Satellite Remote Sensing

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First Ever Satellite Remote Sensing of Small Ice Crystals in Cirrus Clouds: Case Study Analysis
	(Click image for enlargement) Probe design minimizes the occurance of shattered ice fragments entering the sample volume.

MODIS Retrieval Results

Black circles are anvil cirrus retrievals using the CO₂ channels to retrieve cloud temperature and then the 11 and 12 µm channels to obtain corresponding emissivities. Retrievals are for areas containing only one cloud layer. The close correspondance with the dashed curves predicted for only the large mode of the size distribution (PSD) indicates a distinct small mode is generally missing.	Retrievals of the effective absorption efficiency ratio or Beff are plotted against retrieved cirrus temperature. The average value of ß_eff found by Inoue (1985) is indicated by the dashed line. Our mean ß_eff of 1.06 +/- .03 is consistent with Inoue's measurements.

The PSD small-to-large mode crystal concentration ratio related to retrieved cirrus temperature. The dashed line denotes equal concentration in each PSD mode. A distinct small mode would contain ice crystal concentrations more than a factor of 10 greater than the large mode concentration.	The PSD small-to-large mode concentration ratio related to retrieved cirrus lWP.
2D-S In Situ Measurements for 22 July 2007
(Click image for enlargement)
Representative examples of PSD measured by the 2DS probe off the west coast of Costa Rica in young anvil cirrus (blue) and over the Panama Bight in old continental anvil cirrus (red).	Horizontal transects of total ice particle number concentration. Closest proximity to convection for young anvil cirrus occurs near 70 km. Each channel of the 2DS probe is an independent measurement.

Retrieved D_e vs. anvil cirrus temperature. Note the similarity betweeen these retrievals and those based on the measurements from the literature.	Retrieved N vs. anvil cirrus temperature assuming an ice water content of 10 mg m^-3. The temperature dependence of the retrieved D_e and N appear consistent with the homogeneous freezing ice nucleation mechanism.
Other Retrieval Relationships


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