EarthRef.org Reference Database (ERR)
Development and Maintenance by the EarthRef.org Database Team

Detailed Reference Information
Liao et al. 1995
Liao, X., Rossow, W.B. and Rind, D. (1995). Comparison between SAGE II and ISCCP high-level clouds: 1. Global and zonal mean cloud amounts. Journal of Geophysical Research 100: doi: 10.1029/94JD02429. issn: 0148-0227.

Global high-level clouds identified in Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment II (SAGE II) occultation measurements for January and July in the Period 1985 to 1990 are compared with near-nadir-looking observations from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). Global and zonal mean high-level cloud amounts from the two data sets agree very well, if clouds with layer extinction coefficients of <0.008 km-1 at 1.02 μm wavelength are removed from the SAGE II results and all detected clouds are interpreted to have an average horizontal size of about 75 km along the 200 km transmission path length of the SAGE II observations. The SAGE II results are much more sensitive to variations of assumed cloud size than to variations of detection threshold. The geographical distribution of cloud fractions shows good agreement, but systematic regional differences also indicate that the average cloud size varies somewhat among different climate regimes. The more sensitive SAGE II results show that about one third of all high-level clouds are missed by ISCCP but that these clouds have very low optical thicknesses (<0.1 at 0.6 μm wavelength). SAGE II sampling error in monthly zonal cloud fraction is shown to produce no bias, to be less than the intraseasonal natural variability, but to be comparable with the natural variability at longer time scales. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995

BACKGROUND DATA FILES

Abstract

Keywords
Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Cloud physics and chemistry, Atmospheric Composition and Structure, Instruments and techniques, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Climatology, Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics, Radiative processes
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research
http://www.agu.org/journals/jb/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
2000 Florida Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009-1277
USA
1-202-462-6900
1-202-328-0566
service@agu.org
Click to clear formClick to return to previous pageClick to submit