Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 47, Issue 14, Pages -Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1029/2020GL087554
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Funding
- NASA [NNX15AK17G, NNX13AQ34G]
- NASA [807304, NNX13AQ34G, 464871, NNX15AK17G] Funding Source: Federal RePORTER
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Supercooled liquid clouds are an important component of the albedo of the Southern Ocean (SO). While ice phase occurrence in liquid-dominant clouds (hereafter mixed phase) at temperatures warmer than the homogeneous freezing point is rare in the SO, the processes that create mixed-phase clouds are not understood. Using data from the CALIPSO lidar, we reconsider the thresholds of layer-integrated depolarization ratio and layer-integrated attenuated backscatter that are used to diagnose the phases of fully attenuating cloud layers. We argue that liquid-only clouds have understood physical bounds to these thresholds allowing for unique identification of layers that are not consistent with the presence of single-phase liquid tops. Compared to the original phase algorithm the application of these physically constrained thresholds results in a similar to 70% increase in mixed phase during the annual cycle considered. Combining the CALIPSO data with CloudSat data, mixed-phase clouds seem to typically cooccur with precipitation implying secondary ice forming processes.
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