Improved cloud-phase determination of low-level liquid and mixed-phase clouds by enhanced polarimetric lidar

Stillwell, Robert A.; Neely III, Ryan R.; Thayer, Jeffrey P.; Shupe, Matthew D.; Turner, David D.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018

Articles | Volume 11, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-835-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 2

Research article

|

14 Feb 2018

Research article |

| 14 Feb 2018

Improved cloud-phase determination of low-level liquid and mixed-phase clouds by enhanced polarimetric lidar

Robert A. Stillwell, Ryan R. Neely III, Jeffrey P. Thayer, Matthew D. Shupe, and David D. Turner

Data sets

Integrated Characterization of Energy, Clouds, Atmospheric State, and Precipitation at Summit (ICECAPS) Von P. Walden, Matthew Shupe, David Turner, and Ralf Bennartz https://arcticdata.io/catalog/#view/urn:uuid:f783f072-e5e0-454c-9c9d-136935e1cb7c

Short summary

This work focuses on making unambiguous measurements of Arctic cloud phase and assessing those measurements within the context of cloud radiative effects. It is found that effects related to lidar data recording systems can cause retrieval ambiguities that alter the interpretation of cloud phase in as much as 30 % of the available data. This misinterpretation of cloud-phase data can cause a misinterpretation of the effect of cloud phase on the surface radiation budget by as much as 10 to 30 %.