Warm clouds and light rain—new insights from CloudSat and the A-train

The performance of the CloudSat radar and its sensitivity low clouds and light rain is reviewed. The global properties of light rain are presented and it will be shown how the relationship between rain and cloud properties reveals new insights about the rain formation process in low clouds. A comparison between these new A-train observations and global weather and climate models will also be presented as a way of defining where improvements in our understanding is required and where observational challenges remain.