Retrieval of cloud base heights from passive microwave and cloudtop temperature data

Water vapor profiling algorithms that treat liquid clouds explicitly yield a cloud base height as a byproduct. A single case of a water vapor profile retrieval using a combination of the SSM/T-2 on the DMSP satellite and cloud parameters from the AVHRR on the NOAA satellite retrieved a reasonable cloud base. While hardly definitive, this case is suggestive. The authors examine the cloud base signal in a combination of the SSM/1 and SSM/T-2 on the DMSP satellite from a theoretical point of view. It is shown that the signal is strong enough for a useful retrieval only over the ocean. For low altitudes, a cloud top temperature (CTT) constraint, as could be provided from an infrared radiometer, is required. While difficult with the DMSP-NOAA satellite combination, this has become much easier with the recent launch of NOAA-K with the AMSU-B and AVHRR. It is shown that the signal is acceptable over the relevant range of cloud liquid water content values. To achieve useful results, some local tuning of the algorithm will be necessary. This tuning could take the form of water vapor profile covariance matrices, climatological estimates of the cloud liquid water density, or purely empirical methods. Broken and multilayer clouds provide additional complications to the problem