EarthCARE, provides co-registered observations from a suite of four unique instruments located on a common platform: (1) ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID), (2) Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), (3) Multi- Spectral Imager (MSI) and (4) BroadBand Radiometer (BBR). EarthCARE global observations include vertical profiles of natural and anthropogenic aerosols, the vertical contribution of ice and liquid water content, the cloud mesoscale distribution, precipitation microphysics, estimates of particle size, convective vertical air motions, as well as atmospheric radiative heating and cooling profiles. In addition to providing novel measurements for a better understanding of processes shaping Earth’s weather and climate, EarthCARE continues the heritage measurements of CloudSat, CALIPSO, Aeolus and CERES.
This session invites contributions on EarthCARE science themes related to the exploitation of mission data. These include instrument characterization, new active and passive retrieval techniques; cloud and precipitation microphysics, process studies related to the effects of clouds, aerosol, and aersol-cloud interactions on Earth’s radiant energy budget; as well as synthesis with other methodological approaches including ground-based, air- or ship-borne field campaigns and modelling studies. A special focus will be on the synergy with modeling activities exploiting the next generation of km-scale climate models, as in ECOMIP and within the global km-scale hackathon, and observational studies in combination with Organized Convection and EarthCARE Studies over
the Tropical Atlantic (ORCESTRA).
The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission, a collaborative effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), aims to address critical uncertainties in climate predictions related to cloud-aerosol interactions and their effects on solar and thermal radiation.
Launched in May 2024, EarthCARE has been in orbit for almost two years, providing invaluable data to the scientific community. EarthCARE's payload includes two active instruments, the cloud-aerosol lidar (ATLID) and the cloud Doppler radar (CPR), along with the passive multispectral imager (MSI) and broad-band radiometer (BBR). These instruments work synergistically to deliver vertical profiles of cloud ice and liquid water, aerosol types, precipitation, and heating rates. Additionally, they measure solar and thermal top-of-atmosphere radiances, aiming to reconstruct top-of-the-atmosphere short- and longwave fluxes with an accuracy of 10 Wm-2 on a 10 km x 10 km scene. The mission has successfully developed and disseminated data products through a coordinated approach between ESA and JAXA, ensuring continuous information exchange between European and Japanese algorithm and science teams. EarthCARE data is freely available to the scientific community, with all products available to the public, including three- and four-sensor Level-2b synergistic data.
This presentation gives the EarthCARE mission status after almost 2 years in orbit. It will cover the status of all mission elements, including instruments, platform and ground segments. In addition highlight results from the mission will be shown, together with an outlook on future activities.
How to cite: Frommknecht, B. and the EarthCARE Mission Team: EarthCARE Mission Status, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22091, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22091, 2026.
The ESA-JAXA EarthCARE mission delivers cutting‑edge measurements of clouds, aerosols, and Earth’s radiation budget, quantifying the coupled interactions among the three. A key instrument on the mission is the high‑spectral‑resolution lidar (ATLID), which produces data useful beyond its primary role in atmospheric science. Although developed for atmospheric observations, ATLID’s ability to quantify the near-surface ocean backscatter also supports ocean‑optical applications, including examining how subsurface lidar signal attenuation is influenced by optical constituents such as phytoplankton and colored dissolved organic matter.
The co‑polar Mie surface return from ATLID provides estimates of aerosol and cloud optical depth, which are essential for calibrating the near-surface ocean Rayleigh signal. Once corrected for atmospheric attenuation, the isolated Rayleigh component can be used to infer chlorophyll concentrations using established bio-optical models. The surface depolarization ratio from ATLID also enables reliable discrimination between ocean and sea ice, ensuring chlorophyll retrievals are limited to open-water areas. The methodology’s validation includes using NASA HSRL2 data from the NightBLUE campaign to corroborate ocean subsurface retrievals.
The global performance of ATLID-derived chlorophyll retrievals is validated through comparisons with established satellite data from PACE-OCI, Aqua-MODIS and Sentinel-3 OLCI, as well as reanalysis products from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). Initial findings show strong agreement, with ATLID successfully capturing large-scale chlorophyll gradients, particularly in open-ocean areas. ATLID’s ability to operate in high latitudes and night-time conditions, where passive sensors face limitations, represents an important step forward. These capabilities show promise in extending the temporal and spatial coverage of ocean-color data. The retrieved chlorophyll concentrations may be used to help refine estimates of ocean albedo within EarthCARE’s Level 2 radiative‑closure studies.
Additionally, over land ATLID surface depolarization ratios correlates well with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and, over desert surfaces, also shows a relationship with the TROPOMI Lambertian Equivalent Reflectance (LER). This demonstrates ATLID’s ability to characterize surface-atmosphere interactions and reinforces its relevance across both ocean and land domains.
In summary, EarthCARE ATLID’s surface return, corrected for aerosol attenuation using the co-polar Mie surface returns, introduces a novel and unique method for global chlorophyll retrievals. This first demonstration showcases how atmospheric lidar can complement existing remote sensing products like MODIS, OLCI, and CMEMS, while offering valuable contributions to both ocean and land classification, such as desert albedo and NDVI analysis.
