Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “low clouds”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2003

Limitations on Space-based Air Fluorescence Detector Apertures obtained from IR Cloud Measurements

The presence of clouds between an airshower and a space-based detector can dramatically alter the measured signal characteristics due to absorption and scattering of the photonic signals. Furthermore, knowledge of the cloud cover in the observed atmosphere is needed to determine the instantaneous aperture of such a detector. Before exploring the complex nature of cloud-airshower interactions, we examine a simpler issue. We investigate the fraction of ultra-high energy cosmic ray events that may be expected to occur in volumes of the viewed atmosphere non-obscured by clouds. To this end, we use space-based IR data in concert with Monte Carlo simulated 10(exp 20) eV airshowers to determine the acceptable event fractions. Earth-observing instruments, such as MODIS, measure detailed cloud configurations via a CO2-slicing technique that can be used to determine cloud-top altitudes over large areas. Thus, events can be accepted if their observed 3-dimensional endpoints occur above low clouds as well as from areas of cloud-free atmosphere. An initial analysis has determined that by accepting airshowers that occur above low clouds, the non-obscured acceptance can be increased by approximately a factor of 3 over that obtained using a cloud-free criterion.

White, Nicholas E.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Automatically Finding Ship-Tracks to Enable Large-Scale Analysis of Aerosol-Cloud Interactions

Ship tracks appear as long winding linear features in satellite images and are produced by aerosols from ship exhausts changing low cloud properties. They are one of the best examples of aerosol‐cloud interaction experiments. However, manually finding ship tracks from satellite data on a large scale is prohibitively costly while a large number of samples are required to improve our understanding. Here we train a deep neural network to automate finding ship tracks. The neural network model generalizes well as it not only finds ship tracks labeled by human experts but also detects those that are occasionally missed by humans. It finds more ship tracks than all previous studies combined and produces a map of ship track distributions off the California coast that matches well with known shipping traffic. Our technique will enable studying aerosol effects on low clouds using ship tracks on a large scale, which will potentially narrow the uncertainty of the aerosol‐cloud interactions.

aerosol cloud interactions↗
DOE OSTI2025

SCILLA 1 Hz merged data

The overarching goal of the Southern California Interactions of Low Cloud and Land Aerosol (SCILLA) experiment is to understand the interplay among horizontal circulation, vertical mixing, aerosols and clouds in the Southern California (SoCal) Bight. Eddy circulations within the Bight are frequently present when low clouds are persistent, and the transport of pollution into the Bight also depends on the regional and local circulation. The contrast between the cooler near-surface marine air with the warmer overlying continental and/or free tropospheric air is crucial to the efficiency of vertical mixing, and vertical transport of aerosols into the boundary layer. The CIRPAS Twin Otter aircraft was based in San Diego, CA, to perform airborne measurements of winds, aerosols, and clouds for 1 month (June 2023), with a geographical focus on the SoCal Bight. The deployment coincided with the DOE-funded Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE), which deployed a range of ground-based aerosol and cloud sensors and samplers from Feb. 2023 to Feb. 2024, mostly in and around San Diego. The aircraft deployment specifically seeks to answer questions about the cause of regions of elevated cloud drop number concentration from satellite-observed variations over the SoCal Bight, the role of horizontal advection relative to vertical transport and mixing, and the role of the thermodynamic properties (rather than aerosol properties) of continental air in modifying nearshore clouds.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2010

Influence of Arctic Sea Ice Extent on Polar Cloud Fraction and Vertical Structure and Implications for Regional Climate

Recent satellite lidar measurements of cloud properties spanning a period of 5 years are used to examine a possible connection between Arctic sea ice amount and polar cloud fraction and vertical distribution. We find an anticorrelation between sea ice extent and cloud fraction with maximum cloudiness occurring over areas with little or no sea ice. We also find that over ice!free regions, there is greater low cloud frequency and average optical depth. Most of the optical depth increase is due to the presence of geometrically thicker clouds over water. In addition, our analysis indicates that over the last 5 years, October and March average polar cloud fraction has increased by about 7% and 10%, respectively, as year average sea ice extent has decreased by 5% 7%. The observed cloud changes are likely due to a number of effects including, but not limited to, the observed decrease in sea ice extent and thickness. Increasing cloud amount and changes in vertical distribution and optical properties have the potential to affect the radiative balance of the Arctic region by decreasing both the upwelling terrestrial longwave radiation and the downward shortwave solar radiation. Because longwave radiation dominates in the long polar winter, the overall effect of increasing low cloud cover is likely a warming of the Arctic and thus a positive climate feedback, possibly accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice.

