Development of validation protocols for atmospheric aerosol and cloud profiles
Update Sep.1, 2022: Collaborations on best practice protocols for validation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation products are taking shape, as follows: A group of scientists involved in validation of CALIPSO, Cloudsat, Aeolus, EarthCARE, and AOS, and ESA and NASA colleagues have converged on a structure for the best practice document. The group of collaborators is gradually expanding, and NASA's Sub-Orbital Working Group for the AOS mission has recently confirmed its interest to join this effort. Three coordination meetings have been held thus far. ESA has begun development of an open-source simulation tool implementing best practices for confronting nadir pointing space-borne lidars with their zenith looking ground-based counterparts. It intends to complement this tool with its equivalent for radar, and make these available to the broader validation community.
Best practice Technical Note is planned for Q3 2023, and a consolidated version for Q1 2024
The formulation of best practices for validation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation profiles is on course for delivery for a first draft for broader community review by October 2023 and a final version to CEOS WGCV by April 2024.
The group of contributors continues to expand with further scientists involved in EarthCARE and AOS and their predecessor missions, including JAXA personnel and Japanese scientists. Also, EUMETSAT joined as an observer.
In the meantime, the community involved intends to publish related papers in peer-review journals, after completion of the CEOS protocol. The development of an open-source simulator tool to allow validation of orbital radar level-1 products with sub-orbital radars is now underway, complementing similar simulation tools for lidar and imager instruments which are nearing completion.
The formulation of best practices for validation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation profiles is on course for delivery for a first draft for broader community review by October 2023 and a final version to CEOS WGCV by April 2024.
The group of contributors continues to expand with further scientists involved in EarthCARE and AOS and their predecessor missions, including JAXA personnel and Japanese scientists. Also, EUMETSAT joined as an observer.
In the meantime, the community involved intends to publish related papers in peer-review journals, after completion of the CEOS protocol. The development of an open-source simulator tool to allow validation of orbital radar level-1 products with sub-orbital radars is now underway, complementing similar simulation tools for lidar and imager instruments which are nearing completion.
The formulation of best practices for validation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation profiles has resulted in a first draft for review outside the team of 80+ contributors, namely the EarthCARE Validation Team. The document will be circulated by 9 February 2024, in the context of the EarthCARE Validation Rehearsal, in order to collect feedback for the delivery to CEOS which remains on track for April 2024.
The formulation of best practices for validation of aerosol, cloud, and precipitation profiles has resulted in a first draft for review outside the team of 80+ contributors, namely the EarthCARE Validation Team. The document will be circulated by 9 February 2024, in the context of the EarthCARE Validation Rehearsal, in order to collect feedback for the delivery to CEOS which remains on track for April 2024.
After review in the EarthCARE validation team, which includes a broad participation of scientists involved in past and future aerosol and cloud profiling missions, the document "Best practices for the validation of Aerosol, Cloud, and Precipitation Profiles (ACPPV)" by Amiridis, Cecil, Koopman, et al. (283 pp.) has been submitted for CEOS WGCV review in September 2024.
Main point of contact for this activity: Dr. Rob Koopman, ESA/ESTEC