Cloud Properties from a Combined Lidar-Radar retrieval in the tropical western Pacific

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program has established three long-term measurement sites in the tropical Western Pacific region. These sites, at Manus, Papua New Guinea (established in 1996), the island nation of Nauru (1998), and Darwin, Australia (2002), represent an important region in the global climate system. The ARM Program has deployed advanced remote sensing instrumentation, including radar and lidar, which allow detailed characterization of cloud microphysical and macrophysical properties. A new combined Lidar-Radar retrieval product has been utilized to examine the cloud properties observed by each instrument individually, as well as jointly. This is a unique dataset in that it is the longest-running record of high-quality remote sensing data for the tropical region. Diurnal, monthly, and seasonal cloud physical properties and radiative properties are examined at these three sites.