2023, Hünerbein, Anja, Bley, Sebastian, Horn, Stefan, Deneke, Hartwig, Walther, Andi

The EarthCARE (Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer) satellite mission will provide new insights into aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions by means of synergistic observations of the Earth's atmosphere from a collection of active and passive remote sensing instruments, flying on a single satellite platform. The Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) will provide visible and infrared images in the cross-track direction with a 150km swath and a pixel sampling at 500m. The suite of MSI cloud algorithms will deliver cloud macro- and microphysical properties complementary to the vertical profiles measured from the Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID) and the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) instruments. This paper provides an overview of the MSI cloud mask algorithm (M-CM) being developed to derive the cloud flag, cloud phase and cloud type products, which are essential inputs to downstream EarthCARE algorithms providing cloud optical and physical properties (M-COP) and aerosol optical properties (M-AOT). The MSI cloud mask algorithm has been applied to simulated test data from the EarthCARE end-to-end simulator and satellite data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) as well as from the Spinning Enhanced Visible InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI). Verification of the MSI cloud mask algorithm to the simulated test data and the official cloud products from SEVIRI and MODIS demonstrates a good performance of the algorithm. Some discrepancies are found, however, for the detection of thin cirrus clouds over bright surfaces like desert or snow. This will be improved by tuning of the thresholds once real observations are available.

