Characterization of cloud microphysical properties in different cloud types over East Asia based on CloudSat/CALIPSO satellite products

ABSTRACT By using four-year CloudSat/CALIPSO satellite data, the authors investigated cloud microphysical properties in three representative regions over East Asia, where models commonly suffer from great biases in simulations of cloud radiative effects. This study aims to provide an observational basis of cloud microphysical properties for the modeling community, against which the model simulations can be validated. The analyzed cloud microphysical properties include mass, number concentration, and effective radius for both liquid and ice phases. For liquid clouds, both cloud mass and number concentration gradually decrease with height, leading to the effective radius being nearly uniformly spread in the range of 8–14 μ m . For ice clouds, the cloud mass and effective radius decrease with height, whereas the number concentration is nearly uniform in the vertical. The cloud microphysical properties show remarkable differences among different cloud types. Cloud mass and number concentration are larger in cumuliform clouds, whereas smaller in cirrus clouds. By comparing cloud properties among the Tibetan Plateau, East China and the western North Pacific, results show the values are overall smaller for liquid clouds but larger for ice clouds over the Tibetan Plateau. 摘要 利用CloudSat/CALIPSO卫星资料, 本文揭示了东亚三个代表性区域的云微物理属性, 为评估和改进模式云微物理过程提供重要的观测基础.研究的云微物理量包括云水/冰质量,数浓度和有效半径.研究表明:暖云中云水质量和数浓度随高度增加而减小, 有效半径处于8-14 μ m 范围.对于冰云, 云冰质量和有效半径随高度增加而减小, 而数浓度在垂直方向上变化不大.此外, 云微物理属性在不同云型之间存在显著差异:积云的云水质量和数浓度最大, 而卷云的云水质量和数浓度最小.从三个区域的对比结果来看, 相比于华东和西北太平洋地区, 青藏高原地区暖云的云水质量和数浓度较小, 而冰云的则较大.