ENTICE: Earth’s NexT generation ICE mission

Abstract:

The Earth’s NexT generation ICE mission (ENTICE) is a proposed mission that will provide the first-ever global measurements of ice cloud particle size and density profiles, together with atmospheric temperature and humidity. These measurements are critically required to reduce climate prediction uncertainties. We will present simulations of ENTICE orbital sampling options, radiance measurements, and simultaneous retrieval of cloud ice particle effective diameter, ice water content, water vapor, and temperature profiles. We will include two options in the simulations: one with a combination of a 94-GHz cloud radar and multi-frequency (118, 183, 240, 310, 380, 664, and 850 GHz) millimeter- and submillimeter-wave radiometers from a SmallSat platform; another radiometers only SmallSat with different orbital scenarios and scanning options. The retrieval capabilities and uncertainties for each option are quantified. We show that our approach shall address a gap in the current state-of-the-art remote sensing measurements of ice cloud properties, especially deriving vertical profiles of ice cloud particle sizes in the atmosphere together with the ambient thermodynamic conditions. Therefore, this new approach can serve as a plausible candidate for future missions that target cloud and precipitation processes to improve weather forecasts and climate predictions.