How to cite: van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Smith, J., Collister, B., Donovan, D., Hemminga, D., Hair, J., Hostetler, C., and Shingler, T.: Advancing Ocean and Land Surface Remote Sensing with EarthCARE’s lidar ATLID, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10155, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10155, 2026.
Studies of aerosol-cloud interactions and estimates of the effective aerosol radiative forcing (ERF) of climate depend crucially on the vertical distribution of aerosol microphysical and radiative properties, but few reliable observations of such properties exist on a global scale. The 2024 launch of the EarthCARE mission provides new observations of aerosol extinction from the ATMospheric LIDar (ATLID) system. These observations are proving to be superior to past satellite-based lidar observations of aerosol extinction in accuracy because of the use of the high-spectral resolution lidar (HSRL) technique. These high-accuracy lidar observations can be used as input to machine-learning (ML) models to estimate cloud condensation nuclei (CCN at 0.4% supersaturation) and aerosol absorption (ABS at 532nm).
We present novel ML-based CCN and ABS retrievals using the first full year of ATLID observations (September 2024 to August 2025) of aerosol backscatter, extinction, and depolarization as predictors. These higher-level aerosol properties are compared to retrievals of the same quantities derived from airborne HSRL observations by the WALES system (derived from WAter vapor Lidar Experiment in Space) during the ORCESTRA (ORganized Convection and EarthCARE STudies over the Tropical Atlantic) PERCUSION (Persistent EarthCARE Underflight Studies of the ITCZ and Organized Convection) campaign in the summer of 2024. We provide validation results of the ML-based CCN and ABS retrievals against ground-based in situ observations, which indicate relative errors less than 30% for all but the cleanest aerosol loading conditions. Based on the first year of ATLID observations, we present global maps of ML-derived CCN and ABS and suggestions for improvements in the ATLID observations. Finally, we discuss opportunities to study aerosol-cloud-climate interactions facilitated by these new retrievals and climatologies.
How to cite: Redemann, J., Gao, L., Lamkin, B., Stier, P., Donovan, D., van Zadelhoff, G.-J., Gross, S., and Wirth, M.: Global Retrievals of Cloud Condensation Nuclei and Aerosol Absorption based on the first year of EarthCARE ATLID observations, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14141, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14141, 2026.
The understanding of microphysical properties and processes in clouds plays a substantial role in the improvement of existing numerical weather models and forecasting. To gain access to these quantities deep within clouds, microphysical retrievals based on radar measurements are indispensable tools. Single-wavelength radar measurements, however, are not enough to properly constrain the microphysical properties of hydrometeors like size and shape alone and therefore need to be paired with other measurement techniques like multi-wavelength or polarimetric quantities. While polarimetric quantities are mainly useful from an oblique perspective, multi-wavelength or Doppler fall-speed observations are best made vertically.
To tackle this observational dilemma, we combine data provided by the vertically pointing W-band Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) carried on EarthCARE with data generated by the national German radar network operated by the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) which consists of 17 polarization Doppler weather radars in the C-band covering whole Germany together. Vertical profiles from operational scans in range of EarthCare's overpasses are extracted at the position of the footprint of CPR following the recently developed Beam-aware Columnar Vertical Profile (BA-CVP) method. This measurement geometry grants the opportunity to combine multi-wavelength radar observations with Doppler fall-speed measurements and side-looking polarimetry for the possibility of constraining existing ambiguities concerning the microphysical properties of ice hydrometeors.
The findings of this study in form of more accurate information about ice hydrometeors based on polarimetric multi-frequency radar measurements can ultimately be used to improve existing numerical weather models with regards to ice growth processes and their representation within the models. Naturally, similar studies can be done for any other operational radar network overflown by EarthCARE by adapting the BA-CVP method, opening the door for quasi-global dual-wavelength radar observations on an operational scale.
How to cite: Heske, C. S., Ewald, F., and Groß, S.: Combining the German national radar network with EarthCARE's Cloud Profiling Radar, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10702, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10702, 2026.
Conventional climate and numerical weather prediction models have long relied on empirical parameterizations of hydrometeor fall speeds, which have not been comprehensively validated on the global scale due to a lack of their global observations. Nevertheless, fall-speed parameters strongly influence model performance and are often subject to tuning. For example, Takasuka et al. (2024) showed that modifying the fall speeds of snow and rain improves the representation of both climate-scale statistics and intraseasonal variability. However, such tuning is not directly constrained by observations; instead, parameter values are selected to best reproduce large-scale climate fields and disturbances.
Notable in this regard is the recent emergence of the EarthCARE satellite, launched in late May of 2024, which provides the first-ever global observations of the vertical motion of hydrometeors from space. In this study, we compare representative fall-speed parameter settings in the Nonhydrostatic Icosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM) against EarthCARE observations. We use a single-moment cloud microphysics scheme (Tomita, 2008; Roh and Satoh, 2014) with two configurations. One employs the tuned fall-speed parameters proposed by Takasuka et al. (2024), while the other follows the original parameterization used in Kodama et al. (2021). The Takasuka et al. (2024) configuration prescribes slower fall speeds for both snow and rain than the Kodama et al. (2021) setting. To enable a consistent comparison with EarthCARE, EarthCARE-like observables are generated using the Joint Simulator for Satellite Sensors (Hashino et al., 2013) and evaluated against satellite measurements.
