Assessment and Error Analysis of Terra-MODIS and MISR Cloud-top Heights through Comparison with ISS-CATS lidar

Mitra, Arka; Girolamo, Larry Di; Hong, Yulan; Zhan, Yizhe; Mueller, K. J.

doi:10.1002/essoar.10505511.1

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Even for optically thick high cloud, the MISR cloud top is not located at cloud top as is typically estimated from spaceborne lidar, as has been recently quantified by Mitra et al. (2021). Rather it tends to be located near the altitude where the cloud optical depth reaches one.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In the Tropical Western Pacific for example, optically thin cirrus (typically subvisual cirrus with an optical depth less than 0.3) are ubiquitous near the tropopause (in the tropical transition layer). But high clouds with an optical depth below 0.3 are rarely detected by MISR (Marchand et al., 2007, 2010; Mitra et al., 2021) and are not included in the WCTH statistic. Likewise, where optically thin upper level clouds (optical depths greater than 0.3 but less than about 1–2) overlap lower level clouds, the MISR stereo‐retrieval will often retrieve the CTH of the lower cloud rather than the upper cloud.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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When Will MISR Detect Rising High Clouds?

Aerenson

Marchand

Chepfer³

et al. 2022

JGR Atmospheres

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It is predicted by both theory and models that high‐altitude clouds will occur higher in the atmosphere as a result of climate warming. This produces a positive longwave feedback and has a substantial impact on the Earth's response to warming. This effect is well established by theory, but is poorly constrained by observations, and there is large spread in the feedback strength between climate models. We use the NASA Multi‐angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) to examine changes in Cloud‐Top‐Height (CTH). MISR uses a stereo‐imaging technique to determine CTH. This approach is geometric in nature and insensitive to instrument calibration and therefore is well suited for trend analysis and studies of variability on long time scales. In this article we show that the current MISR record does have an increase in CTH for high‐altitude cloud over Southern Hemisphere (SH) oceans but not over Tropical or the Northern Hemisphere (NH) oceans. We use climate model simulations to estimate when MISR might be expected to detect trends in CTH, that include the NH. The analysis suggests that according to the models used in this study MISR should detect changes over the SH ocean earlier than the NH, and if the model predictions are correct should be capable of detecting a trend over the Tropics and NH very soon (3–10 years). This result highlights the potential value of a follow‐on mission to MISR, which no longer maintains a fixed equator crossing time and is unlikely to be making observations for another 10 years.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 94%