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Applications of a CloudSat-TRMM and CloudSat-GPM Satellite Coincidence Dataset

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) (Ku- and Ka-band, or 14 and 35 GHz) provides the capability to resolve the precipitation structure under moderate to heavy precipitation conditions. In this manuscript, the use of near-coincident observations between GPM and the CloudSat Profiling Radar (CPR) (W-band, or 94 GHz) are demonstrated to extend the capability of representing light rain and cold-season precipitation from DPR and the GPM passive microwave constellation sensors. These unique triple-frequency data have opened up applications related to cold-season precipitation, ice microphysics, and light rainfall and surface emissivity effects.

GPM

CloudSat - From the A-Train to the C-Train

The CloudSat satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California, on April 28, 2006. It was launched with the CALIPSO satellite, a joint mission between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Centre National D'Etudes Spatiales (CNES). CloudSat and CALIPSO were designed to fly in formation with each other, to combine their complimentary scientific measurements. The two missions were maneuvered into the Earth Science Afternoon Constellation (A-Train) shortly after launch and have flown in formation together since then. Originally designed to fly for 22 months, the CloudSat satellite has far exceeded expectations. Inflight anomalies on CloudSat necessitated changes to both the daily concept of operations and formation flying operations with CALIPSO. In 2011, a severe battery anomaly restricted CloudSat science data collection and maneuverability to the sunlit portions of the orbit. In 2017, CloudSat suffered a reaction wheel failure, triggering the criteria established to exit the A-Train. CloudSat successfully exited the A-Train in early 2018, suspending formation flying and joint science observations with CALIPSO. The joint CloudSat/CALIPSO science team continued collaboration with discussions focused on resuming joint observations. As both satellites were aging and CALIPSO was nearing the exhaustion of satellite propellant, the decision was made to lower CloudSat to the CALIPSO graveyard orbit, to be joined by CALIPSO as soon as feasible. With NASA’s approval, CloudSat was maneuvered to the lower orbit over the course of several months in mid-2018. Once CloudSat was in place, and with approval from CNES, CALIPSO began the delicate dance of lowering their orbit and re-aligning the satellite ground tracks. CloudSat and CALIPSO resumed formation flying in the newly dubbed C-Train (CloudSat and CALIPSO) orbit in the Fall of 2018. The ingenuity of the CloudSat and CALIPSO teams made the concept of the C-Train a reality. This paper will discuss the decision processes and the operational challenges the CloudSat flight team faced while designing and implementing the C-Train.

Witkowski, M.M.

The Cloudsat Mission and the EOS Constellation: A New Dimension of Space-Based Observation of Clouds and Precipitation

CloudSat is a satellite experiment designed to measure the vertical structure of clouds from space. The expected launch of CloudSat is planned for 2004 and, once launched, CloudSat will orbit in formation as part of a constellation of satellites including NASA's Aqua and Aura satellites, a NASA-CNES lidar satellite (P-C) and a CNES satellite carrying a polarimeter (PARASOL). A unique feature that CloudSat brings to this constellation is the ability to fly a precise orbit enabling the fields of view of the CloudSat radar to be overlapped with the P-C lidar footprint and the other measurements of the EOS constellation. The precision of this overlap creates a unique multi-satellite observing system for studying the atmospheric processes essential to the hydrological cycle. The vertical profile of cloud properties provided by CloudSat fills a critical gap in the investigation of feedback mechanisms linking clouds to climate. Measuring the vertical profile of cloud properties requires a combination of active and passive instruments, and this will be achieved by combining the radar data of CloudSat with active and passive data from other sensors of the constellation. This paper describes the underpinning science, and gives an overview of the mission, and provides some idea of the expected products and anticipated application of these products. Notably, the CloudSat mission is expected to provide new knowledge about global cloudiness, stimulating new areas of research on clouds including data assimilation and cloud parameterization. The mission also provides an important opportunity to demonstrate active sensor technology for future scientific and tactical applications. The CloudSat mission is a partnership between NASA/JPL, the Canadian Space Agency, Colorado State University, the US Air Force, and the US Department of Energy.

