Radiative and Microphysical Properties of Cirrus Cloud Inferred from Infrared Measurements Made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Part I: Retrieval Method

Abstract

AbstractAn optimal estimation–based algorithm is developed to infer the global-scale distribution of cirrus cloud radiative and microphysical properties from the measurements made by the Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) at three infrared (IR) window bands centered at 8.5, 11, and 12 μm. Cloud-top and underlying surface temperatures, as a priori information, are obtained from the MODIS operational products. A fast-forward model based on semianalytical equations for the brightness temperature is used. The modeling errors in brightness temperature are mainly from the uncertainties in model parameters including surface emissivity, precipitable water, and cloud-base temperature. The total measurement–model errors are well correlated for the three bands, which are considered in the retrieval. The most important factors for the accurate retrieval of cloud optical thickness and the effective particle radius are cloud-top and surface temperatures, whereas model parameter uncertainties constitute a moderately significant error source. The three-band IR method is suitable for retrieving optical thickness and effective radius for cloud optical thicknesses within a range of 0.5–6, where the typical root-mean-square error is less than 20% in optical thickness and less than 40% in effective particle radius. A tropical-region case study demonstrates the advantages of the method—in particular, the ability to be applied to more pixels in optically thin cirrus in comparison with a solar-reflection-based method—and the ability of the optimal estimation framework to produce useful diagnostics of the retrieval quality. Collocated comparisons with spaceborne active remote sensing data exhibit reasonable consistency with respect to retrieved particle size.