Opportunities to Improve Representation of Clouds and Aerosols in Climate Models with Classified Observing Systems Proceedings of a Workshop: Abbreviated Version (2016) / Chapter Skim
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asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to plan a workshop to discuss the usefulness of the classified observing systems in advancing understanding of cloud and aerosol interactions (see Appendix A for the full Statement of Task)
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. In light of this, the IC asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to appoint a committee to plan a workshop to determine the usefulness of data from classified observing systems to advance understanding of cloud and aerosol interactions.
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SOURCE: IPCC, 2013. usefulness of classified observing sys s stems to advan understan nce nding of cloud and aerosol interactions.
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. For example, the effective radius of droplets affects the albedo of liquid water clouds, whereas the size and shape of ice 4 Under MEDEA auspices, the global "fiducials" program was established whereby participating scientists could request collection of classified images at environmentally sensitive locations around the globe.
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Kreidenweis. For warm cloud properties, th e following parameters nee to be retrie s, r ed eved: droplet nuumber concen ntrations, drop size distrib plet butions, vertic cally resolved liquid water content (LWC C)
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For example, it i hypothesize that aeroso r is ed ols impact clo reflectivity, but scientis are limited to calculating statistical ch oud sts g hanges, correl lated to aeroso in ols the contex of an inferre environme to test this impact. It is a xt ed ent also hypothesi ized that aero osols modify cloud lifetime, but this is only possible to te using a geo b y est ostationary saatellite and current civil geo ostationary sattellite observatio do not hav sufficient spatial resolution to detect t ons ve these sorts of p processes.
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and it has a 2,330 km swath. It also measures intensity and retrieves aerosol loading7 and some 5 http://noaasis.noaa.gov/NOAASIS/ml/avhrr.html 6 http://modis.gscf.nasa.gov 7 Atmospheric aerosol loading is suspensions of solids and/or liquid particles in the air and is usually measured by the mass concentration of aerosol particles or by an optical measure, AOD.
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Active instruments determine aerosol and some cloud vertical structure Ultraviolet (UV) imagers and active sensors can detect aerosols above clouds Multi-angle, spectral, polarized imagers obtain some aerosol type information Active sensors can obtain some aerosol type information, day and night Satellite trace-gas retrievals offer clues about aerosol type 8 http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov 9 http://www-calipso.larc.nasa.gov 10 http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cloudsat/main/index.html 11 https://polder-mission.cnes.fr 12 http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/The_Living_Planet_Programme/Earth_Explorers/ADMAeolus/ESA_s_wind_mission 13 http://landsat.usgs.gov 14 http://eumesat.int/website/home/Satellites/CurrentSatellites/Meteosat/MeteosatDesign/index.html 15 Polar imagers typically view each point on the earth twice per day.
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. ffective forcing of cloud and g d teractions; R: "clean-sky" shortwave cloud forcing; C: cloud fractio τc: cloud o aerosol int s : on; optical depth; Nd: cloud droplet number; E: anthropoge enic emission; L: liquid wat path; re: dr ; ter roplet effectiv radius; Rc: i ve incloud clou radiative fo ud orcing.
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. BOX 2 POTENTIAL CLOUDS AND AEROSOLS-RELATED CAPABILITIES FROM CLASSIFIED OBSERVING SYSTEMS Vertical velocity Cirrus optical thickness or aerosols at night Cloud top height Cloud optical thickness Characterization and statistics of clouds (including polar clouds)
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Straits of Malacca because it has both high aerosol loading and strong storms. Locations in the Eastern Hemisphere because there is greater opportunity for co-collects.
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. Pilot Projects Based on the workshop discussions, four potential pilot projects were identified by various participants to test the usefulness of the IC data in advancing understanding of cloud and aerosol interactions.
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Proceedings of a Workshop 13 SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL LIMITATIONS Although there are many potential benefits in utilizing the IC data, participants highlighted several technical and scientific limitations in leveraging the IC data. One major limitation is calibration accuracy, which is critical for data usability for environmental applications.
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Given that it is possible to determine the orbit, location, and a time from an image, he said it would be beneficial to IC data users, if the IC could clearly identify the type of information that must remain classified. CONCLUSION Although several limitations and challenges were identified in utilizing the classified data, some participants were optimistic that the IC and civilian scientists could come together to find creative ways to leverage the data for advancing understanding in cloud and aerosol interactions.
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