Articles | Volume 9, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3641-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3641-2016
Research article
 | 
09 Aug 2016
Research article |  | 09 Aug 2016

Toward autonomous surface-based infrared remote sensing of polar clouds: cloud-height retrievals

Penny M. Rowe, Christopher J. Cox, and Von P. Walden

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Short summary
Clouds play an important role in the rapid climate change occurring in polar regions, yet cloud measurements are challenging in such harsh, remote environments. Here we explore how well a proposed low-power infrared spectrometer, which would be highly portable, could be used to determine cloud height. Using simulated data, we estimate retrieval accuracy, finding that such an instrument would be able to constrain cloud height, particular for low, thick clouds, which are common in polar region.