Palm, Stephen P.↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Influence of Arctic Sea Ice Extent on Polar Cloud Fraction and Vertical Structure and Implications for Regional Climate

Recent satellite lidar measurements of cloud properties spanning a period of five years are used to examine a possible connection between Arctic sea ice amount and polar cloud fraction and vertical distribution. We find an anti-correlation between sea ice extent and cloud fraction with maximum cloudiness occurring over areas with little or no sea ice. We also find that over ice free regions, there is greater low cloud frequency and average optical depth. Most of the optical depth increase is due to the presence of geometrically thicker clouds over water. In addition, our analysis indicates that over the last 5 years, October and March average polar cloud fraction has increased by about 7 and 10 percent, respectively, as year average sea ice extent has decreased by 5 to 7 percent. The observed cloud changes are likely due to a number of effects including, but not limited to, the observed decrease in sea ice extent and thickness. Increasing cloud amount and changes in vertical distribution and optical properties have the potential to affect the radiative balance of the Arctic region by decreasing both the upwelling terrestrial longwave radiation and the downward shortwave solar radiation. Since longwave radiation dominates in the long polar winter, the overall effect of increasing low cloud cover is likely a warming of the Arctic and thus a positive climate feedback, possibly accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice.

Palm, Stephen P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Progress on low altitude cloud icing research

The icing environment at altitudes below 10,000 feet were studied. The following questions are asked, are: (1) existing aircraft certification criteria applicable; (2) too stringent on icing for helos; (3) based on accurate data; (4) appropriate for low (10,000 ft) altitudes? The research plan is outlined: review historical icing data, obtain new measurements, collect modern icing data from other groups, and recommend LWC, OAT, and MVD criteria for helicopters. Estimated accuracies and known sources of error are included. It is concluded that the net effect of possible sources of error of both signs is uncertain.

Jeck, R. K.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Changes in Earth’s Energy Budget during and after the “Pause” in Global Warming: An Observational Perspective

This study examines changes in Earth’s energy budget during and after the global warming “pause” (or “hiatus”) using observations from the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System. We find a marked 0.83±0.41 Wm−2 reduction in global mean reflected shortwave (SW) top-of-atmosphere (TOA) flux during the three years following the hiatus that results in an increase in net energy into the climate system. A partial radiative perturbation analysis reveals that decreases in low cloud cover are the primary driver of the decrease in SW TOA flux. The regional distribution of the SW TOA flux changes associated with the decreases in low cloud cover closely matches that of sea-surface temperature warming, which shows a pattern typical of the positive phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Large reductions in clear-sky SW TOA flux are also found over much of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in the northern hemisphere. These are associated with a reduction in aerosol optical depth consistent with stricter pollution controls in China and North America. A simple energy budget framework is used to show that TOA radiation (particularly in the SW) likely played a dominant role in driving the marked increase in temperature tendency during the post-hiatus period.

Norman G Loeb↗
DOE OSTI2025

Radiative forcing from the 2020 shipping fuel regulation is large but hard to detect

Reduction in aerosol cooling unmasks greenhouse gas warming, exacerbating the rate of future warming. The strict sulfur regulation on shipping fuel implemented in 2020 (IMO2020) presents an opportunity to assess the potential impacts of such emission regulations and the detectability of deliberate aerosol perturbations for climate intervention. Here we employ machine learning to capture cloud natural variability and estimate a radiative forcing of +0.074 ±0.005 W m -2 related to IMO2020 associated with changes in shortwave cloud radiative effect over three low-cloud regions where shipping routes prevail. We find low detectability of the cloud radiative effect of this event, attributed to strong natural variability in cloud albedo and cloud cover. Regionally, detectability is higher for the southeastern Atlantic stratocumulus deck. These results raise concerns that future reductions in aerosol emissions will accelerate warming and that proposed deliberate aerosol perturbations such as marine cloud brightening will need to be substantial in order to overcome the low detectability.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1985

Improved Cloud and Surface Fields Derived from HIRS2/MSU

The methods to retrieve cloud parameters from HIRS2/MSU data have been shown to produce qualitatively reasonable cloud fields but to underestimate cloud amount. Improvements have been made to the cloud algorithm which allow for better determination of low clouds. These improvements involve retrieving cloud fields at a higher spatial resolution, which decreases the problems arising from multiple layer clouds, and increasing the number of channels used to determine the cloud parameters from 2 15 microns lower tropospheric sounding channels to 5 channels, including the 11 microns window and 2 15 microns mid and upper tropospheric sounding channels. The use of the 11 microns window channel was very important in identifying low level clouds.

Susskind, J.↗
NASA NTRS1973

A summary of transition probabilities for atomic absorption lines formed in low-density clouds

A table of wavelengths, statistical weights, and excitation energies is given for 944 atomic spectral lines in 221 multiplets whose lower energy levels lie below 0.275 eV. Oscillator strengths were adopted for 635 lines in 155 multiplets from the available experimental and theoretical determinations. Radiation damping constants also were derived for most of these lines. This table contains the lines most likely to be observed in absorption in interstellar clouds, circumstellar shells, and the clouds in the direction of quasars where neither the particle density nor the radiation density is high enough to populate the higher levels. All ions of all elements from hydrogen to zinc are included which have resonance lines longward of 912 A, although a number of weaker lines of neutrals and first ions have been omitted.

