GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 39, L20805, doi:10.

1029/2012GL053116, 2012

Ice cloud depolarization for nadir and off-nadir

CALIPSO measurements
Kenneth Sassen,1 Vinay Kumar Kayetha,1 and Jiang Zhu1
Received 12 July 2012; revised 14 September 2012; accepted 20 September 2012; published 19 October 2012.

[1] Currently approaching its sixth year in space, the

CALIPSO satellite collects lidar linear depolarization ratios d
from 0.532 mm laser backscatter, an indicator of particle
phase, shape, and orientation. We examine one-year d
averages for day and night periods when the lidar was
pointing close to the nadir (0.3
) and off-nadir (3.0
), in terms
of geographic location and zonal height averages. For the
first time, also given is the dependency of d on temperature
versus latitude for ice clouds. The analysis involves all ice
clouds with a cloud top temperature of <40
C, which
include mainly cirrus and altostratus, as well as some polar
stratospheric clouds identified by CALIPSO. We find significant differences from 10
to 30
C between the nadir
and off-nadir data, consistent with the effects of horizontally
oriented plate crystals: overall the off-nadir d are increased
by 0.05 globally. Strong dependencies of d also occur with
latitude and height. Day minus night d differ by 0.020.03.
The global average day plus night d for nadir and off-nadir
data are 0.318 and 0.365, respectively. As expected from
ground-based studies, d increase steadily with decreasing
temperature, which is particularly apparent in the nadir data
because of oriented plate effects. These findings have
implications for the modeling of radiative transfer through
ice clouds. Citation: Sassen, K., V. K. Kayetha, and J. Zhu
(2012), Ice cloud depolarization for nadir and off-nadir CALIPSO
measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L20805, doi:10.1029/
2012GL053116.

1. Introduction
[2] Polarization diversity lidar is a basic tool for the probing of clouds and aerosols that dates back to the beginnings
of laser atmospheric research [Schotland et al., 1971].
Although a variety of more sophisticated techniques have
evolved [Weitkamp, 2005], measuring laser backscatter
depolarization is an important application that is seeing
increasing use by virtue of its ability to infer particle phase,
type, and shape. This includes the inclusion of dualpolarization channels on the CALIOP lidar system aboard
the CALIPSO satellite [Winker et al., 2007] at the 0.532 mm
wavelength, which is a constituent of the A-train formation
of meteorological satellites [Stephens et al., 2002]. The
availability of CALIPSO lidar depolarization data is proving
to be an important supplement for microphysical analyses

1
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks,
Alaska, USA.

Corresponding author: K. Sassen, Geophysical Institute, University of

Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA. (ksassen@gi.alaska.edu)
2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
0094-8276/12/2012GL053116

[e.g., Hu et al., 2007; Cho et al., 2008; Sassen and Zhu,

2009; Noel and Chepfer, 2010; Okamoto et al., 2010].
[3] A major justification for the April 2006 launch of
CALIPSO was the ability of its polarization lidar to classify
the global distribution of clouds, especially the clouds of
the middle and upper troposphere that present difficulties
for probing using the cloud radar (CloudSat) and passive
methods also available from the A-train. According to theoretical ray-tracing simulations of laser backscatter depolarization [e.g., Takano and Liou, 1989], ice crystal shape has a
fundamental influence on the lidar linear depolarization ratio
(d, the ratio of the returned laser powers in the planes of
polarization orthogonal and parallel to that of the linearlypolarized source). The effects of uniformly oriented crystal
populations such as horizontally-oriented ice plates, however, also have a major impact: they produce near-zero d
when probed in the zenith (or nadir) direction [Platt et al.,
1978; Sassen and Benson, 2001; Noel and Sassen, 2005]
because aerodynamic drag forces align the large mirror-like
faces of the plates in the horizontal plane. This effect,
however, rapidly diminishes as the incident lidar angle falls
off the vertical direction.
[4] In an earlier study [Sassen and Zhu, 2009], curious
patterns in the global character of ice cloud d were found,
including significant differences with height, latitude, and in
day versus night and nadir versus off-nadir measurements.
While oriented plate crystal effects could explain many of
these findings, we reexamine here the day/night differences
and directly correlate the data with cloud temperature using
one-year averages of CALIPSO polarized signals prior to
and following the 28 November 2007 lidar viewing angle
change from 0.3 to 3.0
.

