Retrievals of mixed-phase cloud properties during the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

We describe a novel approach developed for the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System/Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to retrieve pixel-level mixed-phase cloud optical thicknesses and effective particle sizes using 0.67, 1.6, 2.25, and 3:7 μm bands reflectance/ radiance. This approach utilizes lookup tables of reflectances constructed from radiative transfer simulations and a numerical iterative search method. The capability of this new approach was demonstrated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data as proxy to VIIRS. Two proxy scenes, 14 October 2001 over North Platte, Nebraska, during the ninth Cloud Layer Experiment (CLEX-9) and 9 November 2006 over the Great Lakes and Eastern Canada during the Canadian CloudSat/Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations Validation Project (C3VP), were analyzed. The performance of the mixed-phase retrieval algorithm was assessed by comparison with the MODIS retrieval products, airborne in situ observations during CLEX-9 and CloudSat data during C3VP.