Identification

Title

Polarization lidar observations of backscatter phase matrices from oriented ice crystals and rain

Abstract

Oriented particles can exhibit different polarization properties than randomly oriented particles. These properties cannot be resolved by conventional polarization lidar systems and are capable of corrupting the interpretation of depolarization ratio measurements. Additionally, the typical characteristics of backscatter phase matrices from atmospheric oriented particles are not well established. The National Center for Atmospheric Research High Spectral Resolution Lidar was outfitted in spring of 2012 to measure the backscatter phase matrix, allowing it to fully characterize the polarization properties of oriented particles. The lidar data analyzed here considers operation at 4°, 22° and 32° off zenith in Boulder, CO, USA (40.0°N,105.2°W). The HSRL has primarily observed oriented ice crystal signatures at lidar tilt angles near 32° off zenith which corresponds to an expected peak in backscatter from horizontally oriented plates. The maximum occurrence frequency of oriented ice crystals is measured at 5 km, where 2% of clouds produced significant oriented ice signatures by exhibiting diattenuation in their scattering matrices. The HSRL also observed oriented particle characteristics of rain at all three tilt angles. Oriented signatures in rain are common at all three tilt angles. As many as 70% of all rain observations made at 22° off zenith exhibited oriented signatures. The oriented rain signatures exhibit significant linear diattenuation and retardance.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d75h7h7v

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2014-07-14T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Copyright 2014 Optical Society of America. This paper was published in Applied Optics and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of OSA. The paper can be found at the following URL on the OSA website: [article URL]. Systematic or multiple reproduction or distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means is prohibited and is subject to penalties under law.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact