A-Train observations of deep convective storm tops

Setvák, Martin; Bedka, Kristopher M.; Lindsey, Daniel T.; Sokol, Alois; Charvát, Zdeněk; Šťástka, Jindřich; Wang, Pao K.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.06.020

Cited by 50 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…However, 47 % of the DCCw0 and 28 % of the DCCw4 selected using AIRS IR data alone are not associated with microwave deep or overshooting convection. This explains observations by Bedka et al (2010) and Setvak et al (2012), who noted that in detailed case studies of cold clouds selected using the MODIS channels M31 and M27, the T m31 -TB m27 < 0 threshold identifies not only overshooting cloud tops but almost the entire convective anvil cloud. The changes in the DCC frequency with time, summarized in Table 3, show several interesting features.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Cases where the brightness temperature at 6.7 µm is warmer than at 11 µm (e.g.,convective overshooting clouds, providing further evidence of their association with deep convective storms. More recently, severe storms have been associated with the overshooting clouds, which are a subclass of DCCs (e.g., Setvak et al, 2008Setvak et al, , 2012Bedka et al, 2010). Damage associated with severe storm is well documented for relatively densely populated land areas.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Frequency of deep convective clouds in the tropical zone from 10 years of AIRS data

Aumann

Ruzmaikin

2013

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Deep convective clouds (DCCs) have been widely studied because of their association with heavy precipitation and severe weather events. Changes in the properties of DCCs are likely in a changing climate. Ten years of data collected by Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) allow us to identify decadal trends in frequency of occurrence of DCCs over land and ocean. In the past, DCCs have been identified in the thermal infrared by three methods: (1) thresholds based on the absolute value of an atmospheric window channel brightness temperature; (2) thresholds based on the difference between the brightness temperature in an atmospheric window channel and the brightness temperature centered on a strong water vapor absorption line; and (3) a threshold using the difference between the window channel brightness temperature and the tropopause temperature based on climatology. Simultaneous observations of these infrared identified DCCs with the Advanced Microwave Sounding UnitHumidity Sounder for Brazil (AMSU-HSB) using 183 GHz water channels provide a statistical correlation with microwave deep convection and overshooting convection. In the past 10 years, the frequency of occurrence of DCCs has decreased for the tropical ocean, while it has increased for tropical land. The area of the tropical zone associated with DCCs is typically much less than 1 %. We find that the least frequent, more extreme DCCs show the largest trend in frequency of occurrence, increasing over land and decreasing over ocean.The trends for land and ocean closely balance, such that the DCC frequency changed at an insignificant rate for the entire tropical zone. This pattern of essentially zero trend for the tropical zone, but opposite land/ocean trends, is consistent with measurements of global precipitation. The changes in frequency of occurrence of the DCCs are correlated with the Niño34 index, which defines the sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in the east-central Pacific. This is also consistent with patterns seen in global precipitation. This suggests that the observed changes in the frequency are part of a decadal variability characterized by shifts in the main tropical circulation patterns, which does not fully balance in the 10-year AIRS data record. The regional correlations and anticorrelations of the DCC frequency anomaly with the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) provide a new perspective for the regional analysis of past events, since the SST anomaly in the Nino34 region is available in the form of the extended MEI from 1871.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequency of deep convective clouds in the tropical zone from 10 years of AIRS data

Aumann

Ruzmaikin

2013

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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“…The maps of cloud-top brightness temperatures (BT) show a cloud umbrella of extremely low BT (192 K) spreading northwest from the volcano. Enhanced BT near the volcano (~203 K) surrounded by those very cold clouds indicates a signature of stratospheric intrusion by the volcanic plume during the initial eruption (8). The nearest temperature profile from a sounding at Abha (Saudi Arabia) (9) shows that a temperature of 203 K corresponds to an altitude near 19.5 km, 1.5 km above the local cold-point tropopause.…”

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confidence: 99%

Comment on "Large Volcanic Aerosol Load in the Stratosphere Linked to Asian Monsoon Transport"

Vernier

Thomason

Fairlie

et al. 2013

Science

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Bourassa et al . (Reports, 6 July 2012, p. 78) have suggested that deep convection associated with the Asian monsoon played a critical role in transporting sulfur dioxide associated with the Nabro volcanic eruption (13 June 2011) from the upper troposphere (9 to 14 kilometers) into the lower stratosphere. An analysis of the CALIPSO lidar data indicates, however, that the main part of the Nabro volcanic plume was injected directly into the lower stratosphere during the initial eruption well before reaching the Asian monsoon deep convective region.

