Cloud-Aerosol Interactions: Retrieving Aerosol Ångström Exponents from Calipso Measurements of Opaque Water Clouds

Abstract

Backscatter and extinction from water clouds are well-understood, both theoretically and experimentally, and thus changes to the expected measurement of layer-integrated attenuated backscatter can be used to infer the optical properties of overlying layers. In this paper we offer a first look at a new retrieval technique that uses CALIPSO measurements of opaque water clouds to derive optical depths and Ångström exponents for overlying aerosol layers.