HR: 0800h
AN: A51A-0012    [Abstracts]
TI: Validation of Satellite Derived Cloud Properties Over the Southeastern Pacific
AU: * Ayers, J
EM: j.k.ayers@larc.nasa.gov
AF: Analytical Services and Materials, Inc., Suite 300, One Enterprise Parkway, Hampton, VA 23666 United States
AU: Minnis, P
EM: p.minnis@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, 1000 NASA Rd., Hampton, VA 23681 United States
AU: Zuidema, P
EM: pzuidema@rsmas.miami.edu
AF: RSMAS/MPO, U. of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Cswy, Miami, FL 33149 United States
AU: Sun-Mack, S
EM: s.sun-mack@larc.nasa.gov
AF: Science Applications International Corporation, Suite 300, One Enterprise Parkway, Hampton, VA 23666 United States
AU: Palikonda, R
EM: r.plaikonda@larc.nasa.gov
AF: Analytical Services and Materials, Inc., Suite 300, One Enterprise Parkway, Hampton, VA 23666 United States
AU: Nguyen, L
EM: l.nguyen@larc.nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, 1000 NASA Rd., Hampton, VA 23681 United States
AU: Fairall, C
EM: Chris.Fairall@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA ETL, 325 Broadway R/ETL, Boulder, CO 80305 United States
AB: Satellite measurements of cloud properties and the radiation budget are essential for understanding meso- and large-scale processes that determine the variability in climate over the southeastern Pacific. Of particular interest in this region is the prevalent stratocumulus cloud deck. The stratocumulus albedos are directly related to cloud microphysical properties that need to be accurately characterized in Global Climate Models (GCMs) to properly estimate the Earth's radiation budget. Meteorological observations in this region are sparse causing large uncertainties in initialized model fields. Remote sensing from satellites can provide a wealth of information about the clouds in this region, but it is vital to validate the remotely sensed parameters and to understand their relationship to other parameters that are not directly observed by the satellites. The variety of measurements from the R/V Roger Revelle during the 2003 STRATUS cruise and from the R/V Ron Brown during EPIC 2001 and the 2004 STRATUS cruises are suitable for validating and improving the interpretation of the satellite derived cloud properties. In this study, satellite-derived cloud properties including coverage, height, optical depth, and liquid water path are compared with in situ measurements taken during the EPIC and STRATUS cruises. The remotely sensed values are derived from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) imager data, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data from the Terra and Aqua satellites, and from the Visible and Infrared Scanner (VIRS) aboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The products from this study will include regional monthly cloud climatologies derived from the GOES data for the 2003 and 2004 cruises as well as micro and macro physical cloud property retrievals centered over the ship tracks from MODIS and VIRS.
DE: 3339 Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504)
DE: 3360 Remote sensing
DE: 3399 General or miscellaneous
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005