2. CALIPSO Data Analysis

[5] Our data analysis algorithm processes CALIPSO Level
1 and 2 standard data products, using the Version 2 dataset.
Level 1B data provide attenuated total (parallel plus perpendicular) and perpendicular polarized backscatter profiles
at a horizontal resolution of 333 m and a vertical resolution
varying from 30240 m depending on altitude. From
CALIPSO Level 2 data products, we employ the 5-km cloud
layer product to initially obtain cloud height boundaries.
Various horizontal (5-km, 20-km, and 80-km) signal averaging schemes are used to obtain sufficient signal-to-noise
ratios to detect even tenuous cloud and aerosol layers in the
atmosphere, but by using the 5-km cloud detection product
we have selected relatively strongly-scattering clouds for
analysis. This minimizes the inclusion of aerosol layers in our
cloud sample, and also diminishes the impact of molecular
scattering on lowering laser depolarization in weaklyscattering ice clouds. This differs from that used in Sassen

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Figure 1. Yearly-averaged CALIPSO d for near-nadir (top, from December 2006 to November 2007) and off-nadir
(from December 2007 to November 2008) data for day (left of each pair) and night measurements, in terms of
vertically-integrated d in a latitude versus longitude display.
and Zhu [2009], which included all cloud layers detected
at any of the three horizontal signal averages. The parallel
(total minus perpendicular) and perpendicular backscatter
profiles, along with their interpolated temperatures (derived
from global models), are then extracted from the Level 1 file.
[6] The data sample is intended to include all types of ice
clouds, even those that cause the complete attenuation of
the laser pulses. Based on the climatological midlatitude
cirrus-cloud dataset in Sassen and Campbell [2001], a
maximum cirrus cloud top temperature of 40
C (i.e., the
homogeneous freezing point of pure water) is first applied,
which reduces the possibility of including clouds containing
supercooled water [Pruppacher and Klett, 1997; Sassen,
2002]. A minimum temperature of 10
C is also applied
for this reason. Thus, our findings are mainly derived from
cirrus and altostratus clouds, although water-ice dominated
polar stratospheric clouds (PSC) clouds likely to be detected
by the 5-km CALIPSO detection algorithm [Sassen and Zhu,
2009] are also included in the sample.
[7] Total (molecular plus aerosol plus cloud backscattering)
d profiles for the clouds selected by our criteria (corresponding
to the sum of 15 consecutive laser shots at each height) are
derived from the total parallel and perpendicular ? backscatter coefficients (b) extracted from Level 1 data. That is,


d Sb?m b ?a b ?c =S b m ba b c ;

where the subscripts refer to scattering from molecules,

aerosols, and clouds.
[8] Such data are included in data files for all orbits for
each day in 5
latitude by 5
longitude grid boxes globally.
Yearly datasets are derived after summing all the parallel and
perpendicular signals at each cloud height and temperature:

average d are not calculated by averaging individual d calculated at lesser temporal scales.

3. Global Depolarization Findings

[9] Given in Figures 1 and 2 are global views of 1-yr
average ice cloud d for nadir (top row) and off-nadir data
in terms of day (left of each pair) and night displays of
vertically-integrated (Figure 1) and height-resolved zonal
(Figure 2) averages. Given in Table 1 are the differences in
the global vertically-integrated d for day, night, day plus
night, and day minus night for both nadir and off-nadir
CALIPSO data. As described above, these d are based on the
signals summed in the two channels interpolated to the
maximum 30-m vertical resolution interval.
[10] It is obvious that significant variations occur in connection with geography, latitude, and height, and in nadir
versus off-nadir and day versus night. In keeping with the
effects of probing horizontally oriented planar crystals at
nadir, the nadir d are considerably lower at low altitudes.
Nadir versus off-nadir differences in d at heights above
12 km MSL are not very noticeable in Figure 2, although
the data attributable to PSC at high latitudes are more variable due perhaps to the smaller sample size. The specular
reflections from plates generate strong backscattered signals,
and their effects are more dramatically portrayed in the
vertically-integrated d at middle and high latitudes in
Figure 1. Geographically, certain (mostly continental) regions
like southern South America, the U. S. Great Basin, the
southern Himalayas, central Africa, and Malaysia, tend to
display higher d probably as a result of the local cirrus cloud
generating mechanisms. Table 1 shows that the global nadir
versus off-nadir d differences are 0.05, while the day minus
night differences are 0.025.

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Figure 2. Same as Figure 1, except for zonal-averaged height-resolved d versus latitude.

[11] Differences in day versus night vertically-integrated d
are evident by the lower night-time d at high latitudes,
and the higher d in the tropics/midlatitudes during day
(Figure 1). From Figure 2, diurnal differences are apparent at
heights >12 km in cirrus, where they are lower at night
particularly in the tropics. On the other hand, d differences
in PSC are ambiguous, and probably correspond to cloud
detection threshold effects. The causes of these day/night
differences could be attributable to CALIPSO signal noise
and thermally-induced signal drift issues, but also likely reflect
cloud microphysical variations due to diurnal ice cloud formation, aging, and radiative effects. Diurnal differences in ice
cloud formation based on CALIPSO and CloudSat data are
discussed in Sassen et al. [2008, 2009].

plates, which as mentioned produces an anisotropic lidar

scattering medium involving zero depolarization at normal
incidence.
[13] The CALIPSO data considered here are presented in
terms of their temperature (in 5
C bins) and latitude dependence in Figure 3 for both the nadir (left) and off-nadir
measurements. These displays show the averaged day plus
night d, indicating a steady increasing trend with decreasing
temperature within the troposphere. It is again clear that d
have anomalously low values at the warmest temperatures
treated here when probed in the nadir. It appears that the
effects of widely-fluttering dendrites [Noel and Sassen,
2005], randomly-oriented plates, or both, are manifested at
the warmest temperatures even in the off-nadir data.

4. Global Temperature Variations

5. Comparison With Previous Results

[12] The above depolarization findings may find a basic

explanation in terms of cloud level temperature. Theoretical
ray-tracing simulations [Takano and Liou, 1989] have
established that the basic ice crystal habits generate differing
d according to the major internal ray paths, essentially
increasing with increasing hexagonal particle axis ratio (i.e.,
length over width). When randomly oriented in space, thin
plate crystals generate d  0.3, whereas long solid column
crystals yield d  0.6 by virtue of their internal ray paths from
multiple refractions and reflections off their large basal faces.
(Hollow crystals and more complicated spatial particles are
more difficult to treat, but these shapes appear to make a
difference.) It is also known that ice crystal habit depends in a
fundamental way on temperature [Pruppacher and Klett,
1997], with planar crystals like plates dominating between
about 10
to 20
C, and columns and spatial crystal types
at colder temperatures. Of course, ice crystal orientation also
has a strong influence, particularly for horizontally oriented

[14] Several extended ground-based polarization lidar

studies, mostly from midlatitude stations, have demonstrated
that cirrus cloud d tend to increase with increasing height/
decreasing temperature [Sassen and Benson, 2001]. As a
matter of fact, most single time-height images of deep cirrus
cloud systems display this effect. Differences in previous
Table 1. Yearly-Averaged Global CALIPSO Ice Cloud d for
Nadir (December 2006November 2007) and Off-Nadir
(December 2007November 2008) Data for Day, Night, Day Plus
Night, and Day Minus Night Measurements

