The impact of Asian dust on the determination of cloud phase is analyzed over dust sources and downwind using cloud phase products from cloud-aerosol lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observations (CALIPSO), atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS), moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), and polarization and anisotropy of reflectances for atmospheric sciences coupled with observations from a lidar (PARASOL). The results show that the presence of dust greatly affects determination of cloud phase in both source and downwind regions. CALIPSO products demonstrate better ice cloud discrimination of about 70% and 60% over source and downwind regions, respectively, compared to passive sensors. These results suggest that semi-direct effects of dust, which act to warm clouds and evaporate large cloud particles, may play a role in cloud phase determination. This study suggests that the presence of dust tends to increase misclassification of ice clouds as water or uncertain phase by AIRS, MODIS, and PARASOL.
Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China;Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China;Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA;School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China;Physical and Oceanography Laboratory, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China;Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China;College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China;Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, People’s Republic of China
Recommended Citation:
Hongchun Jin,Yuhong Yi,Shaima L Nasiri,et al. Impacts of Asian dust on the determination of cloud thermodynamic phase from satellite observations[J]. Environmental Research Letters,2015-01-01,10(3)