Evaluation of a Statistical Model of Cloud Vertical Structure Using Combined CloudSat and CALIPSO Cloud Layer Profiles

Abstract

A model of the three-dimensional distribution of clouds was developed from the statistics of cloud layer occurrence from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) and the statistics of cloud vertical structure (CVS) from an analysis of radiosonde humidity profiles. The CVS model associates each cloud type, defined by cloud-top pressure of the topmost cloud layer and total column optical thickness, with a particular CVS. The advent of satellite cloud radar (CloudSat) and lidar [Cloud?Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO)] measurements (together C however, the agreement is not good when the uppermost cloud layer is a middle-level cloud, even when ISCCP correctly locates cloud top. An improved CVS model combining C&C and ISCCP may require classification at spatial scales larger than individual satellite pixels.