Abstract
A ground-based field campaign was conducted over the summer of 2011 in Israel to measure the properties of small warm clouds. The horizontal size distribution for cloud sizes of 50-3000 m is presented, with a special focus on the properties of the smallest clouds (liquid water path <10 g m-2, cloud thickness <∼50 m) and their estimated radiative effect. We show that these small clouds dominate the cloud radiative properties during the summer over the studied region. The average daily cloud cover of the small cloud subset throughout the field campaign was 81 ± 21% (corresponding to 30 ± 14.3% of the total measured time), and they contributed 83 ± 19.4% of the clouds' reflectance. Their average daily radiative effect was estimated at -3.6 ± 2.1 W m-2.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 044006 |
| Journal | Environmental Research Letters |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Apr 2015 |
Keywords
- liquid water path distribution
- optical depth distribution
- radiative effect
- size distribution
- small convective clouds
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- General Environmental Science
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health