Abstract:
The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program conducted a Cloud
Intensive Operational Period (IOP) in March 2000 that was the
first-ever effort to document the 3-dimensional cloud field from
observational data. Prior numerical studies of solar radiation
propagation through the atmosphere in the presence of clouds have been
limited by the necessity to use
... theoretical representations of
clouds. Three-dimensional representations of actual clouds and their
microphysical properties, such as the distribution of ice and water,
had previously not been possible because instrumentation appropriate
to the task was not available. This case study presents data from 1
March 2000 to 31 March 2000 and covers a region from 25N to 45N
latitude and from 120W to 80W longitude.
The data for this experiment is under Working Group 3 (Extratropical
Layer Cloud Systems) of the GEWEX Cloud System Study (GCSS) to improve
physical parameterizations of clouds, other boundary layer processes,
and their interactions. 
