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Thermodynamic and liquid water profiles can be retrieved by a ground-based microwave radiometer (MWR) in nearly all weather conditions, which is useful for detecting mesoscale phenomena. This paper reviews the advances in remote sensing of atmospheric profiles and cloud properties by MWR in central China. Comparative studies indicate that MWR retrieval accuracy is different under various skies, especially those that decay under precipitation. The off-zenith method is proven to be capable of reducing the impact of precipitation and snow on MWR retrieval accuracy. Application studies demonstrate that MWR retrievals are helpful for early warning of rainstorms, hailstorms, and thunderstorms. Moreover, MWR retrievals provide a way to study cloud properties. The temporal variations of cloud occurrence frequency (COF) and liquid water path (LWP) are different for low, middle, and high clouds, and the vertical distribution of COF is also different in autumn and other seasons. Note that MWR can infer valid retrievals over the eastern Tibetan Plateau due to the weak precipitation over there. Also, cloud properties over the eastern Tibetan Plateau present differences from those over central China, and this is related to the different characteristics of atmospheric water vapor between these two regions. To bring more benefits for mechanism study and early warning of severe weather and numerical weather prediction, the decayed accuracy of MWR zenith retrievals under precipitation should be resolved. And combining MWR with other instruments is necessary for MWR application in detecting multi-layer clouds and ice clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the project of the Third Tibetan Plateau Experiment of Atmospheric Science (TIPEX III), the intensive observation of cloud and precipitation in Nagqu was conducted from 1 July to 31 August 2014. The CL31 ceilometer and a WAter vapor, Cloud and Aerosol Lidar (WACAL) were deployed and focused on studying the cloud macroscopic characteristics and vertical distribution. The statistical result of CL31 ceilometer in continuous operation mode shows that the cloud occurrence is about 81% with a majority of simple one-layer cloud. The cloud base and top height are retrieved by improved differential zero-crossing method using lidar data. The results of cloud base height (CBH) are compared with CL31 ceilometer, showing a good consistency with each other, however, in some cases, the CL31 ceilometer overestimates the CBH and is also validated by synchronous radiosonde data. The time snippet comparisons of cloud property between CL31 ceilometer and lidar imply that the cloud properties have obvious diurnal variations with "U" shape distribution. The cloud development including the time-spatial distribution features also has distinct diurnal variations based on the lidar measurement. The detection range of lidar goes beyond the maximum height of CL31 ceilometer, offering substantial observations to the analysis of cirrus cloud radiation characteristics and formation mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]