Title :
The investigation of cloud properties using coincident wideband dual-altitude TOGA-COARE observations
Author :
Skofronick-Jackson, G.M. ; Wang, J.R.
Author_Institution :
Goddard Space Flight Center, Univ. Space Res. Assoc., Greenbelt, MD, USA
Abstract :
A study of TOGA-COARE data used to estimate microphysical cloud information is described. Coincident wideband passive microwave brightness temperature observations from radiometers on both the DC-8 aircraft (~11 km altitude) and the ER-2 aircraft (~20 km altitude) are used to investigate microphysical cloud profile conditions between the two aircraft. A wideband, nadir-viewed, dual-altitude comparison between TOGA-COARE brightness temperature (TB) observations and computed brightness temperature values is the basis for the estimation procedure. A flexible radiative transfer model was used to compute wideband, nadir-viewed dual altitude TB values for a variety of microphysical cloud conditions. By varying the microphysical cloud parameters (e.g., particle size distributions and the hydrometeor density) and requiring that the comparisons remain consistent with the TOGA-COARE observations, the cloud conditions between the two aircraft can be estimated
Keywords :
atmospheric radiation; atmospheric techniques; clouds; 10 to 220 GHz; AD 1993 02 22; EHF; Pacific warm pool; SHF; cloud; cloud properties; dual-altitude TOGA-COARE observations; marine atmosphere; measurement technique; microphysical structure; microphysics; microwave radiometry; nadir-viewed dual altitude method; radiative transfer model; remote sensing; wideband passive microwave brightness temperature; Aircraft; Brightness temperature; Clouds; Electromagnetic heating; Frequency; Kelvin; Ocean temperature; Radar scattering; Radiometers; Wideband;
Conference_Titel :
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Proceedings, 1998. IGARSS '98. 1998 IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Seattle, WA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4403-0
DOI :
10.1109/IGARSS.1998.702908
