Reflections on Cloud Remote Sensing: Another Sean Twomey Legacy (Invited Presentation)

Sean Twomey's pioneering work in aerosol and cloud microphysical processes naturally evolved into questions on the radiative impact of these particles in the atmosphere. In addition to writing early radiative transfer codes to calculate the extinction and scattering properties of aerosol and cloud particles, he developed an efficient numerical technique for multiple scattering media that he then used in a number of radiation studies, including the inverse problem of cloud remote sensing with multispectral reflectance observations. Sean's cloud optical and microphysical retrievals from airborne measurements in the early 1980s was the forerunner to modern day passive imager airborne and satellite cloud remote sensing capabilities. The presentation will provide an overview of Sean's development work in cloud remote sensing, including example ship track retrievals, inferences of cloud susceptibility, and recent satellite efforts.