Antarctic clouds

Antarctic Clouds and Radiation within the NCAR Climate Models

To evaluate and improve the treatment of clouds and radiation by the climate models of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), simulations by the NCAR Community Climate Model version 3 (CCM3), as well as the recently released Community Atmosphere Model version 2 (CAM2), are examined. The Rasch and Kristjánsson prognostic cloud condensate scheme, which is now the standard scheme for...

Characterization of Polar Stratospheric Clouds with Space-Borne Lidar: CALIPSO and the 2006 Antarctic Season

Abstract. The role of polar stratospheric clouds in polar ozone loss has been well documented. The CALIPSO satellite mission offers a new opportunity to characterize PSCs on spatial and temporal scales previously impossible. A PSC detection algorithm based on a single wavelength threshold approach has been developed for CALIPSO. The method appears to accurately detect PSCs of all opacities, inc...

Thermodynamic phase of maritime Antarctic clouds from FTIR and supplementary radiometric data

[1] A Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroradiometer was deployed at Palmer Station, Antarctica, from 1 September to 17 November 1991. This instrument is similar to the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) deployed with the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program. The instrument measured downwelling zenith radiance in the spectral interval 40...

A-train CALIOP and MLS observations of early winter Antarctic polar stratospheric clouds and nitric acid in 2008

A-train Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) observations are used to investigate the development of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) and the gas-phase nitric acid distribution in the early 2008 Antarctic winter. Observational evidence of gravity-wave activity is provided by Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) radiances and infrared spectro...

Gravity wave events from mesoscale simulations, compared to polar stratospheric clouds observed from spaceborne lidar over the Antarctic Peninsula