Microphysical and radiative properties of stratocumulus clouds: The EUCREX mission 206 case study

Abstract

In this conclusion paper, remote sensing retrievals of cloud optical thickness performed during the EUCREX mission 206 are analyzed. The comparison with estimates derived from in situ measurements demonstrates that the adiabatic model of cloud microphysics is more realistic than the vertically uniform plane parallel model (VUPPM) for parameterization of optical thickness. The analysis of the frequency distributions of optical thickness in the cloud layer then shows that the adiabatic model provides a good prediction when the cloud layer is thick and homogeneous, while it overestimates significantly the optical thickness when the layer is thin and broken. Finally, it is shown that the effective optical thickness over the whole sampled cloud is smaller than the adiabatic prediction based on the mean geometrical thickness of the cloud layer. The high sensitivity of the optical thickness on cloud geometrical thickness suggests that the effect of aerosol and droplet concentration on precipitation efficiency, and therefore on cloud extent and lifetime, is likely to be more significant than the Twomey effect. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.