Basic Information
Cloud ice water content (IWC) is defined as cloud ice mass in unit volume of atmospheric air. It can vary largely from 0.0001 g/m3 in thin cirrus to 1 g/m3 inside convective core. The vertically integrated column of IWC is ice water path (IWP).
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MLS Viewing Geometry and Spacial Averaging
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How it is part of MLS Science Objectives
Like IWC, MLS IWP can provide observational constraints on climate model parameterizations so as to improve the model skills in predicting future climate changes.
How EOS MLS derives IWP
MLS standard IWP is retrieved from cloud-induced radiances (Tcir) of the 240-GHz window channel at 650 hPa
tangent pressure. It represents a partial column above ~6 km, and is stored in the v2.2 L2GP IWC file as a separate swath. For the IWP retrieval, Tcir is first converted to a hIWP along the slant path with a ~3 degree elevation
angle using the modeled Tcir-hIWP relation, The hIWP is then converted to the nadir IWP at the tangent point
location, and interpolated to MLS standard horizontal grid.
Quick Product Information for data version v3.3
- Swath Name: IWP
- Units: g/m2
- Useful Ranges: Column above ~6km
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- DAAC Short Name: ML2IWP
- Precision: typically 3 g/m2
- Accuracy: ~50% (estimated from CloudSAT comparisons)
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Publications related to the MLS IWP data product
2010
- Su, H., "Reply to comment by Roberto Rondanelli and Richard S. Lindzen on “Variations in convective precipitation fraction and stratiform area with sea surface temperature”", vol doi:10.1029/2009JD012872, num 115, 2010. Preprint
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