Colten Peterson's (613/UMBC) proposal “Enhancing PREFIRE Cloud Products and Science with Cloud Phase Determination and Liquid Cloud Property Retrievals” recently was selected for funding from the ROSES A.2 Earth Venture: TROPICS and PREFIRE Science and Applications Teams. Dr. Peterson is the PI and Kerry Meyer (613/GSFC) is Co-I; this three-year grant will run from July 2026 to June 2029.
Initially launched in 2024, the Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-Infrared Experiment (PREFIRE) mission “collects data on how much heat the Arctic and Antarctica environments emit to space and how this influences global climate. … Since clouds and water vapor can trap far-infrared radiation near Earth’s surface, they can increase global temperatures as part of … the greenhouse effect.”
For their research, Drs. Peterson and Meyer will develop several new cloud products for the PREFIRE mission and validate them against Program of Record (PoR) cloud products from EarthCARE, MODIS, and VIIRS. Their main focus is “to produce an algorithm that uses PREFIRE measurements in the far-infrared (FIR) and mid-infrared (MIR) to determine whether a cloud is liquid- or ice-dominated (i.e., the cloud phase). At present, the PREFIRE cloud products do not include cloud phase, [which] is critical for determining cloud optical properties and cloud radiative effects in the polar regions. ... The proposed cloud products will enhance the scientific return of the current PREFIRE cloud products." They also will "develop a liquid cloud optical thickness retrieval for PREFIRE, which is important for assessing cloud radiative impacts in the polar regions," and conduct thorough evaluations of cloud products to characterize limitations and uncertainties.