2021, Stevens, Bjorn, Bony, Sandrine, Farrell, David, Ament, Felix, Blyth, Alan, Fairall, Christopher, Karstensen, Johannes, Quinn, Patricia K., Speich, Sabrina, Acquistapace, Claudia, Aemisegger, Franziska, Crewell, Susanne, Cronin, Timothy, Cui, Zhiqiang, Cuypers, Yannis, Daley, Alton, Damerell, Gillian M., Dauhut, Thibaut, Deneke, Hartwig, Desbios, Jean-Philippe, Dörner, Steffen, Albright, Anna Lea, Donner, Sebastian, Douet, Vincent, Drushka, Kyla, Dütsch, Marina, Ehrlich, André, Emanuel, Kerry, Emmanouilidis, Alexandros, Etienne, Jean-Claude, Etienne-Leblanc, Sheryl, Faure, Ghislain, Bellenger, Hugo, Feingold, Graham, Ferrero, Luca, Fix, Andreas, Flamant, Cyrille, Flatau, Piotr Jacek, Foltz, Gregory R., Forster, Linda, Furtuna, Iulian, Gadian, Alan, Galewsky, Joseph, Bodenschatz, Eberhard, Gallagher, Martin, Gallimore, Peter, Gaston, Cassandra, Gentemann, Chelle, Geyskens, Nicolas, Giez, Andreas, Gollop, John, Gouirand, Isabelle, Gourbeyre, Christophe, de Graaf, Dörte, Caesar, Kathy-Ann, de Groot, Geiske E., Grosz, Robert, Güttler, Johannes, Gutleben, Manuel, Hall, Kashawn, Harris, George, Helfer, Kevin C., Henze, Dean, Herbert, Calvert, Holanda, Bruna, Chewitt-Lucas, Rebecca, Ibanez-Landeta, Antonio, Intrieri, Janet, Iyer, Suneil, Julien, Fabrice, Kalesse, Heike, Kazil, Jan, Kellman, Alexander, Kidane, Abiel T., Kirchner, Ulrike, Klingebiel, Marcus, de Boer, Gijs, Körner, Mareike, Kremper, Leslie Ann, Kretzschmar, Jan, Krüger, Ovid, Kumala, Wojciech, Kurz, Armin, L'Hégaret, Pierre, Labaste, Matthieu, Lachlan-Cope, Tom, Laing, Arlene, Delanoë, Julien, Landschützer, Peter, Lang, Theresa, Lange, Diego, Lange, Ingo, Laplace, Clément, Lavik, Gauke, Laxenaire, Rémi, Le Bihan, Caroline, Leandro, Mason, Lefevre, Nathalie, Denby, Leif, Lena, Marius, Lenschow, Donald, Li, Qiang, Lloyd, Gary, Los, Sebastian, Losi, Niccolò, Lovell, Oscar, Luneau, Christopher, Makuch, Przemyslaw, Malinowski, Szymon, Ewald, Florian, Manta, Gaston, Marinou, Eleni, Marsden, Nicholas, Masson, Sebastien, Maury, Nicolas, Mayer, Bernhard, Mayers-Als, Margarette, Mazel, Christophe, McGeary, Wayne, McWilliams, James C., Fildier, Benjamin, Mech, Mario, Mehlmann, Melina, Meroni, Agostino Niyonkuru, Mieslinger, Theresa, Minikin, Andreas, Minnett, Peter, Möller, Gregor, Morfa Avalos, Yanmichel, Muller, Caroline, Musat, Ionela, Forde, Marvin, Napoli, Anna, Neuberger, Almuth, Noisel, Christophe, Noone, David, Nordsiek, Freja, Nowak, Jakub L., Oswald, Lothar, Parker, Douglas J., Peck, Carolyn, Person, Renaud, George, Geet, Philippi, Miriam, Plueddemann, Albert, Pöhlker, Christopher, Pörtge, Veronika, Pöschl, Ulrich, Pologne, Lawrence, Posyniak, Michał, Prange, Marc, Quiñones Meléndez, Estefanía, Radtke, Jule, Gross, Silke, Ramage, Karim, Reimann, Jens, Renault, Lionel, Reus, Klaus, Reyes, Ashford, Ribbe, Joachim, Ringel, Maximilian, Ritschel, Markus, Rocha, Cesar B., Rochetin, Nicolas, Hagen, Martin, Röttenbacher, Johannes, Rollo, Callum, Royer, Haley, Sadoulet, Pauline, Saffin, Leo, Sandiford, Sanola, Sandu, Irina, Schäfer, Michael, Schemann, Vera, Schirmacher, Imke, Hausold, Andrea, Schlenczek, Oliver, Schmidt, Jerome, Schröder, Marcel, Schwarzenboeck, Alfons, Sealy, Andrea, Senff, Christoph J., Serikov, Ilya, Shohan, Samkeyat, Siddle, Elizabeth, Smirnov, Alexander, Heywood, Karen J., Späth, Florian, Spooner, Branden, Stolla, M. Katharina, Szkółka, Wojciech, de Szoeke, Simon P., Tarot, Stéphane, Tetoni, Eleni, Thompson, Elizabeth, Thomson, Jim, Tomassini, Lorenzo, Hirsch, Lutz, Totems, Julien, Ubele, Alma Anna, Villiger, Leonie, von Arx, Jan, Wagner, Thomas, Walther, Andi, Webber, Ben, Wendisch, Manfred, Whitehall, Shanice, Wiltshire, Anton, Jacob, Marek, Wing, Allison A., Wirth, Martin, Wiskandt, Jonathan, Wolf, Kevin, Worbes, Ludwig, Wright, Ethan, Wulfmeyer, Volker, Young, Shanea, Zhang, Chidong, Zhang, Dongxiao, Jansen, Friedhelm, Ziemen, Florian, Zinner, Tobias, Zöger, Martin, Kinne, Stefan, Klocke, Daniel, Kölling, Tobias, Konow, Heike, Lothon, Marie, Mohr, Wiebke, Naumann, Ann Kristin, Nuijens, Louise, Olivier, Léa, Pincus, Robert, Pöhlker, Mira, Reverdin, Gilles, Roberts, Gregory, Schnitt, Sabrina, Schulz, Hauke, Siebesma, A. Pier, Stephan, Claudia Christine, Sullivan, Peter, Touzé-Peiffer, Ludovic, Vial, Jessica, Vogel, Raphaela, Zuidema, Paquita, Alexander, Nicola, Alves, Lyndon, Arixi, Sophian, Asmath, Hamish, Bagheri, Gholamhossein, Baier, Katharina, Bailey, Adriana, Baranowski, Dariusz, Baron, Alexandre, Barrau, Sébastien, Barrett, Paul A., Batier, Frédéric, Behrendt, Andreas, Bendinger, Arne, Beucher, Florent, Bigorre, Sebastien, Blades, Edmund, Blossey, Peter, Bock, Olivier, Böing, Steven, Bosser, Pierre, Bourras, Denis, Bouruet-Aubertot, Pascale, Bower, Keith, Branellec, Pierre, Branger, Hubert, Brennek, Michal, Brewer, Alan, Brilouet, Pierre-Etienne, Brügmann, Björn, Buehler, Stefan A., Burke, Elmo, Burton, Ralph, Calmer, Radiance, Canonici, Jean-Christophe, Carton, Xavier, Cato Jr., Gregory, Charles, Jude Andre, Chazette, Patrick, Chen, Yanxu, Chilinski, Michal T., Choularton, Thomas, Chuang, Patrick, Clarke, Shamal, Coe, Hugh, Cornet, Céline, Coutris, Pierre, Couvreux, Fleur

The science guiding the EUREC4A campaign and its measurements is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. Through its ability to characterize processes operating across a wide range of scales, EUREC4A marked a turning point in our ability to observationally study factors influencing clouds in the trades, how they will respond to warming, and their link to other components of the earth system, such as upper-ocean processes or the life cycle of particulate matter. This characterization was made possible by thousands (2500) of sondes distributed to measure circulations on meso- (200 km) and larger (500 km) scales, roughly 400 h of flight time by four heavily instrumented research aircraft; four global-class research vessels; an advanced ground-based cloud observatory; scores of autonomous observing platforms operating in the upper ocean (nearly 10 000 profiles), lower atmosphere (continuous profiling), and along the air–sea interface; a network of water stable isotopologue measurements; targeted tasking of satellite remote sensing; and modeling with a new generation of weather and climate models. In addition to providing an outline of the novel measurements and their composition into a unified and coordinated campaign, the six distinct scientific facets that EUREC4A explored – from North Brazil Current rings to turbulence-induced clustering of cloud droplets and its influence on warm-rain formation – are presented along with an overview of EUREC4A's outreach activities, environmental impact, and guidelines for scientific practice. Track data for all platforms are standardized and accessible at https://doi.org/10.25326/165 (Stevens, 2021), and a film documenting the campaign is provided as a video supplement.