Comparisons of cloud ice mass content retrieved from the radar-infrared radiometer method with aircraft data during the second international satellite cloud climatology project regional experiment (FIRE-II)

Comparisons of remotely sensed meteorological parameters with in situ direct measurements always present a challenge. Matching sampling volumes is one of the main problems for such comparisons. Aircraft usually collect data when flying along a horizontal leg at a speed of about 100 m/sec (or even greater). The usual sampling time of 5 seconds provides an average horizontal resolution of the order of 500 m. Estimations of vertical profiles of cloud microphysical parameters from aircraft measurements are hampered by sampling a cloud at various altitudes at different times. This paper describes the accuracy of aircraft horizontal and vertical coordinates relative to the location of the ground-based instruments.