Unravelling ice growth characteristics beneath cloud tops with joint analysis of airborne Ka-band radar and Himawari observations.

In this study, joint observations of the airborne Ka-band precipitation radar (KPR) and Himawari-8 were used to investigate the underlying links among cloud macro and microphysical parameters such as cloud top height (CTH), effective particle radius (R e), and cloud top temperature (CTT). Our results indicate that, compared to CTH from the Himawari-8 products (CTH Himawari), CTH detected by KPR (CTH KPR) is mostly lower, with a difference (ΔH) ranging from 0.5 km to 3 km. Statistics of 11 flight observations over North China Plain reveal a non-monotonous dependence of ΔH on R e , while ΔH is well correlated with CTT. In addition, larger particles as observed by Himawari-8 around cloud tops are characterized by more significant size growth than smaller ones, which may be attributed to more efficient aggregation. Two events with small and medium-to-large R e are analyzed, respectively. Aircraft flight trajectory map. [Display omitted] • Airborne KPR observations from 11 flights complemented with Himawari-8 observations were used to characterize ice growth beneath the cloud top. • A cold cloud top is generally characterized by smaller particles at cloud top, and the cloud top height difference between KPR and Himawari-8 increases as the cloud top becomes colder. • For ice particles formed at cloud tops around −25 °C, their characteristic radius is below 10 um, while the observed cloud top height from KPR is rather close to Himawari-8, owing to the efficient dendritic growth just beneath the cloud top. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]