Retrieval of the spatial distribution of liquid water path from combined ground-based and satellite observations for atmospheric model evaluation

Abstract

In the framework of CLIWA-Net, observations and model values of cloud properties are compared. The observations are obtained from a network of ground-based radiometers and polar orbiting meteorological satellites. The project includes a number of novel aspects among which the retrieval of the horizontal distribution of cloud liquid water from a combination of AVHRR and ground-based measurements. This new approach results in a spatial distribution of LWP of optimum accuracy. A case study is presented, that demonstrates the added value of this approach for atmospheric model evaluation.