Stephens, Graeme L.

Comparisons of Satellite-Deduced Overlapping Cloud Properties and CALIPSO CloudSat Data

Introduction to the overlapped cloud properties derived from polar-orbiting (MODIS) and geostationary (GOES-12, -13, Meteosat-8, -9, etc.) meteorological satellites, which are produced at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) cloud research & development team (NASA lead scientist: Dr. Patrick Minnis). Comparison of the LaRC CERES MODIS Edition-3 overlapped cloud properties to the CALIPSO and the CloudSat active sensing data. High clouds and overlapped clouds occur frequently as deduced by CALIPSO (44 & 25%), CloudSat (25 & 4%), and MODIS (37 & 6%). Large fractions of optically-thin cirrus and overlapped clouds are deduced from CALIPSO, but much smaller fractions are from CloudSat and MODIS. For overlapped clouds, the averaged upper-layer CTHs are about 12.8 (CALIPSO), 10.9 (CloudSat) and 10 km (MODIS), and the averaged lower-layer CTHs are about 3.6 (CALIPSO), 3.2 (CloudSat) and 3.9 km (MODIS). Based on comparisons of upper and lower-layer cloud properties as deduced from the MODIS, CALIPSO and CloudSat data, more enhanced passive satellite methods for retrieving thin cirrus and overlapped cloud properties are needed and are under development.

Chang, Fu-Lung

CloudSat Anomaly Recovery and Operational Lessons Learned

In April 2011, NASA's pioneering cloud profiling radar satellite, CloudSat, experienced a battery anomaly that placed it into emergency mode and rendered it operations incapable. All initial attempts to recover the spacecraft failed as the resultant power limitations could not support even the lowest power mode. Originally part of a six-satellite constellation known as the "A-Train", CloudSat was unable to stay within its assigned control box, posing a threat to other A-Train satellites. CloudSat needed to exit the constellation, but with the tenuous power profile, conducting maneuvers was very risky. The team was able to execute a complex sequence of operations which recovered control, conducted an orbit lower maneuver, and returned the satellite to safe mode, within one 65 minute sunlit period. During the course of the anomaly recovery, the team developed several bold, innovative operational strategies. Details of the investigation into the root-cause and the multiple approaches to revive CloudSat are examined. Satellite communication and commanding during the anomaly are presented. A radical new system of "Daylight Only Operations" (DO-OP) was developed, which cycles the payload and subsystem components off in tune with earth eclipse entry and exit in order to maintain positive power and thermal profiles. The scientific methodology and operational results behind the graduated testing and ramp-up to DO-OP are analyzed. In November 2011, the CloudSat team successfully restored the vehicle to consistent operational collection of cloud radar data during sunlit portions of the orbit. Lessons learned throughout the six-month return-to-operations recovery effort are discussed and offered for application to other R&D satellites, in the context of on-orbit anomaly resolution efforts.

cloud profiling radar satellite

Seeking Augmented Information Content Concerning Diurnal Precipitation Achieved by Combining TRMM-PR and CloudSat-CPR Radar Data Sets

