Macrophysical and optical properties of clouds over East Asia measured by CALIPSO

Abstract The macrophysical and optical properties of clouds over East Asia (18°N–54°N, 73°E–145°E) from 1 March 2007 to 28 February 2015 are investigated using Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization data. Data analysis determines the macrophysical properties, such as cloud fraction, cloud vertical structure, cloud top height (CTH), cloud base height, and cloud geometrical depth (CGD), as well as the optical properties of clouds. Statistical analysis shows that the annual cloud fractions of single‐layer (SL), multilayer (ML), and total clouds over East Asia are 41.4 ± 0.7%, 25.1 ± 0.9%, and 66.5 ± 1.6%, respectively, with a slight interannual variation. The maximum annual cloud fraction that appeared over the Sichuan Basin is mainly attributed to unique occlusive topographic features. Moreover, the annual vertical distribution of cloud occurrence frequency over East Asia presents a multipeak structure. Furthermore, at a height below 2 km, cloud frequency distribution exhibits a large peak over the south, north, northeast, eastern sea, and East Asia, a small peak over the northwest, and the smallest peak over Tibet, which is mainly ascribed to terrain topographies. For the average uppermost CTH and cloud fraction, the same seasonal characteristic is demonstrated; that is, CTH and cloud fraction are highest in summer and lowest in winter, except in the northwest. This seasonal characteristic mainly results from the East Asian summer monsoon circulation. Overall, the annual cloud optical depths (CODs) of SL, ML, and total cloud over East Asia are 0.98 ± 0.02, 0.83 ± 0.09, and 1.81 ± 0.12, respectively. Moreover, the COD of each layer is mainly below 0.5 (52.3%), and the second peak of probability (10.4%) exists from 2.5 to 3.0. The two crests of probability are caused by clouds of different types. Overall, the annual cloud layer over East Asia mainly consists of cirrus (44.4%), which indicates that cirrus clouds play a leading role. Most geometrically thick clouds (CGD > 2 km) are cirrus and deep convective clouds. In general, annual CGD decreases with the increase in the number of ML cloud system layers, and CGD increases with the increase in altitude, whereas the COD of each layer exhibits a reverse trend.