The results show that the Takasuka et al. (2024) configuration produces snow and rainfall fall speeds that are closer to EarthCARE observations than those obtained with the Kodama et al. (2021) setting, although it tends to overestimate radar reflectivity. In addition, the Takasuka configuration is confirmed to better reproduce deep convective characteristics. Our analysis also identifies several issues that require further refinement of the cloud microphysics scheme, including the representation of weak precipitation and the temperature dependence of snowfall terminal velocity. These results highlight an added value of unprecedented measurement information from EarthCARE Doppler capability that points to a possible area of further improvement of model microphysics in GSRMs at a process level.
How to cite: Matsugishi, S., Nakamura, Y., Seiki, T., Roh, W., Suzuki, K., and Satoh, M.: Evaluation of Doppler Velocity in a GSRM Using the EarthCARE Satellite with Implications for Improving Model Cloud Microphysics, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16100, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16100, 2026.
Imaging spectrometers, such as the multispectral imager (MSI) onboard EarthCARE, are used to derive cloud properties from backscattered solar radiation. The retrievals rely on the independent column approximation and the assumption of vertically and horizontally homogeneous clouds. These 1D simplificatopns neglect the impact of cloud structure on 3D radiative transfer, leading to biases, e.g., in the derived effective radius or cloud water path of the MSI cloud produt (M-COP).
While MSI provides information on the horizontal cloud field and cloud-top structure from brightness temperatures (BTs), the active instruments of EarthCARE, the cloud profiling radar (CPR) and the atmospheric lidar (ATLID), provide vertical cloud profiles along the satellite track. In the synergy product (ACM-CAP), CPR and ATLID are combined with nadir pixels of MSI to derive best estimates of vertical atmospheric profiles, which serve as a basis for radiative transfer simulations for closure studies in the ESA EarthCARE retrieval chain. As in the single-instrument retrieval, MSI contributes to ACM-CAP under the assumption of independent columns.
In this study, cloud properties from M-COP and ACM-CAP are analyzed while accounting for cloud structure information, including cloud fraction, standard deviations, and BT gradients, which are used to identify whether a pixel is located on the sunlit or shadowy side of a cloud. By comparing sunlit and shadowy pixels, we show that 3D radiative effects introduce systematic biases in both products, with e.g., cloud water path values being higher on the sunlit side. In ACM-CAP, the magnitude of these biases depends on the relative contribution of MSI radiances to each atmospheric column and varies with cloud type and surface conditions.
Cloud properties from M-COP are compared to ACM-CAP to identify patterns of agreement and deviation, with focus on pixels for which we assume low estimated 3D bias in ACM-CAP. Radiative transfer simulations based on ACM-CAP are performed using the MYSTIC Monte Carlo solver, showing aggreement to the observations and demonstrating that the inclusion of MSI radiances in the synergy product introduces 1D/3D inconsistencies that can affect radiative closure studies.
How to cite: Walter, G., Hünerbein, A., Bley, S., and Madenach, N.: Cloud characteristics and 3D radiative effects in EarthCARE MSI and synergy retrievals, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20488, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20488, 2026.
Assuring the data quality of the ESA’s EarthCARE science products is a comprehensive collaborative effort. It is being realised by contributions from the independent EarthCARE validation team (ECVT) as well as monitoring-, calibration- and airborne campaign activities performed under ESA (co-)management or coordinated with ESA.
Airborne and other field campaigns with EarthCARE-like as well complementary in-situ have payloads have played and continue to play an essential role in stabilizing and improving the quality of the of the EarthCARE’s user products.
EarthCARE is ESA’s most complex Earth Explorer mission to date, in collaboration with JAXA. For the sake of validating the various single and multi-sensor products from the lidar, radar, imager and radiometer, the number of airborne underflights achieved during EarthCARE’s first 2 years in orbit significantly exceeds those typical for EO missions and is complemented by comparisons with a multitude of ground-based and shipborne instruments worldwide, intercomparisons with other satellites, and analysis involving numerical weather and air quality models. The success of these activities enabled the swift improvement and public release of all scientific EarthCARE products within a year after commissioning.
The presentation will provide the status of EarthCARE campaigns by giving an overview of the activities and selected key findings during its first 2 years in orbit as well as an outlook of what is planned.
How to cite: von Bismarck, J., Koopman, R., Hoffmann, A., Rusli, S., Pinol Sole, M., Davidson, M., Tzallas, V., Frommknecht, B., and Hummel, T.: EarthCARE Campaigns Status, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18995, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18995, 2026.
