Aerosol properties in cloudy environments from remote sensing observations: a review of the current state of knowledge

Abstract

Aerosol properties are fundamentally different near clouds than distant from clouds. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge of aerosol properties in the near low cloud environment and quantitatively compares them with aerosols far from clouds, limited in scope to remote sensing observations. It interprets observations of aerosol properties from different sensors using satellite, aircraft and ground-based observations. The correlation (and anticorrelation) between proximity to cloud and aerosol properties is discussed. Retrieval artifacts in the near-cloud environment are demonstrated and quantified for different sensor attributes and environmental conditions. Finally, the paper describes the possible corrections for near-cloud enhancement in remote-sensing retrievals. This study is timely in view of science definition studies for NASA’s Aerosols-Clouds, Convection and Precipitation (ACCP) mission, which will also seek to directly links aerosol properties to nearby clouds.