Abstract/Summary

Cloud retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments aboard the satellites Terra and Aqua and the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the Suomi-NPP satellite are evaluated using a combination of ground-based instruments providing vertical profiles of clouds. The ground-based measurements are obtained from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) programme mobile facility, which was deployed in Hyytiälä, Finland, between February and September 2014 for the Biogenic Aerosols – Effects on Clouds and Climate (BAECC) campaign. The satellite cloud parameters cloud top height (CTH) and liquid water path (LWP) are compared with ground-based CTH obtained from a cloud mask created using lidar and radar data and LWP acquired from a multi-channel microwave radiometer. Clouds from all altitudes in the atmosphere are investigated. The clouds are diagnosed as single or multiple layer using the ground-based cloud mask. For single-layer clouds, satellites overestimated CTH by 326 m (14 %) on average. When including multilayer clouds, satellites underestimated CTH by on average 169 m (5.8 %). MODIS collection 6 overestimated LWP by on average 13 g m−2 (11 %). Interestingly, LWP for MODIS collection 5.1 is slightly overestimated by Aqua (4.56 %) but is underestimated by Terra (14.3 %). This underestimation may be attributed to a known issue with a drift in the reflectance bands of the MODIS instrument on Terra. This evaluation indicates that the satellite cloud parameters selected show reasonable agreement with their ground-based counterparts over Finland, with minimal influence from the large solar zenith angle experienced by the satellites in this high-latitude location.