The tropical warm pool international cloud experiment (TWP-ICE)

Cirrus clouds cover large areas of the tropical oceans and have an important impact on the radiative balance of this region. The microphysical properties of cirrus affect both their radiative properties and their lifetime. In order for climate models to accurately represent tropical cirrus and their effects, it is important to correctly capture these microphysical properties. Until now, there have been few measurements of tropical cirrus cloud properties. In January and February 2006, The US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program in collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and other agencies carried out the Tropical Warm Pool International Cloud Experiment (TWP-ICE) in Darwin Australia. Darwin was chosen for TWP-ICE because it is the home of one of the ARM cloud and radiation measurement stations. TWP-ICE included in situ and remote sensing measurements of clouds along with a dense radiosonde network. The cloud measurements will provide a basis for improving the representation of cirrus in climate models while the radiosonde array will provide the means for detailed modeling studies to be carried out in conjunction with these measurements. In this paper, preliminary results from the experiment will be presented.