Model Calculations and Interferometer Measurements of Ice-Cloud Characteristics

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between high–spectral resolution infrared (IR) radiances and the microphysical and macrophysical properties of cirrus clouds. Through use of radiosonde measurements of the atmospheric state at the Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program site, high–spectral resolution IR radiances are calculated by combining trace gas absorption optical depths from a line-by-line radiative transfer model with the discrete ordinate radiative transfer (DISORT) method. The sensitivity of the high–spectral resolution IR radiances to particle size, ice-water path, cloud-top location, cloud thickness, and multilayered cloud conditions is estimated in a multitude of calculations. DISORT calculations and interferometer measurements of cirrus ice cloud between 700 and 1300 cm⁻¹ are compared for three different situations. The measurements were made with the High–Spectral Resolution Interferometer Sounder mounted on a National Aeronautics and Space Administration ER-2 aircraft flying at 20-km altitude during the Subsonic Aircraft Contrail and Cloud Effects Special Study (SUCCESS).