A first: EarthCARE reveals inner secrets of clouds

Leipzig, 28.06.2024 – JAXA/NICT/ESA/TROPOS

First of four instruments delivers images - ESA-JAXA press release

 

 

 

JAXA/NICT/ESA. Less than a month after it was launched, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has returned the first image from one of its instruments – an image that, for the first time from space, unveils the internal structure and dynamics of clouds. The dynamics, i.e. the vertical movements in clouds, have not yet been analysed from space. This remarkable first image, captured by the satellite’s cloud profiling radar flying over Japan, offers a mere glimpse of the instrument's full potential once it is fully calibrated. The Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) supports the calibration of this instrument together with many ACTRIS partners in Europe through comparative measurements with cloud radars on the ground.
EarthCARE carries four sophisticated instruments that have been designed to work in harmony to shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere, thereby contributing to a better understanding of climate change.
Launched on 29 May, EarthCARE has now delivered its first image from the cloud profiling radar instrument, which was provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, JAXA. The first data from the satellite’s three European instruments – the broadband radiometer, the atmospheric lidar and the multispectral imager – are expected in the next weeks and months. The researchers at TROPOS are already looking forward to the launch of these instruments because they have developed special software, known as processors, for them.

JAXA’s Mission Scientist for the cloud profiling radar, Takuji Kubota, said, “We are thrilled to be able to present this first image, which reveals detail on the internal structure of cloud dynamics over the ocean, east of Japan on 13 June. This is the first image of its kind – we have never had this kind of information measured from space before. It is all we hoped for, and more. I believe that the cloud profiling radar will bring various scientific discoveries.”

 

The image is displayed in two parts: On the left, the data unveils the vertical concentration of cloud particles measured as radar reflectivity. It is clear to see that the denser part of the cloud is in its centre where there are more larger particles. On the right, we see the fall speed of the cloud particles. The low values in the upper layer indicates ice crystals and snowflakes that are suspended or falling slowly. In the layer beneath, the much higher fall speed values indicate rain.

Both images show a clear boundary at an altitude of around 5 km, which is where the ice and snow melts, forming water droplets that fall as rain. The cloud profiling radar uses its Doppler velocity capability to measure the vertical speed of motion of the ice, snow and rain.

 

This detailed information about the density, distribution by size and velocity of particles allows scientists to distinguish cloud constituents and hence better understand their physics. Thanks to EarthCARE, this is the first time that this measurement has ever been provided from space. Conventionally, these data could so far only be obtained by cloud radar on the ground or on aircraft. These methods can only measure limited areas, but the cloud profiling radar aboard the EarthCARE satellite allows cloud structure to be measured uniformly across the entire planet.

 

ESA’s Director for Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, added, “This is a fantastic first result from our JAXA partners, and a true indication of what we can expect in the future when the satellite and all of its instruments are fully calibrated and commissioned. We now look forward to seeing the first results from EarthCARE’s other three instruments. The key to the mission is having all four instruments working together to give us a holistic understanding of the highly complex interactions between clouds, aerosols, incoming solar radiation and outgoing thermal radiation to help better predict future climate trends.”

 

A careful validation of the measurements is necessary in order to achieve the ambitious scientific goals of the EarthCARE mission. The European research infrastructure ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure) plays a major role in the validation process. The ACTRIS remote sensing stations are ideally equipped for this purpose: The standard equipment, consisting of a high-performance lidar and a sun photometer for aerosol measurements as well as a Doppler radar and a microwave radiometer for cloud measurements, together with the ACTRIS quality assurance concept, enables a detailed review of all EarthCARE aerosol and cloud products. "Workflows for observation, data processing and the provision of data in near real time have already been developed and extensively tested. For this summer, we are organising a EarthCARE validation campaign with over 40 stations that will last several months," says Dr Holger Baars from TROPOS, who is coordinating the campaign. In addition to the TROPOS stations in Leipzig (Germany), Mindelo (Cabo Verde) and Dushanbe (Tajikistan), many ACTRIS stations throughout Europe will also be involved.
 

 

 

Source:

ESA announcement:

https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/EarthCARE/A_first_EarthCARE_reveals_inner_secrets_of_clouds

 

 

 

 

 

Contacts for the media:
 

Dr Ulla Wandinger

Department of Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig

Phone: +49-341-2717-7082

https://www.tropos.de/institut/ueber-uns/mitarbeitende/ulla-wandinger

and

Dr Anja Hünerbein

Department of Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig

Phone +49-341-2717-7169

https://www.tropos.de/institut/ueber-uns/mitarbeitende/anja-huenerbein

and

Dr Moritz Haarig

Department of Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig

Phone +49-341-2717-7188

https://www.tropos.de/institut/ueber-uns/mitarbeitende/moritz-haarig

and

Dr Holger Baars

Department of Remote Sensing of Atmospheric Processes, Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leipzig

