Radiative heating rate profiles over the ARM TWP sites using inputs from multiple ground-based and satellite remote sensors

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Description

The vertical distribution of radiative heating plays an important role in determining dynamic atmospheric processes. An accurate representation of heating rates in the atmosphere is limited by our ability to describe the thermodynamic state and cloud properties of the atmosphere. From a remote sensing perspective, a comprehensive view of the atmosphere requires that we combine remote sensing instruments according to their relative strengths. In this study we quantify radiative heating rate profiles using observations at the ARM Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) sites. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-combined remote sensor retrieval is used for cloud inputs, which uses the millimeter-wavelength cloud radar, micropulse lidar, and microwave radiometer to obtain cloud and precipitation properties for all sky conditions. While the ARM TWP sites provide a continuous set of observations, they are unable to describe the spatial variability of radiative heating in the atmosphere. Therefore we use heating rates derived using ground-based data to examine those derived using inputs from the A-train constellation of satellites. We make comparisons to an existing satellite heating rate data set, the CCCM data product. These comparisons provide insight into the advantages and disadvantages present in each data set and provide guidance on how such data sets might be improved to explore processes in the atmosphere dependent on radiative heating.