Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics
Clouds in the tropics have an important role in the energy budget, atmospheric circulation, humidity, and composition of the tropical-to-global upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere. Due to its non-sun-synchronous orbit, the Cloud–Aerosol Transport System (CATS) onboard the International Space Statio...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/23/3946 |
| _version_ | 1797545992453619712 |
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| author | Pasquale Sellitto Silvia Bucci Bernard Legras |
| author_facet | Pasquale Sellitto Silvia Bucci Bernard Legras |
| author_sort | Pasquale Sellitto |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Clouds in the tropics have an important role in the energy budget, atmospheric circulation, humidity, and composition of the tropical-to-global upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere. Due to its non-sun-synchronous orbit, the Cloud–Aerosol Transport System (CATS) onboard the International Space Station (ISS) provided novel information on clouds from space in terms of overpass time in the period of 2015–2017. In this paper, we provide a seasonally resolved comparison of CATS characterization of high clouds (between 13 and 18 km altitude) in the tropics with well-established CALIPSO (Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) data, both in terms of clouds’ occurrence and cloud optical properties (optical depth). Despite the fact that cloud statistics for CATS and CALIOP are generated using intrinsically different local overpass times, the characterization of high clouds occurrence and optical properties in the tropics with the two instruments is very similar. Observations from CATS underestimate clouds occurrence (up to 80%, at 18 km) and overestimate the occurrence of very thick clouds (up to 100% for optically very thick clouds, at 18 km) at higher altitudes. Thus, the description of stratospheric overshoots with CATS and CALIOP might be different. While this study hints at the consistency of CATS and CALIOP clouds characterizaton, the small differences highlighted in this work should be taken into account when using CATS for estimating cloud properties and their variability in the tropics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:22:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-efb3280ae7e24e398e6fe293944ffa51 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:22:50Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-efb3280ae7e24e398e6fe293944ffa512023-11-20T23:15:40ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-12-011223394610.3390/rs12233946Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the TropicsPasquale Sellitto0Silvia Bucci1Bernard Legras2Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (LISA), UMR CNRS 7583, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), Université Paris-Est-Créteil, Université de Paris, 94000 Créteil, FranceLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD), UMR CNRS 8539, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), École Normale Supérieure-Paris Sciences et Lettres, Sorbonne Université, École Polytechnique, 75000 Paris, FranceLaboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (LMD), UMR CNRS 8539, Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL), École Normale Supérieure-Paris Sciences et Lettres, Sorbonne Université, École Polytechnique, 75000 Paris, FranceClouds in the tropics have an important role in the energy budget, atmospheric circulation, humidity, and composition of the tropical-to-global upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere. Due to its non-sun-synchronous orbit, the Cloud–Aerosol Transport System (CATS) onboard the International Space Station (ISS) provided novel information on clouds from space in terms of overpass time in the period of 2015–2017. In this paper, we provide a seasonally resolved comparison of CATS characterization of high clouds (between 13 and 18 km altitude) in the tropics with well-established CALIPSO (Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) data, both in terms of clouds’ occurrence and cloud optical properties (optical depth). Despite the fact that cloud statistics for CATS and CALIOP are generated using intrinsically different local overpass times, the characterization of high clouds occurrence and optical properties in the tropics with the two instruments is very similar. Observations from CATS underestimate clouds occurrence (up to 80%, at 18 km) and overestimate the occurrence of very thick clouds (up to 100% for optically very thick clouds, at 18 km) at higher altitudes. Thus, the description of stratospheric overshoots with CATS and CALIOP might be different. While this study hints at the consistency of CATS and CALIOP clouds characterizaton, the small differences highlighted in this work should be taken into account when using CATS for estimating cloud properties and their variability in the tropics.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/23/3946high cloudsspace LiDARtropical convection |
| spellingShingle | Pasquale Sellitto Silvia Bucci Bernard Legras Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics Remote Sensing high clouds space LiDAR tropical convection |
| title | Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics |
| title_full | Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics |
| title_short | Comparison of ISS–CATS and CALIPSO–CALIOP Characterization of High Clouds in the Tropics |
| title_sort | comparison of iss cats and calipso caliop characterization of high clouds in the tropics |
| topic | high clouds space LiDAR tropical convection |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/23/3946 |
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