2022 AGU Fall Meeting

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting is the primary gathering for Earth and space scientists, students, and those in affiliated fields to share scientific findings and identify innovative solutions. Several AOS-related presentations will be given at this year's meeting.

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A-priori statistics for AOS cloud retrievals: A case study in cloud drop size dispersion

Author(s): Matthew D Lebsock and Mikael Witte
Date: 13-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E350Abstract: Remote sensing of cloud microphysical properties is an inherently under-constrained problem requiring a-priori assumptions regarding the cloud microstructure. The nature of these a-priori assumptions can have a dramatic influence on the a-posteriori estimation of the cloud state. Therefore, a concerted effort is planned by the Atmospheric Observing System (AOS) cloud algorithms group to develop an extensive database of a-priori cloud and precipitation microphysics across a broad range of cloud regimes to improve the realism of the resultant retrieval products. In this presentation we will use the parameterization of the Drop Size Distribution (DSD) of liquid-phase clouds as a case study demonstrating the importance of this planned activity.

Aerosol, Cloud, Convection, and Precipitation in the Coming Decade of Earth Observations from Space III

Date: 13-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E350Life on Earth is fundamentally linked to aerosols, clouds, convective storms and precipitation due to their impact on climate, weather, air quality and the fresh water they supply.

AOS Inclined Time-Varying Observations of Aerosols, Clouds, Convection, and Precipitation

Author(s): John E Yorks, Scott A Braun, Edward P Nowottnick, Takuji Kubota, Hélène Brogniez, Emily Berndt, Daniel Cecil, and Tyler Thorsen
Date: 13-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E350Abstract: Atmospheric aerosols, clouds, and convection strongly influence the air we breathe, and the water we drink, and the radiation budget of our planet. Convective storms, which are prevalent in the tropics and mid-latitudes, produce rainfall critical to the Earth's water cycle, cause severe weather that negatively affect society, and generate high clouds that impact the Earth's radiation budget.

Cloud and Precipitation Measurements Planned Within The NASA Earth System Observatory – Atmosphere Observing System (AOS)

Author(s): Scott A Braun, John E Yorks, Tyler Thorsen, Nobuhiro Takahashi and Hélène Brogniez
Date: 13-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E270Abstract: NASA's new Earth System Observatory (ESO) will provide key information related to understanding climate change processes, mitigating natural hazards, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. Precipitation is a critical factor in many of these issues, but understanding precipitation processes also requires knowledge of related cloud and aerosol distributions and properties. The Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) constellation is designed to address these coupled processes by focusing on two of the five designated observables of the 2017 NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey: aerosols and clouds, convection, and precipitation (CCP).

Leveraging Existing Satellite Precipitation Missions for AOS Applications Development

Author(s): Andrea Monet Portier, Emily Berndt, and Anita LeRoy
Date: 13-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E270Abstract: The Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) seeks to explore fundamental questions of how interconnections between aerosols, clouds and precipitation impact our weather and climate, addressing real-world challenges to benefit society. AOS will provide key information to enhance the communities' ability to improve weather and air quality forecasting today, seasonal to sub-seasonal changes in the near future, and societal challenges resulting from climate change in the decades to come. A fundamental component of the AOS mission is ensuring that applications are considered to the greatest extent possible in mission design.

NASA’s Earth System Observatory - The Atmosphere Observation System (AOS) Polar Project

Author(s): Tyler Thorsen, Scott A Braun, Daniel Cecil, Gregory R Carmichael, Arlindo daSilva, Richard Anthony Ferrare, Meloe S Kacenelenbogen, Gerald G Mace, Walter Arthur Petersen, Jens Redemann, Graeme L Stephens, Susan C van den Heever, Duane Edward Waliser, David M Winker, and John E Yorks
Date: 13-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E350Abstract: NASA's new Earth System Observatory (ESO) will provide key information related to understanding climate change processes, mitigating natural hazards, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes. The Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) constellation is designed to address these coupled processes by focusing on two of the five designated observables of the 2017 NASA Earth Science Decadal Survey: aerosols and clouds, convection, and precipitation (CCP). AOS is made up of two projects, one in an inclined orbit (AOS-I) and the other in a polar sun synchronous orbit (AOS-P), with both projects addressing synergistic aerosol and CCP science.

The ALICAT Lidar for the AOS-Inclined Orbit: Instrument Overview and Projected Performance

Author(s): Edward P Nowottnick, John E Yorks, Matthew J McGill, Patrick A Selmer, Kenneth Edward Christian, and Melanie B Follette-Cook
Date: 12-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - Poster Hall, Hall – AAbstract: The Atmospheric Lidar for Clouds and Aerosol Transport (ALICAT) is a SmallSat elastic backscatter lidar planned to fly in the AOS inclined orbit with an anticipated launch in summer 2028. Providing vertical measurements of attenuated backscatter and volume depolarization ratio at 532 and 1064 nm in an orbit with a 55-degree inclination, ALICAT will provide critical measurements of diurnal variability of clouds and aerosol profiles coincident with other AOS instrumentation, notionally a Ku-band radar and microwave radiometer in the inclined orbit for a planned 3-year lifetime.

Town Hall: NASA's Earth System Observatory – Atmospheric Observing System

Date: 16-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place – S103abThe 2017 "Decadal Survey for Earth Science and Applications from Space" recommended that NASA implement five high priority Designated Observables, including Aerosols (A) and Clouds, Convection and Precipitation (CCP). From late 2018 to early 2021, NASA conducted multi-center studies focused on developing implementable architectures for each of the DOs, with A and CCP studied in tandem given the highly synergistic nature of the two DOs. In 2021, NASA HQ announced the formation of the Earth System Observatory that implements the five DOs as part of a coordinated observing system.

Understanding Warm Rain Retrieval Uncertainties in Preparation for the Atmosphere Observing System

Author(s): Richard Schulte, Christian Kummerow, Stephen Millican Saleeby, and Gerald G Mace
Date: 14-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E270Abstract: Satellite-based precipitation products show large differences in oceanic rain rates over regions where warm rain processes are dominant. NASA's planned Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) will include a dual-frequency radar with observations at Ka- and W-band. We test whether this satellite architecture, which combines sensitivity to cloud droplets and drizzle with sensitivity to larger raindrops, has the potential to reduce uncertainties in warm rain estimates.

Using machine learning to improve multi-wavelength spaceborne radar precipitation retrievals

Author(s): Stephen W Nesbitt, Alfonso Ladino, Randy Chase, Greg McFarquhar, Robert Rauber, and Larry Di Girolamo
Date: 14-Dec-2022
Location: McCormick Place - E270Abstract: We employ a new physically-based machine learning retrieval approach at Ku- and Ka-band frequencies using neural networks in ice and liquid phase retrievals. The retrieval is trained and tested with inputs of observed particle size distributions from aircraft microphysical probes collected during various NASA field campaigns (OLYMPEX, GCPEX, MC3E, CAMP2EX) and state-of-the-art forward simulations of hydrometeor scattering properties at multiple frequencies. In the ice phase retrievals, attenuation is ignored, and the retrieval provides outputs of normalized number concentration, ice water content, and melted and unmelted mass-weighted mean diameter.