Cloud phase estimation and macrophysical properties of low-level clouds using in-situ and radar measurements over the Southern Ocean during the SOCRATES campaign

Abstract

Abstract. The Southern Ocean (SO) provides a unique natural laboratory for studying cloud formation and cloud-aerosol interactions with minimal anthropogenic influence. The Southern Ocean Clouds, Radiation, Aerosol Transport Experimental Study (SOCRATES), was an aircraft-based campaign conducted from January 15 to February 28, 2018, off the coast of Hobart, Tasmania. During SOCRATES, the NSF/NCAR GV research aircraft, equipped with in-situ probes and remote sensors, observed aerosol, cloud, and precipitation properties, and provided detailed vertical structure of clouds over the SO, particularly for the low-level clouds (below 3 km). The HIAPER Cloud Radar (HCR) and in-situ cloud and drizzle probes (CDP and 2DS) measurements were used to provide comprehensive statistical and phase-relevant macrophysical properties for the low-level clouds sampled by the 15 research flights during SOCRATES. A new method based on HCR reflectivity and spectrum width gradient was developed to estimate cloud boundaries (cloud-base and -top heights) and classify cloud types based on their top and base heights. Low-level clouds were found to be the most prevalent, with an almost 90 % occurrence frequency. A new phase determination method was also developed to identify the single-layered low-level clouds as liquid, ice, and mixed phases, with occurrence frequencies of 45.4 %, 32.5 %, and 22.2 %, respectively. Low-level clouds over the SO have significantly higher SLW concentrations, with liquid being most prevalent at higher temperatures, ice phase dominating at lower temperatures, and mixed-phase being least common due to its thermodynamic instability. Regarding their vertical distributions, the liquid phase occurs most frequently in the lower mid-cloud range (from 500 m to 1 km), the mixed phase dominates at cloud bases lower than 1 km but is well distributed along the vertical cloud layer, while the ice phase is prevalent from the middle to upper cloud levels (1–3 km). The higher occurrence of the mixed phase at the cloud base could be attributed to large drizzle-sized drops and/or ice particles.