Advanced kilometer-scale resolution modeling offers unprecedented detail of atmospheric processes and properties, including of mineral dust. At kilometer-scale model resolutions, deep moist convective processes do not have to be parameterized any more, but can be represented explicitly at the grid resolution. These processes are very effective in transporting heat, moisture, and energy within the atmosphere and therefore have strong impacts on weather phenomena, such as wind storms. Mineral dust emission is a threshold process that depends non-linearly upon surface wind intensity, which means that the accuracy at which models represent surface winds, together with land-surface properties, is key to estimating dust emissions. A spectacular and intense type of dust storm, i.e. haboob dust storms, is caused by the cold pool outflow of moist convection. We therefore expect that the explicit representation of moist convection in kilometer-scale simulations is particularly beneficial for dust modeling. Determining whether kilometer-scale models can meet this expectation, demands in-depth evaluation against observations. This evaluation is now enabled through novel satellite missions, such as the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE). Here we present results of kilometer-scale simulations conducted with two models, ICON-ART and ICON-HAM-lite, both including an interactive dust representation. We investigate, for example, evaporative cooling and vertical velocities associated with moist convection as drivers of dust emission. We compare our results against observations from EarthCARE and ORCESTRA (Organized Convection and EarthCARE Studies over the Tropical Atlantic), and against results from other models in the framework of the EarthCARE-ORCESTRA Model Intercomparison Project (ECOMIP). Our results show fascinating detail of mineral dust processes, enabling novel insights into the mineral dust cycle, for example, a globally consistent characterization of haboob properties and impacts.
How to cite: Klose, M., Baer, A., Li, R., Chawang, N. M., Ratcliffe, N., and Vergara Palacio, S.: Evaluating dust storms modeled at kilometer-scale resolution in the ECOMIP initiative, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1565, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1565, 2026.
At the end of May 2025, extremely strong wildfires in Canada produced several pyrocumulonimbus clouds which lifted wildfire smoke particles up to the lower stratosphere (> 10 km height). A dense stratospheric smoke plume developed which reached stratospheric aerosol optical depths up to 3.2 which is comparable with a moderate volcanic eruption. EarthCARE’s lidar ATLID captured this event and enabled us to study stratospheric smoke shortly after emission and to track a single smoke plume on its transport way towards Europe.
The spaceborne lidar allowed to precisely study the maximum plume height and revealed a lofting of the smoke plume top height from 13.6 km above Canada to 17.4 km above Europe and a further slight ascent during the transport towards Asia. The self-lofting of dense smoke plumes can be explained by the absorption of solar radiation which heats the ambient air and creates buoyancy. The self-lofting is strongest for optically thick smoke plumes close to the source region and gets weaker when the plume is horizontally more spread and thus optically thinner.
ATLID detected an enhanced depolarization ratio of 0.26±0.02 which indicates non-spherical smoke particles in the stratosphere. This finding is in line with previous observations of stratospheric smoke layers, but clearly demonstrates a difference to tropospheric observations of Canadian smoke in Europe, which are characterized by a low depolarization ratio and hence a spherical shape (Haarig et al., 2018).
The novel high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL) capability of ATLID allowed us for the first time to study the evolution of the lidar ratio of a stratospheric smoke layer during long-range transport. Higher values around 70 sr were observed shortly after emission, which decreased during the first days of transport to values of 49±7 sr.
As another highlight, EarthCARE observed a significant downmixing of stratospheric smoke at a strong tropopause fold over the Mediterranean and North Africa (Haarig et al., 2025). These observations directly show a pathway of removal of the stratospheric smoke and closes the life cycle from injection to removal. Additionally, the synergistic EarthCARE observations will be used to estimate the radiative impact of this strong stratospheric smoke event.
References
Haarig, M., et al. (2018), Depolarization and lidar ratios at 355, 532, and 1064 nm and microphysical properties of aged tropospheric and stratospheric Canadian wildfire smoke. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18 (16), 11847–11861.
Haarig, M. et al. The life cycle of a stratospheric smoke plume as seen from EarthCARE - tracking a plume from Canada to Europe. ESS Open Archive. October 22, 2025.
How to cite: Baars, H., Haarig, M., König, L., Donovan, D., Ansmann, A., Khaykin, S., Ceolato, R., Cole, J., Gast, B., Floutsi, A. A., Heckmann, V. J., Hogan, R., Chantry, A., Marnas, F., Zadelhoff van, G.-J., and Wandinger, U.: EarthCARE observes the life cycle of a stratospheric smoke plume , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12433, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12433, 2026.
Riming, the growth of ice particles by accretion of supercooled liquid droplets, is a key microphysical pathway in mixed-phase clouds, strongly influencing precipitation formation and cloud radiative effects. However, its global occurrence and variability have remained poorly constrained by observations, as riming is typically inferred indirectly at the global scale, while more direct evidence has been obtained primarily from limited regions or specific field campaigns. The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE), launched in May 2024, carries the first spaceborne Doppler Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR), enabling near-global measurements of vertical motions within clouds. In this study, we exploit EarthCARE CPR Doppler observations to investigate microphysical signatures embedded in retrieved ice sedimentation velocity, with a particular focus on vertical gradients as an indicator of riming. The physical basis is that rimed ice particles often undergo rapid mass growth over short vertical distances, leading to corresponding changes in fall speed and producing localized acceleration patterns in sedimentation velocity profiles. We develop a gradient-based riming detection algorithm to derive riming probability at near-global scale and present the first maps of its spatial distribution and seasonal variability. The resulting climatology reveals where riming is most prevalent and how its occurrence shifts with season, providing observational constraints that were previously inaccessible from space. Because riming remains a major source of uncertainty in weather and climate model microphysics, these global statistics offer a new benchmark for evaluating and improving riming parameterizations in numerical models, including emerging km-scale modeling efforts.
