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True to its promise, the European Space Agency\u2019s\u00a0EarthCARE\u00a0satellite is now being used to calculate directly how clouds and aerosols influence Earth\u2019s energy balance \u2013 the all-important balance that regulates our climate. In doing so, EarthCARE is poised to sharpen the accuracy of climate models, the very tools that guide global climate policy and action.<\/p>\n
The animation shows how EarthCARE\u2019s measurements can be used to provide accurate data on clouds to test and improve climate models.\u00a0It first illustrates how data from EarthCARE\u2019s cloud profiling radar (CPR), atmospheric lidar (ATLID) and multispectral imager (MSI) are combined to derive vertical slices of properties such as the cloud and precipitation water content \u2013 that is, water in liquid droplets, ice crystals, rain and snow.<\/p>\n
Next, information from MSI\u2019s horizontal imagery is used to extrapolate these vertical cloud profiles across the satellite\u2019s track. By identifying pixels with similar optical properties, the system reconstructs the 3D cloud structure.<\/p>\n
Using a computational technique known as radiative transfer modelling, this 3D cloud representation is then used to estimate how incoming sunlight is scattered by cloud particles and Earth\u2019s surface, and consequently how much is reflected back to space.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the animation, this calculated reflected sunlight appears as the blue-shaded shaded horizontal strip and the red line at the top. This is then compared against independent measurements by EarthCARE\u2019s broadband radiometer (BBR), shown by the yellow line at the top, and the agreement is very good.<\/p>\n
Read full story<\/b>:\u00a0EarthCARE lifts the clouds on climate models<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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