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Arctic Clouds: Progress Towards Understanding Cloud Occurrence and Phase

This article discusses the progress made in understanding Arctic clouds and their occurrence and phase at atmospheric observatories. Different sensors at each site impact the results, and phase classification requires the use of radar, lidar, microwave radiometers, and radiosondes. The article also explores the variability of cloud occurrence fraction in time and space, as well as the diurnal cycle and persistence of clouds.

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Arctic Clouds: Progress Towards Understanding Cloud Occurrence and Phase

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  1. Cloud Occurrence and Phase at Arctic Atmospheric Observatories: Further progress towards understanding Arctic clouds Matthew Shupe Von Walden Ed Eloranta Taneil Uttal James Campbell Masataka Shiobara Sandy Starkweather AMS Polar Met. & Ocean. 2009 Madison, WI

  2. Observatories

  3. Methods and Details • “What is a Cloud?” It depends on your perspective and objective • Clouds identified using thresholds for each sensor that aim to distinguish cloudy from clear sky signals. • Different sensors at each site impact the results • Phase classification requires radar, lidar, mwr, and radiosonde (only available at 3 sites)

  4. Cloud Occurrence Fraction

  5. Variability in time and space

  6. Cloud “Phase” Type Fraction Barrow SHEBA Eureka All (black) Ice (blue) Mixed-Phase (orange) Liquid (red) Liquid present (red dash)

  7. Vertical Distribution

  8. Diurnal Cycle ANOMALY [%]

  9. Cloud Occurrence Fraction Cloud Fraction Anomaly [%]

  10. Cloud “Persistence”

  11. Phase vs. Temperature

  12. To Conclude • Detailed perspective from the surface complements satellite climatologies and in situ campaigns. • Results are appropriate for model evaluation and comparisons with satellite retrievals. • Need more observations to better establish baselines and to detect change. • Needs: E. Arctic, over the sea-ice, longer records. • Much of data used in this analysis is available at CADIS archive (www.eol.ucar.edu/projects/aon-cadis)

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