CLABAUTAIR: a new algorithm for retrieving three-dimensional cloud structure from airborne microphysical measurements

[摘要] A new algorithm is presented to reproduce thethree-dimensional structure of clouds from airbornemeasurements of microphysical parameters. Data from individualflight legs are scanned for characteristic patterns, and theautocorrelation functionsfor several directions are used to extrapolate the observations alongthe flight path to a full three-dimensional distribution of the cloud field.Thereby, the mean measured profiles of microphysical parameters are imposedto the cloud field by mapping the measured probability density functionsonto the model layers.The algorithm was tested by simulating flight legs through synthetic clouds(by means of Large Eddy Simulations (LES))and applied to a stratocumulus cloud case measured during the first fieldexperiment of the EC project INSPECTRO (INfluence of clouds on theSPECtral actinic flux in the lower TROposphere) in East Anglia,UK. The number and position of the flight tracks determine the qualityof the retrieved cloud field. If they provide a representative sampleof the entire field, the derived pattern closely resembles thestatistical properties of the real cloud field.

[学科分类] 大气科学