over mountains, both the IWC and NI have larger values at atmospheric temperatures warmer than 250 K, suggesting a dominant role for the freezing of supercooled liquid water. For cirrus clouds over mountains, however, only the NI has larger values at atmospheric temperatures colder than 240 K, indicating the importance of homogeneous ice nucleation. These characteristics of ice-phase clouds in terms of the IWC and NI in mountain regions are distinct, with a horizontal scale smaller than 300 km. This study suggests that it is useful to categorize ice clouds in mountain regions in addition to ocean and land regions to evaluate the microphysical properties (mass and number) of such ice clouds in atmospheric models.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 10858-10877 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |
| Volume | 124 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 27 2019 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Geophysics
- Forestry
- Oceanography
- Aquatic Science
- Ecology
- Water Science and Technology
- Soil Science
- Geochemistry and Petrology
- Earth-Surface Processes
- Atmospheric Science
- Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Space and Planetary Science
- Palaeontology
Cite this
Characteristics of Ice Clouds Over Mountain Regions Detected by CALIPSO and CloudSat Satellite Observations. / Seiki, Tatsuya; Kodama, Chihiro; Satoh, Masaki; Hagihara, Yuichiro; Okamoto, Hajime.
In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, No. 20, 27.10.2019, p. 10858-10877.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of Ice Clouds Over Mountain Regions Detected by CALIPSO and CloudSat Satellite Observations
AU - Seiki, Tatsuya
AU - Kodama, Chihiro
AU - Satoh, Masaki
AU - Hagihara, Yuichiro
AU - Okamoto, Hajime
PY - 2019/10/27
Y1 - 2019/10/27
N2 - This study examines the characteristics of orographic ice clouds in steep mountain regions using 3 years of CloudSat and CALIPSO satellite products. A combination of radar and lidar cloud fraction data is used to identify ice cloud systems. Additionally, the retrieved ice water content (IWC) and ice number concentration (NI) are used to analyze the dominant ice cloud microphysics in convective- and cirrus-type clouds. The analysis shows that temporally averaged values of the IWC and NI are larger in mountain regions than in land and ocean regions. For convective clouds over mountains, both the IWC and NI have larger values at atmospheric temperatures warmer than 250 K, suggesting a dominant role for the freezing of supercooled liquid water. For cirrus clouds over mountains, however, only the NI has larger values at atmospheric temperatures colder than 240 K, indicating the importance of homogeneous ice nucleation. These characteristics of ice-phase clouds in terms of the IWC and NI in mountain regions are distinct, with a horizontal scale smaller than 300 km. This study suggests that it is useful to categorize ice clouds in mountain regions in addition to ocean and land regions to evaluate the microphysical properties (mass and number) of such ice clouds in atmospheric models.
AB - This study examines the characteristics of orographic ice clouds in steep mountain regions using 3 years of CloudSat and CALIPSO satellite products. A combination of radar and lidar cloud fraction data is used to identify ice cloud systems. Additionally, the retrieved ice water content (IWC) and ice number concentration (NI) are used to analyze the dominant ice cloud microphysics in convective- and cirrus-type clouds. The analysis shows that temporally averaged values of the IWC and NI are larger in mountain regions than in land and ocean regions. For convective clouds over mountains, both the IWC and NI have larger values at atmospheric temperatures warmer than 250 K, suggesting a dominant role for the freezing of supercooled liquid water. For cirrus clouds over mountains, however, only the NI has larger values at atmospheric temperatures colder than 240 K, indicating the importance of homogeneous ice nucleation. These characteristics of ice-phase clouds in terms of the IWC and NI in mountain regions are distinct, with a horizontal scale smaller than 300 km. This study suggests that it is useful to categorize ice clouds in mountain regions in addition to ocean and land regions to evaluate the microphysical properties (mass and number) of such ice clouds in atmospheric models.
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U2 - 10.1029/2019JD030519
DO - 10.1029/2019JD030519
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074345407
VL - 124
SP - 10858
EP - 10877
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research
SN - 0148-0227
IS - 20
ER -