Cirrus clouds play an important role in the Earth’s radiation budget due to their high frequency of occurrence, nonspherical ice crystal formations, and variability in scattering/absorption characteristics. Mostly, tropical cirrus clouds are considered greenhouse modulators. Thus, the parameterization of tropical cirrus clouds in terms of their microphysical properties and the corresponding radiative effects are highly important for climate studies. For characterizing the radiative properties of cirrus clouds, which depend on the size, shape, and number of ice crystals, knowledge of the extinction coefficient (σ) and optical depth (τ) is necessary. σ provides information needed for understanding the influence of the scatterers on the radiative budget, whereas τ gives an indication of the composition and thickness of the cloud. Extensive research on tropical cirrus clouds has been carried out by using ground-based lidar (GBL) and satellite-based lidar systems. The characteristics of tropical cirrus clouds derived by using the data from the GBL system over the tropical site Gadanki (13.5° N, 79.2° E), India, during 2010 are presented. Some of the results are compared with those obtained by us from satellite-based cloud–aerosol lidar with orthogonal polarization observations of the cloud–aerosol lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observation mission. It is observed that there is a strong dependence on some of the physical properties, such as occurrence height, cloud temperature, and geometrical thickness, and on the microphysical parameters in terms of extinction coefficient and optical depth. The correlation of both σ and τ with temperature is also observed.
The cirrus clouds play an important role in the Earth’s radiation budget due to their high frequency of occurrence, non-spherical ice crystal formations, and variability in the scattering/absorption characteristics. Mostly, the tropical cirrus clouds are considered as greenhouse modulators. Thus the parameterization of tropical cirrus clouds in terms of the micro- physical properties and the corresponding radiative effects are highly important for the climate studies. For characterizing the radiative properties of cirrus clouds, which depend on the size, shape and number of the ice crystals, the knowledge of extinction coefficient (σ) and optical depth (τ) are necessary. The σ provides information needed for understanding the influence of the scatterers on the radiative budget whereas the τ gives an indication on the composition and thickness of the cloud. Extensive research on the tropical cirrus clouds has been carried out by using a ground based and satellite based lidar systems. In this work, the characteristics of tropical cirrus cloud derived by using the data from the ground based lidar system over the tropical site Gadanki [13.5°N, 79.2°E], India during 2010 are presented. Some of the results are compared with those obtained by us from satellite based CALIOP lidar observations of the CALIPSO mission. It is observed that there is a strong dependence of the some of the physical properties such as occurrence height, cloud temperature and the geometrical thickness on the microphysical parameters in terms of extinction coefficient and optical depth. The correlation of both the σ and τ with temperature is also observed.
Cirrus clouds are mainly composed of ice crystals and are known to be the major natural contributors to radiative forcing in the Earth’s atmosphere system. Describing the formation and microphysical properties of cirrus clouds and their role in climate models remain a challenging study. Lidar is a unique instrument, which provides the information on the optical and microphysical properties of cirrus clouds with good spatial and temporal resolutions. In this study we present the microphysical properties of cirrus clouds and their temporal variability, obtained using the ground based dual polarisation lidar at the tropical station Gadanki (13.5° N and 79.2° E), India, during the period January2009 to March 2011. Using the method developed in house for deriving range dependent lidar ratio (LR), the lidar measurements are used for deriving the extinction coefficient and to obtain the nature of the scatterers present in the cloud. It is noted that lidar ratio plays an important role and its measurements indicate directly the type of the ice nucleating aerosol particles present in the cloud. The long term data obtained on the structure of the cirrus in this regard are useful in the climate modelling studies.
High altitude cirrus clouds are composed mainly of ice crystals with a variety of sizes and shapes. They have a large influence on Earth’s energy balance and global climate. Recent studies indicate that the formation, dissipation, life time, optical, and micro-physical properties are influenced by the dynamical conditions of the surrounding atmosphere like background aerosol, turbulence, etc. In this work, an attempt has been made to quantify some of these characteristics by using lidar and mesosphere–stratosphere–troposphere (MST) radar. Mie lidar and 53 MHz MST radar measurements made over 41 nights during the period 2009 to 2010 from the tropical station, Gadanki, India (13.5°N, 79.2°E). The optical and microphysical properties along with the structure and dynamics of the cirrus are presented as observed under different atmospheric conditions. The study reveals the manifestation of different forms of cirrus with a preferred altitude of formation in the 13 to 14 km altitude. There are considerable differences in the properties obtained among 2009 and 2010 showing significant anomalous behavior in 2010. The clouds observed during 2010 show relatively high asymmetry and large multiple scattering effects. The anomalies found during 2010 may be attributed to the turbulence noticed in the surrounding atmosphere. The results show a clear correlation between the crystal morphology in the clouds and the dynamical conditions of the prevailing atmosphere during the observational period.
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