Phone +49-341-2717-7314

https://www.tropos.de/institut/ueber-uns/mitarbeitende/holger-baars

 

or

Tilo Arnhold, TROPOS Public Relations

Phone +49 341 2717-7189

http://www.tropos.de/aktuelles/pressemitteilungen/

 

 

 

Further information and links:

 

EarthCARE - ESA's cloud and aerosol mission: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/EarthCARE

EarthCARE Information:

https://earth.esa.int/eogateway/missions/earthcare

EarthCARE pictures:

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Missions/EarthCARE/(result_type)/images

EarthCARE Videos:

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Missions/EarthCARE/(result_type)/videos

 

EarthCARE Blog: https://earthcare8.earth/

Countdown: EarthCARE, Falcon 9 Block 5, SpaceX: https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/launch/falcon-9-block-5-earthcare/

ESA Media advisory: EarthCARE launch media opportunities (ESA, 17 May 2024): https://www.esa.int/Newsroom/Press_Releases/Media_advisory_EarthCARE_launch_media_opportunities

 

Important software for the new European-Japanese Earth observation satellite EarthCARE. TROPOS researchers develop processors to measure clouds and aerosols (TROPOS, 23 May 2024):

https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/wichtige-software-fuer-den-neuen-europaeisch-japanischen-erdbeobachtungssatelliten-earthcare

 

Tracking interactions in Earth's atmosphere (DLR, 1 February 2024): https://www.dlr.de/en/latest/news/2024/tracking-interactions-in-earth-s-atmosphere

German EarthCARE project office: https://earthcare-mission.de/

 

EarthCARE Mission Validation, Featuring a 2-Month Rehearsal Campaign: https://www.actris.eu/EarthCARE%20Mission%20Validation

 

TROPOS- Studies on the technical realisation of future satellite missions:

EarthCARE - Earth Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer:

https://www.tropos.de/en/research/projects-infrastructures-technology/technology-at-tropos/algorithm-development/studies-for-future-satellite-missions

 

Last experiments of the Aeolus satellite for TROPOS before re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere (TROPOS, 28 July 2023): https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/letzte-experimente-des-aeolus-satelliten-fuer-tropos-vor-wiedereintritt-in-die-erdatmosphaere

Major measurement campaign in the Atlantic begins (TROPOS, 30 June 2021):

https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/grosse-messkampagne-im-atlantik-laeuft-an

ADM Aeolus – Measuring the wind from space with a laser for the first time (TROPOS, 21.08.2018):

https://www.tropos.de/en/current-issues/press-releases/details/adm-aeolus-measuring-the-wind-from-space-with-a-laser-for-the-first-time

 

 

 

 

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Launched on 29 May 2024, ESA’s & JAXA’s EarthCARE satellite has returned the first image from its cloud profiling radar instrument. The image is displayed in two parts. On the left the data unveils the vertically-resolved concentration of cloud particles measured as radar reflectivity. It is clear to see that the denser part of the cloud is in its centre. On the right, the top layer includes ice crystals and snowflakes, which are suspended in the atmosphere with little vertical motion. Both images show a clear boundary at an altitude of around 5 km, which is where the ice and snow, in the upper layer, melts, forming water droplets falling as rain.
The radar uses its Doppler velocity capability, a unique measurement from space, to measure the vertical speed and motion of the ice, snow and rain. This detailed information about the density, particle distribution and velocity within the cloud allows scientists to distinguish the cloud constituents and better understand its physics.
Conventionally, these data can only be obtained by cloud radar on the ground or on aircraft. These methods can only measure limited areas, but the cloud profiling radar aboard the EarthCARE satellite allows cloud structure to be measured uniformly across of the entire planet.
Credits: JAXA/NICT/ESA

Image of the same cloud system observed from the Himawari-9 meteorological satellite in geostationary orbit overlaid with the orbital track of EarthCARE, giving context of the first image from EarthCARE’s cloud profiling radar.
Credits: JAXA/Japan Meteorological Agency

Vertically-resolved concentration of cloud particles from the EarthCARE cloud profiling radar measured in radar reflectivity, between points A and B shown in image captured from geostationary orbit. The dashed line indicates the altitude of the 0°C temperature level taken from a weather prediction model.
Credits: JAXA/NICT/ESA

Vertically-resolved velocity of the cloud particles measured with the Doppler velocity capability of the EarthCARE cloud profiling radar, between points A and B shown in image captured from geostationary orbit. The dashed line indicates the altitude of the 0°C temperature level taken from a weather prediction model. The top layer of the cloud above the 0°C line comprises ice crystals and snow, with little vertical velocity. Below this line, ice and snow from the upper layer melt, forming water droplets falling as rain which has a much higher fall speed.
Credits: JAXA/NICT/ESA