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“…The system's synergy has been applied to a number of studies in cloud microphysics and weather phenomena (Das et al, 2013;Setvak et al, 2013;Tourville et al, 2015).…”

Section: The Use Of Cloudsat Data To Characterize the Microphysical Smentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the launch, CloudSat has been used by researchers in climate or mesoscale areas (Haynes & Stephens, 2007;Luo et al, 2008;Luo et al, 2009;Huang et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2014). Setvak et al (2013) present one of the rare documented studies using CloudSat in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. They show a combined analysis of A-Train satellites for selected storm events, one being in western Brazil (22 December 2007) and another in Argentina/Uruguai (23 December 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Use of CloudSat Data to Characterize The Microphysical Structure of Extreme Precipitation Events over South and Southeast of Brazil

2018

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ResumoO objetivo deste trabalho é investigar a estrutura microfísica das nuvens de eventos de precipitação extrema nas regiões sul e sudeste do Brasil. Sete casos foram estudados com dados do satélite CloudSat, através de seu radar perfilador de 94 GHz, complementados com estimativas de precipitação do satélite Aqua. Os parâmetros analisados foram: raio efetivo, conteúdo de água e concentração de partículas, cada uma para água líquida e gelo, criando um conjunto de seis variáveis. Nos aspectos gerais, os resultados revelaram eventos com predomínio de nuvens do tipo Nimbostratus, com altos valores de parâmetros de água líquida, e eventos com predomínio de nuvens Cumulonimbus, onde a presença de partículas de gelo assume papel mais importante na correlação com os extremos de precipitação. Perfis verticais no local de maior precipitação estimada foram analisados individualmente para cada caso, o que levou à separação de dois grupos de casos: Grupo A, com as maiores taxas estimadas de precipitação; e Grupo B, com as taxas relativamente menores. O Grupo A apresentou valores notadamente mais baixos para os parâmetros de água líquida na parte baixa da nuvem. Por exemplo, na altitude de 2 km, a média de raio efetivo ficou em torno de 5 µm, contra 10 µm no Grupo B. Na análise dos parâmetros de gelo, o Grupo A apresentou valores relativamente mais altos na parte alta da nuvem. O conteúdo de gelo alcançou máximos entre 1 e 1,5 gm -3 , enquanto apenas um dos casos do Grupo B ultrapassou 0,5 gm -3 . O topo das nuvens no Grupo A ficou em torno de 14 km, enquanto no Grupo B ficou entre 10 e 11 km. Os resultados encontrados são validados por observações obtidas em metodologias anteriores, que permitiam somente medidas locais. O CloudSat preenche os espaços, revelando a imagem completa. Será preciso expandir o número de casos estudados para que se encontre as assinaturas microfísicas de eventos extremos, e este trabalho contribui como ponto de partida para futuros estudos e até ferramentas operacionais. Palavras-chave: microfísica de nuvens; CloudSat; sensoriamento remoto; eventos extremos AbstractThe goal of this work is to investigate the microphysical structure of clouds formed in extreme precipitation events in south and southeast of Brazil. Seven cases were studied with data from CloudSat satellite, through its 94-GHZ profiling radar, complemented by precipitation estimates from Aqua satellite. The analyzed parameters were: effective radius, water content and particle concentration, all for liquid water and ice, creating a set of six variables. In general aspects, the results revealed events containing mainly Nimbostratus (Ns), with high values of liquid parameters, and events with Cumulonimbus (Cb) predominance, where the presence of ice plays a more important role in correlating with precipitation extremes. The profiles at the location of most intense precipitation were individually analyzed for each case, which leads to a clear distinction between two groups, one with the highest precipitation-rate cases (Group A) and th...

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A-Train observations of deep convective storm tops

Cited by 50 publications

References 37 publications

Frequency of deep convective clouds in the tropical zone from 10 years of AIRS data

Frequency of deep convective clouds in the tropical zone from 10 years of AIRS data

Comment on "Large Volcanic Aerosol Load in the Stratosphere Linked to Asian Monsoon Transport"

The Use of CloudSat Data to Characterize The Microphysical Structure of Extreme Precipitation Events over South and Southeast of Brazil

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