Convective Cloud Phases
During the daylight hours, the potential for identifying cumulus clouds which have
entered the ice phase is greatly improved when using 3.9 um imagery. This is because
of the difference in reflection between ice and water cloud at 3.9 um. This image shows
a large thunderstorm complex along the Louisiana Gulf coast from the VIS and 3.9 um
channel imagers. In the VIS image, well-organized bands of cumulus over the Gulf of
Mexico can be seen feeding into the storm area. When the same storm complex is
viewed with the 3.9 um channel, many of the cumulus appear black while others nearby
do not. In this particular lookup table, black is set to represent clouds with low
reflectivity. It is likely, then, that the black cloud areas in this 3.9 um image have
already entered the ice phase.
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