CALIPSO-inferred aerosol direct radiative effects: Bias estimates using ground-based Raman lidars

Observational constraints on the change in the radiative energy budget caused by the presence of aerosols, i.e., the aerosol direct radiative effect (DRE), have recently been made using observations from the Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite (CALIPSO). CALIPSO observations have the potential to provide improved global estimates of aerosol DRE compared to passive sensor‐derived estimates due to CALIPSO's ability to perform vertically resolved aerosol retrievals over all surface types and over cloud. In this study, uncertainties in CALIPSO‐inferred aerosol DRE are estimated using multiple years of observations from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program's Raman lidars at midlatitude and tropical sites. We find that CALIPSO is unable to detect all radiatively significant aerosol, resulting in an underestimate in the magnitude of the aerosol DRE by 30–50% at the two ARM sites. The undetected aerosol is likely the consequence of random noise in CALIPSO measurements and therefore will affect global observations as well. This suggests that the global aerosol DRE inferred from CALIPSO observations are likely too weak. Also examined is the impact of the ratio of extinction‐to‐backscatter (i.e., the lidar ratio) whose value CALIPSO retrievals must assume to obtain the aerosol extinction profile. It is shown that if CALIPSO can reproduce the climatological value of the lidar ratio at a given location, then the aerosol DRE there can be accurately calculated (within about 3%). Key Points CALIPSO is unable to detect all radiatively significant aerosol Undetected aerosol causes CALIPSO‐inferred aerosol DRE to be underestimated by 30–50% The aerosol DRE can be accurately calculated if the climatological lidar ratio is known