Cloud Radiative Heating Rate Forcing Using Profiles of Retrieved Arctic Cloud Microphysics

Clouds and their radiative impacts are of primary importance to the Arctic climate and, therefore, global climate. Clouds dominate the radiation balance within the cold, dry Arctic atmosphere, and cloudradiation feedbacks are closely linked with the snow/ice-albedo feedback. Despite the importance of clouds in the Arctic, our current understanding of these clouds remains limited. Global climate models poorly predict fundamental quantities such as total cloudiness and surface temperature in the Arctic (Chen et al. 1995; Tao et al. 1996), which casts doubt on their ability to predict accurate radiation fields. Cloud observations with potential for improving Arctic models, have historically been restricted by the long Polar night, frequently occurring temperature inversions, and the highly reflective Arctic surface.