Assessing the Influences of Cloud Top Height Information on Passive Microwave Retrieval of Cloud Liquid Water Path

Abstract

Cloud liquid water path (LWP) quantifies liquid water amount within the atmosphere and is closely related to water cycle, weather, and climate. Passive microwave (MW) observations are powerful tools for retrieving LWP. An empirical relationship between the LWPs and MW brightness temperatures (BTs) can be obtained for conventional retrievals, which consider only the influence of LWP on BTs. However, besides LWP, the cloud vertical extent [e.g., cloud top height (CTH)] can affect MW emission, absorption, and corresponding channel BTs, but it is ignored in conventional retrievals. This study investigates the influences of CTH on MW LWP retrievals, and a CTH-dependent algorithm is developed using CTHs from infrared retrievals. Synthetic radiative transfer simulations are performed to quantify CTH effects on MW channel BTs and to establish the CTH-dependent retrieval coefficients. We use the Advanced MW Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) observations. Cloud products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are collocated to provide the necessary CTH information. Thus, we develop an LWP retrieval algorithm by combining AMSR2 BTs with MODIS CTHs. The results indicate that incorporating CTH information into LWP retrievals enhances the consistency between MW and visible/infrared retrievals. Specifically, the CTH-dependent algorithm showed an improvement in the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and a reduction in mean relative differences (MRDs) by approximately 4% (from 18% to 14%) compared to AMSR2 operational retrievals. The CTH-dependent results are slightly more consistent with the MODIS results than the CTH-independent ones, though it remains important to note that the CTH-dependent retrievals introduce less differences compared to their CTH-independent retrievals.