How to cite: Kim, J., Kollias, P., Puigdomènech Treserras, B., and Battaglia, A.: Global Riming Signatures from EarthCARE CPR Doppler velocity measurements, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21727, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21727, 2026.
Stratospheric aerosols play a significant role in the Earth’s radiative balance, atmospheric chemistry and large-scale circulation. Despite their importance, vertically constrained stratospheric aerosol optical depth (AOD) fields are not routinely available for use in global climate modelling systems, which therefore continue to rely on climatological background values or total-column AOD information derived from passive remote sensing sensors. To address this limitation, we exploit observations from the EarthCARE mission to derive stratospheric AOD on a global scale following a moderate volcanic eruption and investigate the impact of the eruption induced AOD perturbation through model assimilation.
To this end, we derive the stratospheric AOD at 355 nm from measurements of the EarthCARE/ATLID high-spectral-resolution lidar (HSRL). Stratospheric aerosol layers are identified and constrained utilizing ATLID target classification products. The stratospheric AOD is calculated by vertical integration of the ATLID L2 aerosol extinction profiles and subsequently regridded to the native ICON model grid, producing monthly global fields of stratospheric AOD.
The April 2024 Ruang volcanic eruption is used as the case study to examine the temporal evolution of stratospheric aerosol loading over approximately one year. As EarthCARE was launched two months after the eruption, the early ATLID observations already capture an enhanced stratospheric aerosol load due to the presence of volcanic particles.
Independent HSRL observations at 532 nm from the DQ-1 mission launched in April 2022, are further explored as a complementary data source to bridge multi-spectral, complementary information between the two missions, and support the development of a long-term stratospheric aerosol climatology.
Finally, the impact of assimilating the EarthCARE-derived stratospheric AOD fields into the ICON forecasting system is evaluated. The experiments reveal systematic changes in radiative fluxes and coherent responses in key atmospheric variables, indicating the potential of vertically constrained stratospheric AOD observations assimilation to improve numerical model simulations.
Acknowledgements:
This work has been financially supported by the ACtIon4Cooling (Aerosol Cloud Interactions for Cooling) project, funded from the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000147715/25/I-LR, the CERTAINTY project (Grant Agreement 101137680) funded by Horizon Europe program, the EarthCARE DISC project, funded by the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000144997/24/I-NS and the AIRSENSE (Aerosol and aerosol cloud Interaction from Remote SENSing Enhancement) project, funded from the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000142902/23/I-NS.
How to cite: Karipis, A., Gialitaki, A., Luo, H., Quass, J., Karkani, D., Tsekeri, A., Argyrouli, A., Hedelt, P., and Amiridis, V.: EarthCARE Stratospheric Aerosol Optical Depth and Its Impact on ICON Forecast , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17090, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17090, 2026.
Latent heat (LH) released by precipitating cloud systems is a primary driver of vertical air motion (Vair) within clouds and plays a crucial role in transporting energy from the Earth’s surface to the atmosphere. In the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and its successor, the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, LH profiles associated with condensation and evaporation processes have been estimated using precipitation observations from spaceborne Ku-band radars. In contrast, Doppler radar measurements from the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) onboard the Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) enable global observations of vertical motions within clouds. Vair is retrieved by subtracting estimated hydrometeor fall speeds, inferred from radar reflectivity together with collocated atmospheric lidar and multispectral imager observations, from the measured Doppler velocities. With these complementary observations, we investigated how consistent the GPM-derived LH profiles are with the EarthCARE-derived Vair profiles.
We have developed the EarthCARE–GPM coincidence dataset, which compiles cases in which the ground tracks of the two satellites intersect. The dataset extracts data from coincident segments while preserving the original structure of all Level-2 standard products from the four EarthCARE sensors, namely the cloud radar, lidar, imager, and broad-band radiometer, as well as the two GPM sensors, namely the precipitation radar and microwave radiometer. Using this dataset, we directly compared Vair derived from EarthCARE Doppler measurements, including both the JAXA’s standard product and an alternative retrieval based on the method introduced in Aoki et al. (2026), with LH profiles from the GPM Spectral Latent Heating product. Analyses classified by precipitation type reveal physically consistent relationships. Convective precipitation exhibits deep tropospheric heating accompanied by upward motions throughout the column. In contrast, stratiform precipitation shows top-heavy heating above the melting layer with corresponding upper-level ascent, while both LH and Vair are close to zero in the lower troposphere. Nevertheless, substantial uncertainties remain in the estimation of each product, and continued intercomparison between these complementary observations remains important for assessing and improving the reliability of both estimates.
How to cite: Aoki, S., Kubota, T., and Shige, S.: Comparison of spaceborne retrieved vertical velocity and latent heating profiles using the EarthCARE–GPM coincidence dataset, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8723, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8723, 2026.