The CloudSat satellite's Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) is a highly sensitive 94 GHz (W-band) nadir viewing radar system flown in retrograde sun synchronous orbit useful for determining the vertical structure of cloud hydrometeors down to sensitivity of approx. -30 dBZ reflectivity factor. Given this sensitivity, it is possible to unambiguously measure precipitation rates in clouds over a spectrum extending from approx. 0.08 - 3.0 mm hr (sup -1) down to altitudes of 0.5 km with approx.0.25 km vertical binning. This enables an effective means to measure a great deal of the drizzle and light rain spectrum. However, because of its near-polar sunsynchronous orbit, CloudSat cannot sample the diurnal cycle of precipitation, nor with its nadir-only CPR view can it obtain a high duty cycle in sampling precipitation at fixed local times over fixed positions. On the other hand, the TRMM satellite, which is flown in a non-sunsynchronous 35-degree inclined orbit carrying the 13.8 GHz KU-band Precipitation Radar (PR) scanning through nadir over an approx. 225 km swath, can sample both the diurnal cycle and with a much improved duty cycle relative to CloudSat. Moreover, the PR and CPR have the same 0.25 km vertical binning capability. The PR's greatest shortcoming is its approx. +17 dBZ sensitivity, which eliminates the possibility of measuring rain rates below -0.3-0.5 mm hr(sup -1), which can involve rainfall accumulations of up to 50% of the total over some regions. This begs the question of whether by combining CPR and PR data sets, whether it is possible to obtain an augmented measurement of the diurnal precipitation cycle. By collecting complimentary datasets during CloudSat and TRMM satellite orbit crossings within a delta t = 45-min proximity window, it is possible to demonstrate that whenever TRMM detects a precipitation signal, the correlations along the vertical axis between the reflectivities acquired from the CPR and PR are in inverse proportion to the magnitude of the delta t proximity window. By taking advantage of these underlying correlations, it is possible to develop a functional which can be used to broaden the reflectivity spectrum, concomitantly the rain rate spectrum, of the PR measurements based on the inherently broader reflectivity spectrum of the CPR at the lower reflectivity end of the spectrum, concomitantly at lighter rain rates. With the functional in place, it is then possible to produce synthetic CloudSat precipitation imagery over the PR track and thus over the diurnal time period. These augmented data are then used to study the spectral-vertical diurnal properties of precipitation over oceanic regions observed by TRMM.

Smith, Eric A.

Application of the CloudSat and NEXRAD Radars Toward Improvements in High Resolution Operational Forecasts

As computational power increases, operational forecast models are performing simulations with higher spatial resolution allowing for the transition from sub-grid scale cloud parameterizations to an explicit forecast of cloud characteristics and precipitation through the use of single- or multi-moment bulk water microphysics schemes. investments in space-borne and terrestrial remote sensing have developed the NASA CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar and the NOAA National Weather Service NEXRAD system, each providing observations related to the bulk properties of clouds and precipitation through measurements of reflectivity. CloudSat and NEXRAD system radars observed light to moderate snowfall in association with a cold-season, midlatitude cyclone traversing the Central United States in February 2007. These systems are responsible for widespread cloud cover and various types of precipitation, are of economic consequence, and pose a challenge to operational forecasters. This event is simulated with the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) Model, utilizing the NASA Goddard Cumulus Ensemble microphysics scheme. Comparisons are made between WRF-simulated and observed reflectivity available from the CloudSat and NEXRAD systems. The application of CloudSat reflectivity is made possible through the QuickBeam radiative transfer model, with cautious application applied in light of single scattering characteristics and spherical target assumptions. Significant differences are noted within modeled and observed cloud profiles, based upon simulated reflectivity, and modifications to the single-moment scheme are tested through a supplemental WRF forecast that incorporates a temperature dependent snow crystal size distribution.

Molthan, A. L.

CloudSat Anomaly and Return to the A-Train: Lessons Learned for Satellite Constellations

In April 2011, CloudSat suffered a severe battery anomaly, leaving the space-craft in emergency mode without the ability to command or maneuver the spacecraft. Before the team was able to recover spacecraft operability, CloudSat passed close to the Aqua satellite in the A-Train and then exited the A-Train. A new mode of operations, termed Daylight Only Operations (DO-Op) mode was developed to enable CloudSat to resume science operations in an orbit under the A-Train by November 2011, and in July 2012 CloudSat re-entered the A-Train. This paper describes challenges and lessons-learned during the anomaly, the exit from the A-Train and the return to the A-Train. These lessons-learned may ap-ply to other current and future satellite constellations in Earth orbit.

formation-flying

CloudSat Bias on Falling Snow Estimates Over the Daylight Only Operational Period (2012-2019)