Morton, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Vibrational disequilibrium in low pressure clouds

Steady state vibrational populations of SiO and CO in several dilute blackbody radiation fields have been calculated as a function of total pressure, kinetic temperature, and chemical composition of the gas. An approximate calculation for polyatomic molecules has also been carried out. Vibrational disequilibrium becomes increasingly significant as the total pressure and radiation density decrease. Many regions of postulated grain formation are found to be far out of thermal equilibrium before the onset of condensation. The use of classical nucleation theory and equilibrium thermodynamics to predict the onset of condensation and the composition of the solids or the molecular composition of the gas phase in such regions therefore is very questionable and needs to be examined for each case.

Nuth, J. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Dust and molecular properties of the low-opacity cloud Lynds 1563

Optical, molecular, and far-infrared data are analyzed for L1563, estimated peak Ab 2.5 mag. The cloud is detected by IRAS at 12, 25, 60, and 100 microns, and with CO, (C-13)O, and H2CO molecules. A column density comparison yields an estimate of the temperature of the classical dust grains of 15.6 + or - 1 K, while the color temperature derived from the ratio I(60)/I(100) is 26 K. Both dust and color temperatures decrease toward the cloud center.

Clark, Frank O.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Natural versus anthropogenic factors affecting low-level cloud albedo over the North Atlantic

Cloud albedo plays a key role in regulating earth's climate. Cloud albedo depends on column-integrated liquid water content and the density of cloud condensation nuclei, which consists primarily of submicrometer-sized aerosol sulfate particles. A comparison of two independent satellite data sets suggests that, although anthropogenic sulfate emissions may enhance cloud albedo immediately adjacent to the east coast of the United States, over the central North Atlantic Ocean the variability in albedo can be largely accounted for by natural marine and atmospheric processes that probably have remained relatively constant since the beginning of the industrial revolution.

Falkowski, Paul G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Modeling marine boundary-layer clouds with a two-layer model: A one-dimensional simulation

A two-layer model of the marine boundary layer is described. The model is used to simulate both stratocumulus and shallow cumulus clouds in downstream simulations. Over cold sea surfaces, the model predicts a relatively uniform structure in the boundary layer with 90%-100% cloud fraction. Over warm sea surfaces, the model predicts a relatively strong decoupled and conditionally unstable structure with a cloud fraction between 30% and 60%. A strong large-scale divergence considerably limits the height of the boundary layer and decreases relative humidity in the upper part of the cloud layer; thus, a low cloud fraction results. The efffects of drizzle on the boundary-layer structure and cloud fraction are also studied with downstream simulations. It is found that drizzle dries and stabilizes the cloud layer and tends to decouple the cloud from the subcloud layer. Consequently, solid stratocumulus clouds may break up and the cloud fraction may decrease because of drizzle.

Wang, Shouping↗
NASA NTRS2006

Satellite-based Assessment of Global Warm Cloud Properties Associated with Aerosols, Atmospheric Stability, and Diurnal Cycle

This study examines variability in marine low cloud properties derived from semi-global observations by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, as linked to the aerosol index (AI) and lower-tropospheric stability (LTS). AI is derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Terra MODIS) sensor and the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transportation (GOCART) model, and is used to represent column-integrated aerosol concentrations. LTS is derived from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, and represents the background thermodynamic environment in which the clouds form. Global statistics reveal that cloud droplet size tends to be smallest in polluted (high-AI) and strong inversion (high-LTS) environments. Statistical quantification shows that cloud droplet size is better correlated with AI than it is with LTS. Simultaneously, the cloud liquid water path (CLWP) tends to decrease as AI increases. This correlation does not support the hypothesis or assumption that constant or increased CLWP is associated with high aerosol concentrations. Global variability in corrected cloud albedo (CCA), the product of cloud optical depth and cloud fraction, is very well explained by LTS, while both AI and LTS are needed to explain local variability in CCA. Most of the local correlations between AI and cloud properties are similar to the results from the global statistics, while weak anomalous aerosol-cloud correlations appear locally in the regions where simultaneous high (low) AI and low (high) LTS compensate each other. Daytime diurnal cycles explain additional variability in cloud properties. CCA has the largest diurnal cycle in high-LTS regions. Cloud droplet size and CLWP have weak diurnal cycles that differ between clean and polluted environments. The combined results suggest that investigations of marine low cloud radiative forcing and its relationship to hypothesized aerosol indirect effects must consider the combined effects of aerosols, thermodynamics, and the diurnal cycle.

Matsui, Toshihisa↗