Study of mixed phase clouds over west Africa: Ice-crystal corner reflection effects observed with a two-wavelength polarization lidar

Abstract

Lidar sounding is used for the analysis of possible contribution of the corner reflection (CR) effect to the total backscattering in case of ice crystals. Our study is based on observations of mixed phase clouds performed during the SHADOW campaign in Senegal. Mie-Raman lidar allows measurements at 355 nm and 532 nm at 43 dg. off-zenith angle, so the extinction and backscattering Ångström exponents can be evaluated. In some measurements we observed the positive values of backscattering Ångström exponent, which can be attributed to the corner reflection by horizontally oriented ice plates.