High-Resolution Image

MODIS band-averaged single scattering albedo as a function of effective diameter calculated from 1117 in situ particle size distributions obtained from a wide variety of airborne field campaigns from the western tropical Pacific to mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The calculations were performed assuming a mixture of ice particle habits (bullet rosettes, hollow columns, solid columns, aggregates, plates, and droxtals). Superimposed on the data are the results from a sensitivity study involving the CRYSTAL-FACE particle size distributions in which the number of particles with sizes less than 20 µm were multiplied by a factor of 100 (green symbols) or multiplied by a factor of 1000 (red symbols). The twelve MODIS version 1 models (collection 4) are superimposed for reference (blue symbols). These spectral single scattering albedo, aymmetry factor, and light scattering characteristics of modeled ice clouds are used in the MODIS collection 5 processing of cloud optical properties from Terra.

For more information, see Bulk Scattering Properties for the Remote Sensing of Ice Clouds. 2: Narrowband Models, by B. A. Baum, P. Yang, A. J. Heymsfield, S. Platnick, M. D. King, Y. X. Hu, and S. T. Bedka, J. Appl. Meteor., 44, 1896-1911, 2005.

(submitted by Michael King)