The 27–28 October 1986 FIRE Cirrus Case Study: Retrieval of Cloud Particle Sizes and Optical Depths from Comparative Analyses of Aircraft and Satellite-based Infrared Measurements

Abstract

Infrared radiance measurements were acquired from a narrow-field nadir-viewing radiometer based on the NASA ER-2 aircraft during a coincident Landsat 5 overpass on 28 October 1986 as part of the FIRE Cirrus IFO in the vicinity of Lake Michigan. The spectral bandpasses are 9.90–10.87 μm for the ER-2–based radiometer and 10.40–12.50 μm for the Landsat thematic mapper band. After adjusting for spatial and temporal differences, a comparative study using data from these two instruments is undertaken in order to retrieve cirrus cloud ice-crystal sizes and optical depths. Retrieval is achieved by analysis of measurement correlations between the two spectral bands and comparison to multistream radiative transfer model calculations. The results indicate that the equivalent sphere radii of the cirrus ice crystals were typically less than 30 μm. Such particles were too small to be measured by the available in situ instrumentation. Cloud optical depths at a reference wavelength of 11.4 µm ranged from 0.3 to 2.0 for this case study. Supplemental results in support of this study are described using radiation measurements from the King Air aircraft, which was also in near coincidence with the Landsat overpass.