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Completed TRL 4 (started at 3, targeting 4)
Given the importance of ice clouds in global radiative budget, this project aims to establish the scientific justification of making polarized observations of ice clouds at submillimeter and thermal infrared wavelengths for elucidating cloud properties, while also maturing technologies that would be used to make the proposed measurements.
The shapes, sizes, and orientations of cloud ice particles have a significant impact on the radiative properties of clouds. Currently, microwave and visible/swir observations of clouds provide information on two widely spaced size regimes. Polarized submillimeter and thermal infrared radiances would not only fill in the gap in particle sizes, but also provide information on the shape and alignment of cloud ice particles, supporting objectives of the Aerosols, Clouds, Convection, and Precipitation Decadal Survey Designated Observables currently under study. This project will mature both the science and the technology for polarized cloud observations in support of NASA's Earth Science focus areas of the Global Energy and Water Cycle and Climate Variability and Change, and the Decadal Survey observables that relate to these focus areas.
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