Remote Sounding of Cloudy Atmospheres. III. Experimental Verifications

Abstract

The cloud-filtering technique developed in Parts I and II of this study is experimentally verified in this paper. The verification is based on radiance data measured in the 4.3 and 15 µm bands using a multi-detector sounder mounted on an aircraft. The results presented here show that, from the aircraft height of 7.6 km and in the presence of multiple cloud formations, it is possible to recover simultaneously: The clear-column atmospheric temperature profile with an rms error of 1 K with respect to radiosondes. The land and sea surface temperature at all sun zenith angles. The accuracy of the recovered sea-surface temperature is 0.5-1 K with respect to measured bucket temperatures. The humidity profile (water vapor mixing ratio) with a precision of 10%. The fractional covers and heights of up to three cloud formations. The types of clouds, i.e., whether convective or nonconvective.