Interactive comment on “Aircraft measurements of microphysical properties of subvisible cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer” by R. P. Lawson
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چکیده
This paper describes observations of subvisible cirrus (SVC) clouds with the NASA WB-57F aircraft during the Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment (CR-AVE) in 2006. SVC clouds were encountered and characterised with state-of-the-art optical array imageing probes in extended areas of the tropical tropopause layer with temperatures as low as −90◦C. Nearly spherical crystal shapes were measured for ice crystals smaller than about 65 μm and a minor fraction of surprisingly large ice crystals was detected with a maximum dimension of up to 160 μm. The new findings were compared to ice crystal images collected in 1973 with the same aircraft flying in the tropical tropopause region.
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Interactive comment on “Aircraft measurements of microphysical properties of subvisible cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer” by R. P. Lawson et al
1) How are SVC defined in these measurements? As stated in the manuscript, the presence of SVC was “detected” using the CPI, which defined the physical boundaries of SVC encountered by the C-130. Because the CPI was operational on every SVC flight, this optimized the definition of physical boundaries of SVC encountered by the WB-57F. Also, as explained in the manuscript, quantitative 2D-S measu...
متن کاملInteractive comment on “Aircraft measurements of microphysical properties of subvisible cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer” by R. P. Lawson
This paper reports measurements made in tropical thin cirrus using optical particle spectrometers. One of these, a 2D-S, is an modestly improved version of technology that has been used for more than 35 years. Two pieces of information come out of this submission: 1) 18 particles larger than 100 um were found in 1800 km worth of samples and 2) quasi-spherical particles were measured. The primar...
متن کاملAircraft measurements of microphysical properties of subvisible cirrus in the tropical tropopause layer
Subvisible cirrus (SVC) clouds are often observed within the tropical tropopause layer (TTL). Some studies suggest that SVC has a significant impact on the earth radiation budget. The Costa Rica Aura Validation Experiment (CR-AVE) sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) took place near San Jose, Costa Rica from 14 January–15 February 2006. The NASA WB-57F sampled S...
متن کاملIce nucleation and dehydration in the Tropical Tropopause Layer.
Optically thin cirrus near the tropical tropopause regulate the humidity of air entering the stratosphere, which in turn has a strong influence on the Earth's radiation budget and climate. Recent high-altitude, unmanned aircraft measurements provide evidence for two distinct classes of cirrus formed in the tropical tropopause region: (i) vertically extensive cirrus with low ice number concentra...
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تاریخ انتشار 2007