J4 ›› 2013, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (1): 36-41.

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Cloud vertical structure statistics from CALIPSO lidar observations

WEI Shuxiao, WU Dong   

  1. Department of Marine technology, College of Information Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
  • Published:2013-01-28 Online:2013-01-11

Abstract:

The cloud vertical structure (CVS) acts an important aspect of cloud characteristic and atmospheric model. The vertical distribution statistics of clouds over China Sea and adjacent sea area are derived from the Cloud Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) level 2 version 3 lidar cloud layer data from 2007 to 2010. The results show that the cloud occurrence frequencies (COF) of single and multi-layer clouds over the research area are different, and the layer-top-altitude (LTA) occurrence frequencies have obvious difference with latitude. High clouds (10 km to 20 km) have high occurrence frequency near equator. Because there are some opacity clouds the result of layer-number and LTA may be smaller the real situation.

Key words: remote sensing, CALIPSO lidar, CVS