Cloud Vertical Structure

Active cloud observations from A-Train’s CloudSat and CALIPSO satellites offer new opportunities to examine the vertical structure of hydrometeor layers. We use the 2B-CLDCLASS-LIDAR merged CloudSat-CALIPSO product to examine global aspects of hydrometeor vertical stratification. We group the data into major cloud vertical structure (CVS) classes based on our interpretation of how clouds in three standard atmospheric layers overlap and provide their global frequency of occurrence. 

Citation: Oreopoulos, L., N. Cho, and D. Lee (2017), New insights about cloud vertical structure from CloudSat and CALIPSO observations, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 122, 9280–9300, doi:10.1002/2017JD026629.