Retrieval of Tropical Cirrus Cloud Properties from Ground- Based Lidar and Millimeter-Wave Radar Sensing at the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment

The Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment (MCTEX) was conducted in November and December 1995 on Melville and Bathurst Islands, north of Darwin off the northern coast of Australia. Scientists from CSIRO and the University of Massachusetts (UMass) made simultaneous, collocated measurements of lidar backscatter and radar reflectivity of synoptic cirrus and cirrus outflows from island thunderstorms using instruments based at Pularumpi (Garden Point), Melville Island (11° 24N S, 130° 25N E—see Figure 1). This abstract presents comparisons of cloud structure as detected by the two instruments, showing their relative abilities to measure high, thin cirrus layers and strongly attenuating anvil clouds. We also describe current progress in the retrieval of cirrus particle size parameters through the combination of lidar and radar backscatter data.