Passive microwave and visible/near infrared retrievals of boundary layer cloud physical properties

This presentation will summarize our efforts to improve and develop boundary cloud physical retrieval products and climatologies in support of climate research. In particular, we will present an overview on our current efforts to estimate cloud liquid water path from combined passive microwave and near-infrared observations and an updated climatology of global boundary layer cloud droplet number concentration from multi-spectral visible and near infrared imagery. A strong emphasis will be put on the consistency between passive microwave and near-infrared estimates of cloud properties. We will further present application examples for climate model development and validation.