The EarthCARE (ECA) satellite is currently in its second year in orbit, collecting new data every
day that could play a crucial role in advancing climate science. However, due to the advanced
technologies and retrieval approaches used in EarthCARE, the credibility of each instrument and
of their synergetic products must be verified. Significant effort has been devoted to this topic
both currently and in the past. Nevertheless, a substantial amount of publicly available data
that could improve validation has not yet been used. In this study, we use the ground-based
radiation measurements from the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) to validate
1D surface solar radiation estimates from the EarthCARE ACM_RT product. Cloud effects are
analyzed separately using the cloud modification factor approach. Values from BSRN stations
are used if the station has less than 50 km distance to the satellite ground track. In addition,
an intercomparison with Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) satellite based
surface solar radiation estimations has been performed. For the comparison with CAMS,
ECA values are averaged over time to obtain collocated grid cells. Due to limited gridded data
availability of the CAMS radiation service, this comparison is restricted to September-December
2024.
The ECA surface solar irradiance exhibits a Mean Bias Error (MBE) of −10.4 Wm-2 and a
Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 191.7 Wm-2 against ground based (BSRN) measurements.
Relative to CAMS, ECA surface solar irradiance exhibits a MBE of −23.3 Wm-2 and a RMSE
of 103.3 Wm-2. While some parts of South America, Northern Africa and Western Asia tend to
have higher EarthCARE irradiance, most of the available regions show higher CAMS irradiance.
This is especially the case in Oceania, middle part of Africa and Europe. Approximately 69%
of the difference between EarthCARE and CAMS can be contributed to differences in cloud
estimation, while 31% can be contributed to differences in clear-sky irradiance.
Future data releases from BSRN and CAMS are expected to enable a more robust assessment.
This analysis offers valuable insights relevant to the solar energy community.
Acknowledgements:
The authors acknowledge the project RACE-ECV (SBFI-633.4-2021-2024/PMOD - EarthCARE 202/2), supported by SBFI, the project Observe: Optimising 3D RT Earthcare product using geostationary observations and AI, ESA Contract No. 4000147848/25/I/AG and the CERTAINTY (Cloud aERosol inTeractions & their impActs IN The earth sYstem) project funded from the Horizon Europe programme under Grant Agreement No 101137680
How to cite: Gschwind, Y., Papachristopoulou, K., and Kazadzis, S.: Validation of the EarthCARE ACM_RT product using surface solar irradiance measurements from BSRN stations and modeled values from CAMS., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3759, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3759, 2026.
The effect of clouds on radiation remains a critical source of uncertainty in climate and weather prediction models. Moreover, the 3D structure of the clouds, including horizontal heterogeneity along with cloud vertical placement, further affects the radiation fields. Herein we utilize the 3D cloud scenes provided by EarthCARE to quantify the effect of the cloud 3D structure on radiation. Monte Carlo radiative transfer (RT) simulations from the MYSTIC/libRadtran model are employed to calculate the 1D vs 3D radiation fields. Airborne observations are also utilized, acquired during the ORCESTRA/PERCUSION EarthCARE Cal/Val campaign in the tropical Atlantic.
Simulated top-of-atmosphere 1D and 3D radiances and irradiances are compared with EarthCARE Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations, along with collocated radiation observations from the Munich Aerosol Cloud Scanner (specMACS) onboard the HALO aircraft during the ORCESTRA/PERCUSION campaign. The 1D vs 3D RT simulations are performed to investigate the importance of the 3D cloud structure on the cloud radiation fields, for different types of clouds.
This analysis is part of the Obs3RvE EarthCARE+ project, which aims to develop new realistic 3D cloud scenes, combining EarthCARE and Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) observations, employing machine learning tools. These new 3D cloud scenes are expected to improve estimates of the cloud radiative effect from EarthCARE, as well as extend its suite of products to solar energy applications.
Acknowledgements:
This work has been financially supported by the Obs3RvE (Optimising 3D RT Earthcare product using geostationary observations and AI) project, funded from the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000147848/25/I/AG, the PANGEA4CalVal project (Grant Agreement 101079201) funded by the European Union , the CERTAINTY project (Grant Agreement 101137680) funded by Horizon Europe program, the EarthCARE DISC project, funded by the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000144997/24/I-NS and the AIRSENSE (Aerosol and aerosol cloud Interaction from Remote SENSing Enhancement) project, funded from the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000142902/23/I-NS. It is also based upon work from COST Action EARLICOST, CA24135, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). DK, ΑΤ and SK would like to acknowledge COST Action HARMONIA (International network for harmonization of atmospheric aerosol retrievals from ground-based photometers), CA21119, supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology).
How to cite: Kouklaki, D., Tsekeri, A., Gialitaki, A., Mayer, B., Groß, S., Wirth, M., Emde, C., Marinou, E., Kazadzis, S., and Amiridis, V.: Quantifying three-dimensional radiative transfer effects of clouds using EarthCARE observations and collocated airborne data, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16799, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16799, 2026.
