Highly Supercooled Cirrus Cloud Water: Confirmation and Climatic Implications

Abstract

Liquid cloud droplets supercooled to temperatures approaching -40 degrees C have been detected at the base of a cirrostratus cloud through a combination of ground-based, polarization laser radar (lidar) and in situ aircraft measurements, Solar and thermal infrared radiative budget calculations based on these observatoins indicate that significant changes in the atmospheric heating distribution and the surface radiative budget may be attributed to liquid layers in cirrus clouds.