A Global View of Ice Generation in Mixed-phase clouds by Combining CALIPSO Lidar and CloudSat Radar Measurements

Although it is well realized that space-based lidar measurements are powerful to study ice clouds, especially optically thin cirrus clouds, this study will illustrate the potentials of space-based lidar on studying mixed-phase cloud properties and processes. CALIPSO lidar provided critical measurements to identify supercooled liquid layer position to characterize the vertical structures of mixed-phase clouds globally, especially combining with CloudSat radar measurements. Combined CALIPSO lidar and CloudSat radar measurements also make it possible to retrieve ice concentrations in stratiform mixed-phase clouds to provide the first global view of primary ice productions in mixed-phase clouds. The polarization measurements of CALIPSO lidar not only provide insides on ice production near the top of convective mixed-phase clouds, but also allow reliable identification of dust aerosols to effectively study aerosol dependent ice generation in mixed-phase clouds. This presentation will briefly summarize related algorithms, then present a global view of ice generations in mixed-phase clouds based on multi-year CALIPSO-CloudSat measurements. The impacts of dust aerosols on ice generations in mixed-phase clouds will be evaluated in details.