Less than a month after launch, ESA’s Earthcare satellite has sent back the first image from space showing the internal structure and dynamics of clouds.
This first image, taken by a profiling radar provided by Japan’s space agency JAXA, is shown above in two parts. At left, the data shows the vertical concentration of cloud particles measured as radar reflectivity. The densest part of the cloud is in its center, where more large particles and larger particles can be clearly seen.
On the right, we see the fall velocity of the cloud particles. Low values in the upper layer indicate suspended or slow falling ice crystals and snowflakes. In the lower layer, higher values of fall velocity indicate rain, ESA reports.
Both images show a clear boundary at an altitude of about 5 km, where snow and ice melt and form water droplets that fall as rain.
Cloud profiling radar uses its Doppler velocity capability to measure the vertical velocity of movement of snow, ice, and rain.
This detailed information about particle density, size distribution, and velocity allows scientists to distinguish cloud components and better understand their physics.
Thanks to Earthcare, this is the first time this measurement has been provided from space.
Earthcare consists of four state-of-the-art instruments designed to work in concert to shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling the Earth’s atmosphere, thereby helping to better understand climate change. , snow and rain.
This detailed information about particle density, size distribution, and velocity allows scientists to distinguish cloud components and better understand their physics.
Thanks to Earthcare, this is the first time this measurement has been provided from space.
To give some context to these first results, the image on the right shows the same cloud structure captured by the Japanese weather satellite Himawari-9 in geostationary orbit about 36,000 kilometers above Earth. The image is overlaid with Earthcare’s orbital path.
The two images below show vertically resolved cloud particle concentration, measured in radar reflectivity, and vertically resolved cloud particle velocity from Earthcare Cloud Profiler radar data between markers A and B on the Himawari-9 image.
Usually, this data can only be obtained using ground-based or aircraft-based cloud radars. These methods can only measure limited areas, but the cloud profiling radar on the Earthcare satellite makes it possible to measure cloud structure uniformly across the planet.
