Assessments of the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant CALIPSO Energy System Edition 4 (Ed4) cloud retrievals are critical for climate studies. Ed4 cloud parameters are evaluated using instruments in the A-Train Constellation. Cloud-Aerosol LiDAR with CERES Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) and Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) retrievals are compared with Ed4 retrievals from the CBH and CEH Aqua Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) CTH as a function of the CALIOP horizontal averaging (HA) scale. CC Regardless of the HA scale, MODIS daytime (nighttime) water cloud fraction (CF) is greater (less) than that from CALIOP. CER and COD MODIS ice CF is less than CALIOP overall, with the largest differences in polar regions. Ed4 and CALIOP retrieve the CET same cloud phase in 70%–98% of simultaneous observations CF depending on the time of day, surface conditions, HA scales, CFI and CFW and type of cloud vertical structure. Mean cloud top height (CTH) differences for single-layer water clouds over snow-/ice- CM free surfaces are less than 100 m. Base altitude positive biases CPR of 170–460 m may be impacted by CPR detection limitations. C3M Average MODIS ice CTHs are underestimated by 70 m for some deep convective clouds and up to ∼2.2 km for thin cirrus. Ice C6 cloud base altitudes are typically underestimated (overestimated) during daytime (nighttime). MODIS and CALIOP cirrus optical Ed2 and Ed4 depths over oceans are within 46% and 5% for daytime and FAR and HR nighttime observations, respectively. Ice water path differences H depend on the CALIOP retrieval version and warrant further HA investigation. Except for daytime cirrus optical depth, Ed4 cloud HKSS property retrievals are at least as accurate as other long-term operational cloud property retrieval systems. ID
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