HR: 17:10h
AN: A14A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Global Distribution and Vertical Structure of Clouds Revealed by CALIPSO
AU: * Yi, Y
EM: yuhong.yi-1@nasa.gov
AF: SSAI/NASA LARC, One Enterprise Parkway, Suite 200, Hampton, VA 23666, United States
AU: Minnis, P
EM: patrick.minnis-1@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, MS 420, Hampton, VA 23666, United States
AU: Winker, D
EM: david.m.winker@nasa.gov
AF: NASA Langley Research Center, MS 420, Hampton, VA 23666, United States
AU: Huang, J
EM: hjp@lzu.edu.cn
AF: College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
AU: Sun-Mack, S
EM: szedung.sun-mack-1@nasa.gov
AF: SSAI/NASA LARC, One Enterprise Parkway, Suite 200, Hampton, VA 23666, United States
AU: Ayers, K
EM: j.k.ayers@nasa.gov
AF: SSAI/NASA LARC, One Enterprise Parkway, Suite 200, Hampton, VA 23666, United States
AB: Understanding the effects of clouds on Earth's radiation balance, especially on longwave fluxes within the atmosphere, depends on having accurate knowledge of cloud vertical location within the atmosphere. The Cloud- Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite mission provides the opportunity to measure the vertical distribution of clouds at a greater detail than ever before possible. The CALIPSO cloud layer products from June 2006 to June 2007 are analyzed to determine the occurrence frequency and thickness of clouds as functions of time, latitude, and altitude. In particular, the latitude-longitude and vertical distributions of single- and multi-layer clouds and the latitudinal movement of cloud cover with the changing seasons are examined. The seasonal variablities of cloud frequency and geometric thickness are also analyzed and compared with similar quantities derived from the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) using the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) cloud retrieval algorithms. The comparisons provide an estimate of the errors in cloud fraction, top height, and thickness incurred by passive algorithms.
DE: 0321 Cloud/radiation interaction
DE: 3310 Clouds and cloud feedbacks
DE: 3311 Clouds and aerosols
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting