Comparing actively remote sensed lidar cloud properties with passive AIRS and MODIS retrievals.

This paper investigates the cloud height and optical depth sensitivity differences between active lidar and passive infrared measurements (MODIS and AIRS). A new technique is presented that utilizes the vertically resolved lidar cloud extinction profile to estimate the vertical weighting of cloud emission contributing to the passive retrieval. This lidar-derived cloud weighting function is used to investigate the uncertainties in the passive retrievals resulting from geometrically thick but optically thin cirrus.