Falling snow is a key component for the global atmospheric, hydrological and energy cycles, and its retrieval from space-based observations represents the best current capability to evaluate it globally. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Core Observatory, launched in 2014, together with its constellation sensors, can provide quasi-global precipitation estimates every 30 minutes (for level 3 products). Evaluation and validation efforts for such products are crucial, and for global evaluations, one of the most suitable instruments is the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on board CloudSat, which is sensitive to light rain and falling snow. However, due to a battery anomaly in 2011, during its period of overlapping observations with GPM the CPR has operated in a Daylight Only Operations mode (DO-Op) in which it makes measurements primarily during only the daylit portion of its orbit. The goal of this work is to estimate biases inherent in global snowfall amounts derived from CPR measurements due to this shift to DO-Op mode. We use CloudSat's snowfall measurements during its Full Operations (Full-Op) period from 2006 to 2010 to evaluate the impact DO-Op mode would have had during this period. Results indicate that omitting the nocturnal component of the diurnal cycle of snowfall has nonnegligible impact on snowfall amounts in some regions. The lack of nighttime data during DO-Op biases the latitudinally averaged mean snowfall rates as well as some regional values. Hemispheric differences in bias may be due to more pronounced diurnal variability in the northern hemisphere owing to more prevalent land surface versus the southern hemisphere. The results highlight the need to sample consistently with the CloudSat observations or to adjust snowfall estimates derived from CloudSat when using DO-Op data to evaluate other precipitation products.

Milani, Lisa

CloudSat at 11— Now What?

The CloudSat mission recently completed eleven years of on-orbit operations, providing unique radar profiles of the vertical structure of clouds. CloudSat is a member of the A-Train, an international constellation of Earth-science satellites at 705 km altitude with an ascending node at 1:30 PM local time. Five years into the mission, the CloudSat spacecraft survived a near-death experience when its battery developed a current-limiting impedance restriction. Dramatic changes were made to the operations of the spacecraft, allowing the mission to continue providing unique weather- and climate-related data on clouds. While several more years of operations are possible, a number of challenges still exist. We discuss the science, the history, and options for the future of CloudSat.

Vane, Deborah G.

Biases in CloudSat Falling Snow Estimates Resulting from Daylight-Only Operations

Falling snow is a key component of the Earth’s water cycle, and space-based observations provide the best current capability to evaluate it globally. The Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) on board CloudSat is sensitive to snowfall, and other satellite missions and climatological models have used snowfall properties measured by it for evaluating and comparing against their snowfall products. Since a battery anomaly in 2011, the CPR has operated in a Daylight-Only Operations (DO-Op) mode, in which it makes measurements primarily during only the daylit portion of its orbit. This work provides estimates of biases inherent in global snowfall amounts derived from CPR measurements due to this shift to DO-Op mode. We use CloudSat’s snowfall measurements during its Full Operations (Full-Op) period prior to the battery anomaly to evaluate the impact of the DO-Op mode sampling. For multi-year global mean values, the snowfall fraction during DO-Op changes by −10.16% and the mean snowfall rate changes by −8.21% compared with Full-Op. These changes are driven by the changes in sampling in DO-Op and are very little influenced by changes in meteorology between the Full-Op and DO-Op periods. The results highlight the need to sample consistently with the CloudSat observations or to adjust snowfall estimates derived from CloudSat when using DO-Op data to evaluate other precipitation products.

Lisa Milani

CloudSat-Constrained Cloud Ice Water Path and Cloud Top Height Retrievals from MHS 157 and 183.3 GHz Radiances

Ice water path (IWP) and cloud top height (ht) are two of the key variables in determining cloud radiative and thermodynamical properties in climate models. Large uncertainty remains among IWP measurements from satellite sensors, in large part due to the assumptions made for cloud microphysics in these retrievals. In this study, we develop a fast algorithm to retrieve IWP from the 157, 183.3+/-3 and 190.3 GHz radiances of the Microwave Humidity Sounder (MHS) such that the MHS cloud ice retrieval is consistent with CloudSat IWP measurements. This retrieval is obtained by constraining the empirical forward models between collocated and coincident measurements of CloudSat IWP and MHS cloud-induced radiance depression (Tcir) at these channels. The empirical forward model is represented by a lookup table (LUT) of Tcir-IWP relationships as a function of ht and the frequency channel.With ht simultaneously retrieved, the IWP is found to be more accurate. The useful range of the MHS IWP retrieval is between 0.5 and 10 kg/sq m, and agrees well with CloudSat in terms of the normalized probability density function (PDF). Compared to the empirical model, current operational radiative transfer models (RTMs) still have significant uncertainties in characterizing the observed Tcir-IWP relationships. Therefore, the empirical LUT method developed here remains an effective approach to retrieving ice cloud properties from the MHS-like microwave channels.

