NARVAL Airborne remote sensing of clouds and precipitation for satellite validation with HALO Mech, M. 1 , E. Orlandi 1 , F. Ament 2 , S. Crewell 1 , A. Fix 3 , M. Hagen 3 , C. Klepp 4 , and B. Stevens 5 1 Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology, University of Cologne, 2 University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 3 DLR, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, 4 KlimaCampus, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany, 5 Max-Planck-Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany 7 th IPWG Workshop 17-22 Nov. 2014 Tsukuba, Japan contact: [email protected] Gulfstream G550 • Range of 10h / 10000 km • Cruise speed ~ 200 m/s • Al=tude max. 15.5 km • Payload max. 3 t • BAHAMAS for aircraH data • Dropsondes • Belly pod for remote sensing sensors Microwave Radiometers • 26 channels (22 to 183 GHz) WALES lidar • Water vapor absorp=on lidar with four wavelengths Cloud Radar • Pulsed radiometric Doppler radar at 36 Ghz (38 dBZ sensi=vity @ 5km range) Passive MW + Radar = HAMP (HALO Microwave Package, Mech et al. ,2014) Microwave Radiometer Lidar Cloud radar South North Mo:va:on New cloud and precipita=on observa=on techniques are needed to improve our understanding of the earth‘s radia=on budget and water cycle – both presen=ng major challenges in global and regional climate modeling. With the High Al=tude and LOng range (HALO) research aircraH, a plaaorm exists that can be equipped with a remote sensing suite to inves=gate the atmosphere and its water cycle from a new perspec=ve and to serve as a tool for satellite valida=on campaigns. NARVAL (Next Genera=on AircraH Remote Sensing for Valida=on Studies) • South (10.21. Dec 2013, 8 flights) over tropical and subtropical Atlan=c for inves=ga=on of precipita=on in shallow mari=me convec=on (trades & postfrontal extratropics) • North (7.21. Jan 2014, 7 flights) over the North Atlan=c for observa=on of postfrontal clouds and precipita=on in higher la=tudes HALO successfully accomplished the NARVAL campaign with its remote sensing suite on board • 18 flights all in all 140 flight hours (8 South, 7 North, 3 Germany) with ~ 95% data coverage • 125 dropsondes released • Flights were successfully colocated with the ATrain (Cloudsat and Calipso) and include supersite overpasses (JOYCE, Cabauw, Mace Head,…) • Preliminary results are very promising and reveal great detail of shallow cumulus clouds over tropical Atlan=c and trade winds and posarontal convec=ve clouds, precipita=on over the coldseason North Atlan=c • Data will be available as soon as calibra=on and quality assessment is done NARVAL at a glance Aircra> & Instrumenta:on Satellite Comparison Summary & Outlook Acknowledgements NARVAL is a joint research ini=a=ve by DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, MaxPlanck Ins=tute for Meteorology Hamburg, University of Hamburg, University of Cologne, University of Heidelberg, University of Leipzig, Research Centre Juelich funded by DFG, MPG and DLR. Plots on this poster are provided by these partners. References Mech, M., E. Orlandi, S. Crewell, F. Ament, L. Hirsch, M. Hagen, G. Peters, and B. Stevens: HAMP – the microwave package on the High Al=tude and LOng range research aircraH(HALO), Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., 7, 46234657, 2014. Mech, M., M. Maahn, S. Kneifel, P. Kollias, E. Orlandi, S. Redl, and S. Crewell, 2015: PAMTRA passive and ac=ve microwave radia=ve transfer model. In prepara=on. Modelling & Database & Retrieval Retrieval development • Atmosphereobserva=ondatabase based on CRM (COSMO 2 moment cloud microphysics) and PAMTRA (passive and ac=ve microwave transfer, Mech et al., 2015) simula=ons • Simula=on chain validated with ground based and satellite observa=ons • Development of sta=s=cal and varia=onal retrieval approaches • High sensi=vity of 31, 50, and 90 GHz to liquid hydrometeors • High retrieval capabili=es for IWV and LWP • Good retrieval capabili=es for T and qprofiles • Precipita=on and hydrometeor content retrievals by combining different sensors (sensor synergy) like passive and ac=ve microwave Sensi=vity = 10 g/m 2 Theore=cal RMSE = 15 g/m 2 Synergy Microwave Radiometer • Brightness temperature peaks in lower channels indicate liquid water (emission) • Drops in higher channels are due to the ice phase (scatering) Cloud radar • Gives insights about internal cloud structure • Brightband depicts mel=ng layer Lidar • Detects cloud top boundaries and provides informa=on about aerosols and water vapor at the cloud environment Measurements by Cloud radar and WALES for NARVAL North flight: Complementary informa=on from radar and lidar showing hydro meteor contents in the clouds and water vapor in the surounding CloudSat underpass flight of HALO for NARVAL South: CloudSat nearsurface returns are oHen corrupted by surface returns, shown here by a band of echoes near the surface (upper panel). HALO cloud radar confirms CloudSat cloud structures, with strong precipita=on reaching the surface. HALO flight track and VIS satellite composite: HALO passed different (post) frontal cloud regimes (enhanced and shallow cumulus) Flight tracks: NARVAL South (leH) and North (right) flight tracks for all of the 15 research flights in December 2013 to January 2014 over subtropical and tropical and the Northern Atlan=c. Flight track of HALO and picture of cloud structure coincident with CloudSat underpass flight. NARVAL South Measured brightness temperatures, reflec:vi:es and IWV compared to retrieved LWP and IWV Underpass flight