The Earth Clouds, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE), launched in May 2024 as a joint ESA–JAXA mission, provides vertically resolved observations of aerosols and clouds with unprecedented sensitivity from space. In this study, we exploit measurements from the Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID), a high-spectral-resolution lidar operating at 355 nm, whose enhanced signal-to-noise ratio and capability to separate molecular and particulate backscatter enable detailed characterization of the lower troposphere (Wehr et al., 2023). These features make ATLID particularly suitable for deriving the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) at the global scale.
The PBL is the atmospheric layer most strongly influenced by surface forcing through turbulent exchanges of heat, moisture and momentum. Accurate estimates of PBLH are therefore essential for weather forecasting, climate modelling and air quality studies. Previous spaceborne lidar missions, notably CALIPSO, demonstrated the feasibility of PBLH retrievals from aerosol backscatter profiles, although with limitations related to signal attenuation, cloud contamination and retrieval robustness (McGrath-Spangler and Denning, 2012). EarthCARE’s ATLID offers enhanced capabilities to address these challenges.
We validate ATLID-derived PBLH using independent ground-based observations from the E-Profile network, comprising over 400 ceilometers across Europe, along with collocated radiosonde measurements from the University of Wyoming Upper Air Soundings database. A continental-scale reference dataset was generated by applying the STRATfinder algorithm to ceilometer aerosol backscatter profiles. Planetary boundary layer heights from radiosondes were independently estimated using several thermodynamic and dynamical approaches, including the bulk Richardson number, the parcel method, and gradient-based criteria applied to temperature and humidity profiles. Only radiosonde launches collocated with E-Profile stations were considered, ensuring spatial consistency among the reference datasets. The analysis includes 580 collocated cases, defined as EarthCARE overpasses within 20 km of a ground-based station, from which 25 correspond to radiosonde observation, covering the period from August 2024 to August 2025.
Two complementary approaches were assessed to retrieve PBLH from ATLID Level-2 BA baseline products. The first approach used the operational A-ALD product, which includes PBLH as a retrieved variable. The product showed limitations, with misidentification of cloud layers as the PBL and a lack of retrievals under favourable conditions. These results underline current shortcomings of A-ALD for PBL detection, while indicating potential for future algorithm improvements.
The second approach applied combined variance–gradient methods to attenuated backscatter profiles from the A-EBD product, supported by cloud screening using the A-FM product. This strategy allowed more robust and physically consistent PBLH estimates. The comparison with ground-based ceilometer references resulted in a standard deviation of 343 m and a mean bias of 101 m. The nearly symmetric uncertainty distribution highlights the reliability of this approach. Radiosonde-based results showed a clear dependence on the retrieval method, with the best performance obtained for gradient-based approaches, although their statistical representativeness is limited by the small number of available cases.
These findings highlight the capability of EarthCARE’s ATLID to capture the PBL from space for climatological and modeling applications. The validation also emphasizes the importance of networks such as E-Profile, which provide the necessary reference data to evaluate satellite-derived boundary layer products on a continental scale.
How to cite: Rodríguez-Navarro, O., Muñiz-Rosado, J., Haefele, A., Sauvageat, E., Díaz-Zurita, A., Naval-Hernández, V. M., Cazorla, A., Pérez-Ramírez, D., Alados-Arboledas, L., and Navas-Guzmán, F.: Validation of EarthCARE-Derived Planetary Boundary Layer Height Using the E-Profile Ceilometer Network and Radiosondes , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13319, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13319, 2026.
Overshooting tops (OTs) are key indicators of severe weather events associated with deep convection, and geostationary satellite observations play a critical role in monitoring OTs with high spatiotemporal resolution. The infrared window texture (IRW-texture) algorithm (Bedka et al., 2010) identifies OTs as localized cold spots relative to the surrounding anvil. This approach overcomes the limitations of traditional brightness temperature difference methods, which tend to overestimate anvil regions as OTs. However, the IRW-texture algorithm involves uncertainties due to its reliance on model-based tropopause information and fixed detection thresholds. To address these limitations, this study proposes a regionally adapted OT detection algorithm for East Asia by incorporating satellite-derived tropopause information from the GK-2A/AMI atmospheric profile product and optimizing key detection thresholds for the target region. The improved algorithm was validated using the Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR) onboard the EarthCARE satellite. The CPR provides enhanced sensitivity and Doppler velocity measurements compared to previous spaceborne radars, enabling precise characterization of the vertical structure of overshooting convection. Taking advantage of these capabilities, we conducted a detailed physical validation of the detected OTs. The results show that the OTs detected by the algorithm align closely with the vertical updrafts captured by the CPR, validating its reliability in identifying active overshooting convection. Although constrained by a limited number of cases, this pioneering validation using EarthCARE observations demonstrates the importance of physically consistent, region-specific adaptations. These results suggest a promising pathway for enhancing next-generation global convection monitoring capabilities.
How to cite: Kim, J., Ahn, M.-H., and Suh, M.-S.: A new OT detection approach over East Asia and its validation using EarthCARE data, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16130, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16130, 2026.