cloud top height

Integrated Cloud-Aerosol-Radiation Product using CERES, MODIS, CALIPSO and CloudSat Data

This paper documents the development of the first integrated data set of global vertical profiles of clouds, aerosols, and radiation using the combined NASA A-Train data from the Aqua Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), and CloudSat. As part of this effort, cloud data from the CALIPSO lidar and the CloudSat radar are merged with the integrated column cloud properties from the CERES-MODIS analyses. The active and passive datasets are compared to determine commonalities and differences in order to facilitate the development of a 3- dimensional cloud and aerosol dataset that will then be integrated into the CERES broadband radiance footprint. Preliminary results from the comparisons for April 2007 reveal that the CERES-MODIS global cloud amounts are, on average, 0.14 less and 0.15 greater than those from CALIPSO and CloudSat, respectively. These new data will provide unprecedented ability to test and improve global cloud and aerosol models, to investigate aerosol direct and indirect radiative forcing, and to validate the accuracy of global aerosol, cloud, and radiation data sets especially in polar regions and for multi-layered cloud conditions.

Sun-Mack, Sunny

Cold Season QPF: Sensitivities to Snow Parameterizations and Comparisons to NASA CloudSat Observations

As operational numerical weather prediction is performed at increasingly finer spatial resolution, precipitation traditionally represented by sub-grid scale parameterization schemes is now being calculated explicitly through the use of single- or multi-moment, bulk water microphysics schemes. As computational resources grow, the real-time application of these schemes is becoming available to a broader audience, ranging from national meteorological centers to their component forecast offices. A need for improved quantitative precipitation forecasts has been highlighted by the United States Weather Research Program, which advised that gains in forecasting skill will draw upon improved simulations of clouds and cloud microphysical processes. Investments in space-borne remote sensing have produced the NASA A-Train of polar orbiting satellites, specially equipped to observe and catalog cloud properties. The NASA CloudSat instrument, a recent addition to the A-Train and the first 94 GHz radar system operated in space, provides a unique opportunity to compare observed cloud profiles to their modeled counterparts. Comparisons are available through the use of a radiative transfer model (QuickBeam), which simulates 94 GHz radar returns based on the microphysics of cloudy model profiles and the prescribed characteristics of their constituent hydrometeor classes. CloudSat observations of snowfall are presented for a case in the central United States, with comparisons made to precipitating clouds as simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting Model and the Goddard single-moment microphysics scheme. An additional forecast cycle is performed with a temperature-based parameterization of the snow distribution slope parameter, with comparisons to CloudSat observations provided through the QuickBeam simulator.

Molthan, A. L.

Winter QPF Sensitivities to Snow Parameterizations and Comparisons to NASA CloudSat Observations

