Seamless measurements of vertical air velocity associated with warm clouds through the integration of multiple retrieval techniques

Vertical air motion retrievals in warm phase boundary layer clouds are key for quantitatively describing cloud turbulence and for improving the retrieval of cloud and drizzle microphysical properties. This is especially true for the marine boundary layer clouds observed by the ARM Mobile Facility during the Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP) campaign in Cape Cod, and for the Clouds, Aerosol and Precipitation in the Marine Boundary Layer (CAP-MBL) campaign on Graciosa Island, particularly in light of a new fixed ARM site to be deployed there. We present current efforts to produce seamless measurements of vertical air velocity throughout and beneath drizzling and non-drizzling warm clouds, by the integration of several retrieval techniques. Recently developed radar Doppler spectra retrievals are effective in handling light, autoconversion driven drizzle conditions. These are combined with retrievals from a radar moments based approach suited to heavier accretion dominated drizzle. Doppler lidar is used to characterize sub-cloud velocities. We discuss the mutual validation of these information sources where they spatially overlap, how discrepancies are handled, and lessons learned.