An Overview of Ed Zipser's Latent Impact on Cloud Modeling Developments at NASA

“Latent” is defined as something “existing but not yet developed or manifest; hidden; concealed”, commonly applied to describe the energy exchanged due to the phase changes of water. It can also be applied to describe the critical and long-lasting, but more hidden contributions and impact that Edward Zipser has had on the development of full-physics cloud-resolving models. In this presentation, we summarize how Ed's field campaign observations and analysis of cloud and cloud system properties influenced the development, validation, and improvement of a family of cloud-resolving models at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center since the early 1980s. These models in turn influenced the development of satellite data retrieval algorithms for cloud hydrometeors, rainfall, and latent heating from the current generation of Earth observing satellites. While Ed's direct contributions to our understanding of cloud systems from the TRMM and GPM missions are many, we focus here on how his work influenced the modeling that shaped our concepts of what these satellites should measure and how the operational retrievals should be done. Multiple generations of cloud-resolving models have evolved at NASA, and each generation is validated against the cloud structures Ed observed and described as far back as the late 1960s. We show why Ed's work was and continues to remain relevant to the cloud modeling and satellite retrieval algorithm communities.