[1] The radiative effects of cirrus clouds are evaluated based on observations extending over a period of six years (2000–2005) from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) over the Tropics (25 S–25 N). The cloud radiative effect (CRE) shows a positive sign for optically thin cirrus (total-column cloud optical depth:...

The presence of cirrus clouds introduces complex heating and cooling effects on the atmosphere and can also interfere with remote sensing from satellite-based sensors or from high-altitude aircraft. Detection of cirrus clouds thus provides an opportunity for atmospheric correction to introduce accurate compensation to images of the earth’s surface. Previous work on detection and characterizatio...

Cicerina debrae is described as a new species of kalyptorhynch flatworm belonging to the Cicerinidae. This species was found in surface sediment from the lower half of the beach at two sites in North Carolina and is identical to museum material previously collected from North Carolina and from the Atlantic coast of Florida. C. debrae differs from its congeners in the shape of the ductus spermat...

The climatic effects of climate engineering—or geoengineering—via cirrus cloud thinning are examined. Thinner cirrus clouds can allowmore outgoing longwave radiation to escape to space, potentially cooling the climate. The cloud properties and climatic effects due to perturbing the ice crystal fall speed are investigated in a set of hemispheric scale sensitivity experiments with the Community E...

Algorithms are developed to convert data streams from multiple airborne and spaceborne remote sensors into layer-averaged cirrus bulk microphysical properties. Radiometers such as the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observe narrowband spectral radiances, and active remote sensors such as the lidar on the Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CA...

Observational data regarding the properties of cirrus clouds are needed to aid in the development of accurate, physically based parameterizations in climate models. The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, is providing continuous observations of cirrus clouds with a suite of instrumentation at several ocales. In this paper, we describe an ...

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 thunder...

Chimaerula bonai sp. n. is described from the small intestine of Phimosus infuscatus (Lichtenstein) in Paraguay. The new species differs from the other two species of Chimaerula Bona, 1994, i.e., Chinmaerula woodlandi (Prudhoe, 1960) and Chinmaerula leonovi (Belogurov et Zueva, 1968), mainly by the intermediate number of rostellar hooks (30-34 compared to 42-46 in the former and 20-22 in the la...

Significant gaps in our understanding of global cirrus effects on the climate system involve the role of frequently occurring tropical cirrus. Much of the cirrus in the atmosphere is largely due to frequent cumulus and convective activity in the tropics. In the Indian sub-tropical region, the deep convective activity is very prominent from April to December, which is a favorable period for the ...