A new way to measure cirrus cloud ice water content by using ice Raman scatter with Raman lidar

To improve our understanding of cirrus cloud radiative impact on the current and future climate, we need improved knowledge of cirrus cloud microphysical properties. However, longterm studies of cirrus clouds have indicated that it is a challenging task to get them accurately by both remote sensing and in situ sampling. This study presents a new method to remotely sense cirrus microphysical properties by using ice Raman scatter with a Raman lidar. We give two case studies, which show that this method has potential to provide essential information to study cirrus microphysical properties and associated cloud physical processes.