Study Mixed-phase Cloud Properties with in Situ and Remote Sensing Measurements

 
Poster PDF

Authors

Zhien Wang — University of Colorado
Damao Zhang — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Jing Yang — University of Wyoming
Xiaohong Liu — Texas A&M University
Tao Luo — University of Wyoming
Min Deng — Brookhaven National Laboratory

Category

Ice Nucleation and Cloud Phase

Description

Mixed-phase clouds are poorly simulated in models due to our limited understanding. Our efforts focus on characterizing and understanding stratiform and convective mixed-phase cloud properties and their connections with aerosols by combining ACRF multi-sensor remote sensing with other measurements. This poster summarizes our recent activities and progresses. 1) Development of an advanced multi-sensor retrieval algorithm for stratiform mixed-phase clouds: Other than liquid and ice phase water contents and effective particle sizes, the algorithm is capable to provide ice number concentration. The combined lidar-radar IWC retrievals in these clouds are extensively evaluated with collocated airborne remote sensing and in situ measurements during STROMVEX/CAMPS. The improved algorithm is applied to long-term ACRF measurements at the NSA site. 2) Quantification of dust impact on mixed-phase clouds: Strong dust impacts in stratiform mixed-phase clouds are quantified with observations and are used to evaluate CAM5 simulations. 3) Liquid/ice mass partition in convective mixed-phase clouds: Due to precipitation or dominated contribution of warm liquid to the total column liquid water, there are limited ground-based remote sensing capabilities to explore the liquid/ice partition in these clouds. Analyses of in situ data are performed to provide insights of the liquid/ice partition in fresh convective between -5 and -18°C. 4) Mixed-phase cloud parameterization improvement: With the observed aerosol dependency of ice number concentrations, we are testing new ice concentration parameterization in CAM5.

Lead PI

Zhien Wang — University of Colorado