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A CloudSat-CALIPSO View of Cloud and Precipitation Properties Across Cold Fronts over the Global OceansThe distribution of cloud and precipitation properties across oceanic extratropical cyclone cold fronts is examined using four years of combined CloudSat radar and CALIPSO lidar retrievals. The global annual mean cloud and precipitation distributions show that low-level clouds are ubiquitous in the post frontal zone while higher-level cloud frequency and precipitation peak in the warm sector along the surface front. Increases in temperature and moisture within the cold front region are associated with larger high-level but lower mid-/low level cloud frequencies and precipitation decreases in the cold sector. This behavior seems to be related to a shift from stratiform to convective clouds and precipitation. Stronger ascent in the warm conveyor belt tends to enhance cloudiness and precipitation across the cold front. A strong temperature contrast between the warm and cold sectors also encourages greater post-cold-frontal cloud occurrence. While the seasonal contrasts in environmental temperature, moisture, and ascent strength are enough to explain most of the variations in cloud and precipitation across cold fronts in both hemispheres, they do not fully explain the differences between Northern and Southern Hemisphere cold fronts. These differences are better explained when the impact of the contrast in temperature across the cold front is also considered. In addition, these large-scale parameters do not explain the relatively large frequency in springtime post frontal precipitation.
Document ID
20160005785
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Naud, Catherine M.
(Columbia Univ. New York, NY, United States)
Posselt, Derek J.
(Michigan Univ. Ann Arbor, MI, United States)
van den Heever, Susan C.
(Colorado State Univ. Fort Collins, CO, United States)
Date Acquired
May 4, 2016
Publication Date
September 1, 2015
Publication Information
Publication: Journal of Climate
Publisher: American Meteorological Society
Volume: 28
ISSN: 0894-8755
e-ISSN: 1520-0442
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN24266
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX11AH22G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX14AB99A
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX13AQ33G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Marine meteorology
Cloud physics
Cold fronts

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