Steady increases in computing power have allowed for numerical weather prediction models to be initialized and run at high spatial resolution, permitting a transition from larger scale parameterizations of the effects of clouds and precipitation to the simulation of specific microphysical processes and hydrometeor size distributions. Although still relatively coarse in comparison to true cloud resolving models, these high resolution forecasts (on the order of 4 km or less) have demonstrated value in the prediction of severe storm mode and evolution and are being explored for use in winter weather events . Several single-moment bulk water microphysics schemes are available within the latest release of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model suite, including the NASA Goddard Cumulus Ensemble, which incorporate some assumptions in the size distribution of a small number of hydrometeor classes in order to predict their evolution, advection and precipitation within the forecast domain. Although many of these schemes produce similar forecasts of events on the synoptic scale, there are often significant details regarding precipitation and cloud cover, as well as the distribution of water mass among the constituent hydrometeor classes. Unfortunately, validating data for cloud resolving model simulations are sparse. Field campaigns require in-cloud measurements of hydrometeors from aircraft in coordination with extensive and coincident ground based measurements. Radar remote sensing is utilized to detect the spatial coverage and structure of precipitation. Here, two radar systems characterize the structure of winter precipitation for comparison to equivalent features within a forecast model: a 3 GHz, Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) based in Omaha, Nebraska, and the 94 GHz NASA CloudSat Cloud Profiling Radar, a spaceborne instrument and member of the afternoon or "A-Train" of polar orbiting satellites tasked with cataloguing global cloud characteristics. Each system provides a unique perspective. The WSR-88D operates in a surveillance mode, sampling cloud volumes of Rayleigh scatterers where reflectivity is proportional to the sixth moment of the size distribution of equivalent spheres. The CloudSat radar provides enhanced sensitivity to smaller cloud ice crystals aloft, as well as consistent vertical profiles along each orbit. However, CloudSat reflectivity signatures are complicated somewhat by resonant Mie scattering effects and significant attenuation in the presence of cloud or rain water. Here, both radar systems are applied to a case of light to moderate snowfall within the warm frontal zone of a cold season, synoptic scale storm. Radars allow for an evaluation of the accuracy of a single-moment scheme in replicating precipitation structures, based on the bulk statistical properties of precipitation as suggested by reflectivity signatures.

Molthan, Andrew

Cloud Features Detected by MODIS But Not by CloudSat and CALIOP

The ability to characterize the global cloud cover from space has been greatly enhanced by the availability of MODIS, CloudSat, and CALIOP data. The three sensors provide good complementary information about clouds. In this study, we investigated unexpected observations of certain types of clouds apparent in the MODIS data but not detected by CloudSat and CALIOP. Several examples are presented and generally these undetected clouds are geometrically thin, low-level clouds. In particular, they are located in the Arctic region and have optical thicknesses of less than 14, top height altitudes of below 2.5 km, and layer thickness of less than 1 km. CloudSat may miss such low-level clouds because of its coarse vertical resolution of about 500 m and it has limited sensitivity near the surface. Unexpectedly, CALIOP with a much higher vertical resolution of 30 m also misses these clouds and this is due to the cloud s geometrically thin nature and surface proximity.

Chan, Mark Aaron

Vertical Structure of Ice Cloud Layers From CloudSat and CALIPSO Measurements and Comparison to NICAM Simulations

The shape of the vertical profile of ice cloud layers is examined using 4 months of CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) global measurements taken on January, April, July, and October 2007. Ice clouds are selected using temperature profiles when the cloud base is located above the 253K temperature level. The obtained ice water content (IWC), effective radius, or extinction coefficient profiles are normalized by their layer mean values and are expressed in the normalized vertical coordinate, which is defined as 0 and 1 at the cloud base and top heights, respectively. Both CloudSat and CALIPSO observations show that the maximum in the IWC and extinction profiles shifts toward the cloud bottom, as the cloud depth increases. In addition, clouds with a base reaching the surface in a high-latitude region show that the maximum peak of the IWC and extinction profiles occurs near the surface, which is presumably due to snow precipitation. CloudSat measurements show that the seasonal difference in normalized cloud vertical profiles is not significant, whereas the normalized cloud vertical profile significantly varies depending on the cloud type and the presence of precipitation. It is further examined if the 7 day Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) simulation results from 25 December 2006 to 1 January 2007 generate similar cloud profile shapes. NICAM IWC profiles also show maximum peaks near the cloud bottom for thick cloud layers and maximum peaks at the cloud bottom for low-level clouds near the surface. It is inferred that oversized snow particles in the NICAM cloud scheme produce a more vertically inhomogeneous IWC profile than observations due to quick sedimentation.

Ham, Seung-Hee