Surface-based remote sensing of marine boundary-layer cloud properties

Abstract

Surface-based measurements are used to define some of the important macrophysical and optical properties of marine clouds. These measurements were taken during five different marine field programs. A progression is made from a midlatitude marine stratocumulus regime with an average cloud fraction of 0.7 and a median cloud base of 460 m to the marine tropical regime with an average cloud fraction of 0.2 and a median cloud base of 1050 m. Measurements of the solar transmission coefficient taken during the Atlantic Stratocumulus Transition Experiment (ASTEX) were used in a radiative transfer algorithm to produce values of albedo, absorption, and optical depth. A microwave radiometer provided measurements of the liquid water path (LWP). -from Authors