Day
Night
Day + Night
Day  Night

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Nadir

Off-Nadir

Off-Nadir  Nadir

0.329
0.309
0.318
0.020

0.381
0.352
0.365
0.029

0.052
0.044
0.047

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Figure 3. Yearly-averaged day plus night CALIPSO d depicting the temperature dependence of d on latitude, for (left)
near-nadir and (right) off-nadir data.
temperature trends are also evident between zenith and offzenith datasets due to the effects of oriented planar crystals
in the expected 10
to 20
C temperature interval.
Nonetheless, differences in the magnitude of the basic
depolarization trend are readily apparent in the results from
different geographical locations/latitudes, such that the
question of basic cirrus cloud depolarization, versus lidar
systematic errors, remained until recently uncertain.
[15] CALIPSO depolarization data now provide the
opportunity to examine the global distribution of ice cloud d
using a single lidar system. In our earlier study [Sassen and
Zhu, 2009], we examined a broader sample of ice clouds
that included optically thin clouds detected after CALIPSO
signal averaging of up to 80 km. The consequences on the
results are that the day versus night differences in cloud
detection/frequencies are exaggerated at night with respect to
the current approach, and importantly, depolarization is
biased toward lower values at night because of the contributions of molecular backscattering to the total air plus
cloud signal (see equation (1)). Since the pure molecular
atmosphere produces d 0.02, this Rayleigh scattering
lowers the depolarization in clouds with weak backscattering.
[16] Nonetheless, it is apparent that the main depolarization feature noted here, a steady d increase with increasing
height/decreasing temperature, is consistent with earlier
ground-based and CALIPSO polarization lidar analyses. The
current 0.05 off-nadir minus nadir average difference is
about twice as large as that reported previously in Sassen and
Zhu [2009].

6. Conclusions
[17] Unlike the model treatment of the radiative effects of
water clouds containing spherical cloud droplets, ice crystal
clouds like cirrus present many uncertainties. The major
added complexity is related to the diverse shapes of the
crystals present, although obviously additional factors such
as the vertical distribution of the size distribution and ice
water content come into play. The polarization properties
of laser backscattering can be considered as an analog of
natural light scattering in the atmosphere, because d are
sensitive to the exact particle shape and orientation.
[18] The data presented here deal mainly with what would
be identified by surface weather observers as cirrus and

altostratus clouds, although PSC are included because

according to depolarization, they often appear to have similar
contents as other ice clouds [Sassen and Zhu, 2009], and
modeled tropopause heights over the polar regions may not
be reliable. It is clear that the effects of oriented plate crystals
on ice cloud CALIPSO laser depolarization is significant
within the expected crystal growth regime of 10
to
30
C (Figure 3). Plate effects also tend to be more
important in high latitude ice clouds (Figures 1 and 2).
[19] In terms of the relative number of oriented plates
versus those poorly or randomly oriented, an estimate can be
derived from the following equation suggested by Sassen
and Benson [2001] based on laboratory experiments:
d d i =1 Nh =Nr b h =b r ;

where d is the measured off-nadir depolarization ratio, di the

nadir value, and N and b the number concentration and
backscatter coefficient of horizontally (h) and randomly (r)
oriented plates. Using the day plus night average d for offnadir (0.318) and nadir (0.365) measurements in Table 1,
a ratio of non- to oriented- plates of roughly 2,500/1.0 is
found from equation (2) adding all temperatures. This is not
a large relative number of oriented plates, but it must be kept
in mind that their impact on radiation transfer is highly
anisotropic and largely concentrated in certain latitudes and
height/temperature ranges. Although the two CALIPSO
viewing angles may not be ideal to assess orientated plate
effects, the 0.3 and 3.0
nadir angles should yield results
representative of the binary lidar outcome according to
ground-based scanning lidar research [Noel and Sassen,
2005].
[20] The fundamental result of the observed d-temperature
dependence suggests that improved cirrus cloud radiative
transfer models could follow by creating a simplified vertical
gradient in ice crystal shape based on the d trend. The use of
a vertically homogeneous ice crystal shape model seems
especially inappropriate. Although the tendency for the
horizontal orientation of a portion of the plates at relatively
warm temperatures is an anisotropic complication, even a
model of a gradual change from plates to columns with
height should be an improvement.
[21] The geographical/latitudinal differences in d (Figures 1
and 2) are also quite interesting. These data imply that higher

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latitudes have lower d and relatively more oriented plates,

while certain continental areas have higher d, especially in
the tropics/subtropics. These differences must reflect the
different ice particle shapes that depend on the cirrus cloud
formation mechanism (e.g., convective-anvil, orographic,
synoptic, etc.), or more specifically on the basic cloud-particle
forming aerosol available for crystal formation and the
microphysical effects of typical cloud updraft velocities
(Sassen, 2002). CALIPSO lidar depolarization data will
continue to provide a rich source of information on cloud and
aerosol microphysics.
[22] Acknowledgments. This research has been support by NSF
grant ATM-0645644, NASA grant NNX0A056G, and JPL contract
NAS-7-1407.
[23] The Editor thanks two anonymous reviewers for assistance evaluating this paper.

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