Microphysical Properties of Single and Mixed-Phase Arctic Clouds Derived from AERI Observations

A novel new approach to retrieve cloud microphysical properties from mixed-phase clouds is presented. This algorithm retrieves cloud optical depth, ice fraction, and the effective size of the water and ice particles from ground-based, high-resolution infrared radiance observations. The theoretical basis is that the absorption coefficient of ice is stronger than that of liquid water from 10 μm to 13 μm, whereas liquid water is more absorbing than ice from 16 μm to 25 μm. However, due to strong absorption in the rotational water vapor absorption band, the 16 μm to 25 μm spectral region becomes opaque for significant water vapor burdens (i.e., for precipitable water vapor amounts over approximately 1 cm). The Arctic is characterized by its dry and cold atmosphere, as well as a preponderance of mixed-phase clouds, and thus this approach is applicable to Arctic clouds. Since this approach uses infrared observations, cloud properties are retrieved at night and during the long polar wintertime period. The analysis of the cloud properties retrieved during a 7-month period during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) experiment demonstrates many interesting features. These results show a dependence of the optical depth on cloud phase, differences in the mode radius of the water droplets in liquid-only and mid-phase clouds, a lack of temperature dependence in the ice fraction for temperatures above 240 K, seasonal trends in the optical depth with the clouds being thinner in winter and becoming more optically thick in the late spring, and a seasonal trend in the effective size of the water droplets in liquid-only and mixed-phase clouds that is most likely related to aerosol concentration.