Classifying clouds around the globe with the CloudSat radar: 1-year of results

CloudSat supports a 94 GHz cloud profiling radar as part of the innovative A-train formation of satellites studying the Earths clouds and atmosphere. Using the vertical profiles of clouds and precipitation, an algorithm has been developed to determine the type of clouds present. Because cloud type corresponds to specific cloud physical properties, this step is needed to apply other algorithms to derive quantitative cloud content and radiative data. This cloud type algorithm is applied to the initial 1-year of radar data to obtain the global distribution of various cloud types over the land and ocean. These initial results appear consistent with previous global cloud type distributions, but with some differences that provide insights into the limitations of CloudSat measurements.