Formation and distribution of cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) play a key role in our climate system in two ways. First, they cause…

This is a firm fixed price purchase order awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Langley Research Center to Science & Technology Corporation (STC), a minority-owned small business. The $191,420.00 contract is for the formation and distribution of cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer, which play a key role in the climate system. The work will involve evaluating cloud extinction and ice water content data from the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) satellite and developing a specialized data product optimized for the upper tropical troposphere. This data will be used to study the relationships between ice cloud properties and formation mechanisms. The contract does not have a set-aside designation.

STC is a versatile contractor that provides advanced scientific, engineering, and technical services to federal agencies including NASA, the Department of Defense, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The company has experience in areas such as atmospheric sciences, aerospace engineering, and hardware fabrication, which aligns with the technical objectives of this contract. Additionally, STC holds several significant indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicles that allow it to provide a wide range of services to federal customers.

Formation and distribution of cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer cirrus clouds in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) play a key role in our climate system in two ways. First, they cause net warming, and so directly regulate the top-of-atmosphere energy balance. Second, cirrus clouds in the TTL regulate stratospheric water vapor, which influences climate and stratospheric chemical processes. Despite the importance of TTL CI to the climate system, there are many important unanswered questions about the processes controlling CI formation, distribution, and the impact of CI on the upper tropospheric lower stratospheric water and energy budgets. We will evaluate the calipso version 4 level 2 standard CI cloud extinction and ICE water content products in the TTL region, and will develop a new specialized level 2 prototype TTL cirrus data product (S-TTL) to create a TTL CI climatology. We will compare caliop S-TTL cirrus cloud properties with complementary OMS-LP, modis 1.38M, MLS and airs CI data, to establish the representativeness of the lidar data. With enhanced confidence in the lidar data set, we will use a trajectory/cloud model to evaluate cirrus cloud distribution and formation processes, and to verify the accuracy of TTL cirrus properties as represented in a global chemistry-climate model. Our proposal addresses these goals of the calipso science team roses solicitation 1THE development and characterization of a caliop TTL cirrus extinction and cloud ICE water content data set and climatology that is optimized for the upper tropical troposphere. We will call this specialized data set S TTL.2 we will use the three-dimensional S-TTL cloud climatology built from caliop in conjunction with modis 1.38, airs, MLS and omps-LP cirrus cloud data, to infer spatial correlations between ICE cloud microphysical and optical properties, and ICE particle formation mechanisms.3 by studying the relationship between the vertical information contained in the caliop and omps-LP data, and the mapping capability of modis 1.38 and airs, we will be able to better characterize the information content of each type of sensor for data assimilation.