Satellite-based radiation retrievals are essential for quantifying the Earth’s radiative energy budget and for climate-related studies. The EarthCARE (EC) mission aims to improve our understanding of how aerosols and clouds modify radiative fluxes by providing collocated radiation observations and products based on a three-dimensional representation of atmospheric constituents. The evaluation of these products is therefore crucial for accurately estimating aerosol and cloud radiative effects.
In this study, we assess EC radiation products and their associated aerosol and cloud inputs by conducting radiative closure experiments using ground-based spectral radiation and aerosol measurements acquired during the RACE-ECV (Radiation Closure Experiments for EarthCARE Validation) field campaign.
The RACE-ECV campaign was coordinated by PMOD/WRC — the world reference institute for solar measurements and aerosol optical depth as designated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) — with the participation of multiple institutions. Its primary objective was the validation of EarthCARE products through high-accuracy measurements of solar radiation and aerosols. The campaign was conducted in spring 2025 (April 22–May 22) at three coordinated sites in Thessaloniki area, aligned with EC satellite overpasses. High-accuracy sun photometers were deployed in synergy with other ground-based remote-sensing instruments, comprehensive observations of aerosols, clouds, and surface solar spectral radiation.
The radiative closure at the surface was assessed through an intercomparison between measured broadband and spectral solar fluxes and radiative transfer (RT) simulations driven by both ground-based and EC atmospheric inputs. In particular, EarthCARE reconstructed three-dimensional atmospheric fields were used as input to the 3D/1D MYSTIC code (Mayer, 2009) to assess the accuracy of surface radiation products, while simultaneously quantifying the contribution of individual input parameters (focusing on aerosols) to the observed discrepancies. In addition, simulated fluxes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) were intercompared with EC Broadband Radiometer (BBR) observations.
This study provides insights into the use of EarthCARE observations for improving our understanding of the role of aerosols and clouds in modifying the Earth’s radiative energy fluxes.
References:
Emde, C., et al.: The libRadtran software package for radiative transfer calculations (version 2.0.1), Geosci. Model Dev., 9, 1647–1672, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-9-1647-2016, 2016
Mayer, B. (2009) Radiative transfer in the cloudy atmosphere, in: EPJ Web of Conferences, 75–99.
Mayer B. and Kylling A., Technical note: The libRadtran software package for radiative transfer calculations - description and examples of use. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5: 1855-1877, 2005
Acknowledgements:
The authors acknowledge the project RACE-ECV, (SBFI-633.4-2021-2024/PMOD - EarthCARE 202/2) supported by SBFI, the the Horizon Europe European Research Council (grant no. 101137680, Cloud–aERosol inTeractions & their impActs IN The earth sYstem, CERTAINTY) and the Obs3RvE (Optimising 3D RT EarthCARE product using geostationary observations and AI) project, funded from the European Space Agency under Contract No. 4000147848/25/I/AG.
How to cite: Kazadzis, S. and the RACE ECV Thessaloniki Campaign Team: Assessing aerosol impacts on EarthCARE radiative closure using spectral radiation observations, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-1791, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-1791, 2026.
How to cite: Feofilov, A., Slimani, K., Chepfer, H., and Noël, V.: Building a long-term cloud record from spaceborne lidars: merging CALIOP with ATLID, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20361, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20361, 2026.
Posters virtual: Tue, 5 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot 5
EGU26-21851 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS3
Cloud typing and microphysics: An EarthCARE-Cloudnet ComparisonTue, 05 May, 14:21–14:24 (CEST) vPoster spot 5
This work evaluates EarthCARE cloud products against ground-based Cloudnet retrievals at multiple sites in Europe. We focus on the comparison between the EarthCARE synergetic target classification product (AC-TC), with the Cloudnet target classification product, both derived from the synergy of lidar/radar measurements. As the two classifications have different aerosol/cloud types, a new common classification with the following classes is defined and used for direct comparison: Unknown, Clear, Liquid (Droplets T>0°C), Supercooled Liquid (Droplets T<0°C), Drizzle or rain, Drizzle & droplets, Ice, Ice & droplets, Melting ice possibly coexisting with droplets, Insects, Aerosol. Each AC-TC or Cloudnet target is assigned with a new class. Spatiotemporal collocation criteria are considered, along with visual inspection of the collocated scenes, to limit the dataset in homogenous scenes where the satellite and suborbital platform has detected similar clouds. Additionally, retrieved ice and liquid water cloud contents from Cloudnet and EarthCARE are compared to evaluate cloud microphysical properties. Τhe geographical diversity of the Cloudnet network, provides the advantage of investigating different atmospheric conditions in terms of clouds and aerosols, with abundant ice cloud occurrences in the northern sites and frequent liquid water clouds at the southern sites. This analysis aims to assess the consistency of cloud categorization and microphysical retrievals between the satellite and suborbital measurements, and to investigate the strengths and limitations of both approaches.
How to cite: Tsikoudi, I., Marinou, E., Pfeitzenmaier, L., Mashon, S., O'Connor, E., Karkani, D., Karipis, A., Voudouri, K. A., Kollias, P., Treserras, B. P., and Battaglia, A.: Cloud typing and microphysics: An EarthCARE-Cloudnet Comparison, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21851, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21851, 2026.
