Cloud-type-dependent mixed-phase cloud climatology from CloudSat/CALIPSO measurements

Abstract

Mixed-phase clouds play a critical role in Earth's radiation budget but remain a major source of uncertainty in climate models. Existing satellite climatologies mostly describe mixed-phase clouds in aggregate, without separating cloud types that differ in dynamics, vertical structure, spatial distribution, and macrophysical properties. Here we use CloudSat/CALIPSO observations to develop a global, cloud-type-dependent climatology of mixed-phase cloud and examine its spatial, vertical, seasonal, and regional variations. Identified mixed-phase clouds have a global mean occurrence of 18.5 %. Stratus plus stratocumulus (St+Sc) dominates high-latitude mixed-phase occurrence, with local values exceeding 40 % over the Southern Ocean and the Greenland-Iceland-Norwegian seas, whereas altocumulus (Ac) and nimbostratus plus deep convection (Ns+DC) contribute most strongly in midlatitude storm-track regions and convectively active tropical regions. At a given cloud-top temperature, the dominant cloud phase differs substantially among cloud types and regions, indicating that cloud-top temperature alone does not uniquely determine cloud thermodynamic phase. Seasonal and surface contrasts are especially strong for St+Sc: in the NH 45–75° N band, monthly mean occurrence over open ocean increases from about 2 %–6 % in summer to 24 %–25 % in winter, whereas in the SH 45–75° S band St+Sc over open ocean reaches its annual minimum in austral summer but over sea ice reaches its minimum in austral winter. These results demonstrate the importance of cloud type for characterizing mixed-phase cloud climatology and provide observational constraints for evaluating the representation of mixed-phase clouds in climate models.