Title
Characteristics of cloud properties over South America and over Andes observed using CloudSat and reanalysis data
Date Issued
11 April 2023
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Abstract
CloudSat profile of attenuated corrected radar reflectivity (Ze) and cloud mask data are used to investigate the cloud properties over South America (SA) during Austral Summer monsoon seasons. Deep convective core (DCC), deep & intense convective systems (DCSs & ICSs), and cloud clusters (CCs) are defined based on the Ze and cloud mask values. The spatial distributions of DCCs show that land-dominated areas have higher frequency of DCCs and Atlantic Ocean has less DCCs. The Pacific Ocean does not consist of DCCs, whereas eastern flank of Andes has higher frequency of DCCs compared to western flank of the Andes. North La Plata basin (Sierra de Cordoba) has a higher fraction of deeper (shallower) DCCs. Deep convection over the Sierra de Cordoba and South La Plata Basin is characterized by precipitation-size particles compared to cloud-size particles, whereas deep convection over north La Plata Basin is dominated by mostly cloud-size particles. The horizontal span of DCSs and ICSs is higher over south La Plata Basin and Atlantic Oceans compared to other SA areas. Sierra de Cordoba (Atlantic Ocean) has the highest (lowest) frequency of small DCSs and vice versa. DCSs and ICSs show the opposite characteristic, as all the selected areas consist of a higher fraction of large (small) sized DCSs (ICSs). CCs develop more in horizontal than in vertical direction over the high latitude and vice versa over lower latitude. The CCs distribution reflects the orography and moisture flow pattern at the east and west side of Andes. The higher Ze, which is the proxy for rainfall, occurs at the eastern flank/slope of the Andes, and related to easterly moisture loaded synoptic flow, transported from Amazon and upslope flow along the slope.
Start page
1976
End page
2004
Volume
44
Issue
6
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Meteorología y ciencias atmosféricas
Investigación climática
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85152773229
Source
International Journal of Remote Sensing
ISSN of the container
01431161
Source funding
Sponsor(s)
Present study comes under the project “MAGNET-IGP: Strengthening the research line in physics and micro physics of the atmosphere (Agreement No 010-2017-FONDECYT)”. I would like to thank the CONCYTEC, Peru, for financial support and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for administrative support.
The work was supported by the CONCYTEC, Peru [010-2017-FONDECYT]; Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) [010-2017-FONDECYT]. Present study comes under the project “MAGNET-IGP: Strengthening the research line in physics and micro physics of the atmosphere (Agreement No 010-2017-FONDECYT)”. I would like to thank the CONCYTEC, Peru, for financial support and Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) for administrative support.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Instituto Nacional de Investigación en Glaciares y Ecosistemas de Montaña