Developing a Climatology of Cirrus Lidar Ratios Using Univeristy of Wisconsin HSRL Observations

Abstract

Measurements of ice cloud lidar ratio from the University of Wisconsin High Spectral Resolution Lidar System (UW HSRL) are shown, for the period 2013/06/18-2013/11/04 in Hunstville, AL. These data were acquired as part of the SEAC4RS campaign. The layer-averaged median lidar ratio ,at 532 nm, for non-precipitating ice-clouds, 0.3 < OD < 3.0, observed during the experiment was determined to be 25.7 +/- 10.6 sr. As part of this work we’ve also developed an automated cloud and precipitation classification and detection algorithm.