Tropical high cloud characteristics derived from SAGE II extinction measurements

Wang, Pi-Huan; McCormick, M. P.; Poole, L. R.; Chu, William; Yue, Glenn K.; Kent, G. S.; Skeens, K. M.

doi:10.1016/0169-8095(94)90081-7

Cited by 66 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…The good agreement between the CLAES cloud occurrence frequencies and the climatological SVC data, which are mostly subvisible cirrus [Wang et al, 1994] [1991][1992]. Of these, 1848 (Ncloud) had a 68-hPa kabs(12.8/xm) exceeding Cr, and of these profiles, 183 (Noe_<3o%) had error bars less than 30%.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer observations of tropical cirrus

Mergenthaler¹,

Roche²,

Kumer³

et al. 1999

J. Geophys. Res.

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The CLAES Instrument and DataThe instrument and operation have been described in detail by Roche et al. [1993]. In brief, CLAES acquired mediumresolution spectra of infrared thermal emission from the Earth's limb in nine channels ranging from 3.5 to 12.8 /am, corresponding to the altitude range of approximately 10-60 km. The viewing geometry of the 57 ø inclination UARS orbit provides for daily coverage extending from either 34øS to 80øN (north-look) or 34øN to 80øS (south-look), depending on the orientation of the spacecraft, which yaws 180 ø approximately every 36 days. With this coverage the tropics were continuously observed except for short calibration periods at the beginning and middle of the 36-day yaw period. A UARS measurement 22,183

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer observations of tropical cirrus

Mergenthaler¹,

Roche²,

Kumer³

et al. 1999

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…Subvisible cirrus clouds have been observed at and just below the tropical tropopause in both satellite data [Wang et al, 1994] and in situ observations [Heymsfield, 1986]. In Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) data, zonal mean cloud frequencies ranged from 20 to 70%, with a mean frequency of 45% in the tropics at 15 km [Wang et al, 1996].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of subvisible cirrus clouds near the tropical tropopause on stratospheric water vapor

Rosenfield

Considine

Schoeberl

et al. 1998

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Davis et al, 2007;Lawson et al, 2008;Davis et al, 2010), but are hard to generalize globally. Limb observations from spaceborne instruments such as SAGE-II (Wang et al, 1994) led to important insights about these clouds, but are generally limited by a poor spatial resolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the origin of subvisible cirrus clouds in the tropical upper troposphere

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Spaceborne lidar observations have recently revealed a previously undetected significant population of Subvisible Cirrus (SVC). We show them to be colder than −74 • , with an optical depth below 0.0015 on average. The formation and persistence over time of this new cloud population could be related to several atmospheric phenomena. In this paper, we investigate if these clouds follow the same formation mechanisms as the general tropical cirrus population (including convection and in-situ ice nucleation), or if specific nucleation sites and trace species play a role in their formation. The importance of three scenarios in the formation of the global SVC population is investigated through different approaches that include comparisons with data imaging from several spaceborne instruments and back-trajectories that document the history and behavior of air masses leading to the point in time and space where subvisible cirrus were detected. In order to simplify the study of their formation, we singled out SVC with coherent temperature histories (mean variance lower than 4 K) according to back-trajectories along 5, 10 or 15 days (respectively 58, 25 and 11 % of SVC). Our results suggest that external processes, including local increases in liquid and hygroscopic aerosol concentration (either through biomass burning or volcanic injection forming sulfate-based aerosols in the troposphere or the stratosphere) have very limited short-term or mid-term impact on the SVC population. On the other hand, we find that ∼ 20 % of air masses leading to SVC formation interacted with convective activity 5 days before they led to cloud formation and detection, a number that climbs to 60 % over 15 days. SVC formation appears especially linked to convection over Africa and Central America, more so during JJA than DJF. These results support the view that the SVC population observed by CALIOP is an extension of the general upper tropospheric ice clouds population with its extreme thinness as its only differentiating factor.

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Tropical high cloud characteristics derived from SAGE II extinction measurements

Cited by 66 publications

References 51 publications

Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer observations of tropical cirrus

Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer observations of tropical cirrus

The impact of subvisible cirrus clouds near the tropical tropopause on stratospheric water vapor

On the origin of subvisible cirrus clouds in the tropical upper troposphere

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