Cloud particle vertical velocity

Less than a month after it was launched, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite returned the first image from one of its instruments – an image that, for the first time from space, unveils the internal structure and dynamics of clouds. The image here shows the vertically-resolved velocity of the cloud particles measured with the Doppler velocity capability of the EarthCARE cloud profiling radar, between points A and B shown in an image captured from geostationary orbit. The dashed line indicates the altitude of the 0°C temperature level taken from a weather prediction model. The top layer of the cloud above the 0°C line includes ice crystals and snow, with little vertical velocity. Below this line, ice and snow from the upper layer melt, forming water droplets falling as rain which has a much higher fall speed.

Read full story: A first: inner secrets of clouds revealed from space