update of gewex cloud assessment database
Cloud properties for climate studies and model evaluation
The Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) Cloud Assessment (2005-2012, Stubenrauch et al. 2013) provided the first coordinated intercomparison of publically available, standard global cloud products (gridded, monthly statistics).
The GEWEX Cloud Assessment database, created by the participating teams, contains many cloud properties: their monthly means, variability and distributions within gridboxes of 1° latitude x 1° longitude and is available at https://climserv.ipsl.polytechnique.fr/gewexca/
In addition to self-assessments (Annex I of Stubenrauch et al. 2012) which show the maturity of the various datasets, the analyses have shown how cloud properties are perceived by instruments measuring different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and how cloud property averages and distributions are affected by instrument choice as well as some methodological decisions.
Since then, several teams have improved their datasets, and new global long-term datasets emerged.
The updated GEWEX cloud assessment database includes montyhly cloud property statistics of 11 cloud climatologies, based on measurements from five different sensor types, and contains data until 2020. Results as well as examples of how to use this database are published in a review article by Stubenrauch et al. 2024 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-024-09824-0).
Analyzed cloud properties
- Cloud amount (CA)
- Effective CA (CAE)
- Cloud pressure (CP)
- Cloud temperature (CT)
- Cloud altitude (CZ)
- Cloud optical depth (COD)
- Cloud IR emissivity (CEM)
- Cloud phase (ice/water)
- Ice water path (CIWP)
- Liquid water path (CLWP)
- Effective particle radius: CREI (ice), CREW (water)