An examination of cirrus cloud characteristics using data from millimeter wave radar and lidar: The 24 April SUCCESS case study

We examine the characteristics of a cirrus system that moved over north central Oklahoma on 24 April 1996 during the Subsonic Aircraft: Contrail and Cloud Effects Speical Study. This system was probed by aircraft and several surface-based active and passive remote sensors located at the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement facility. Several layers of cirrus were identified and tended to be organized in bands that were maintained by turbulent motions associated with unstable lapse rates. The microphysical properties of two events sampled by a cloud radar were quite different with the earlier event composed, on average, of larger particles and lower concentrations than the later event.