Aura OMI and a-Train Cloud Measurements: What We've Learned and How We've Used This Information

Joanna Joiner1, Alexander P Vasilkov2, Sungyeon Choi3, Jerald R Ziemke4, Bradford L Fisher5, Pawan Gupta1, Eun-Su Yang6, Dr. Nickolay Anatoly Krotkov7 and Sergey V Marchenko6, (1)NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, United States, (2)Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD, United States, (3)SSAI, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)Science Systems and Applications, Inc. Hampton, Lanham, United States, (5)ADNET Systems Inc., Lanham, United States, (6)SSAI, Lanham, United States, (7)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States
Abstract:
The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on Aura provides cloud information in addition to trace-gas observations. This cloud information is needed to properly interpret the trace-gas slant columns and can be used for unique measurements between and inside clouds. We will review what has been learned about OMI cloud measurements facilitated by the unique opportunity of having near-simultaneous measurements from the CloudSat radar. We will then give an overview of how this knowledge is being applied using OMI cloud measurements alone as well as in conjunction with other A-train measurements such as those from MODIS and CERES. These applications include the detection of multi-layered clouds and estimation of top-of-atmosphere short-wave flux. This presentation will focus on the OMI rotational-Raman cloud product that utilizes the spectral structure produced by rotational Raman scattering of air molecules to estimate the photon pathlength of backscattered sunlight.
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