Scientific Achievements

1. Contributed to identification of composition and provided physical characterization of the nature of Venus clouds, including explanation of weak indications of water vapor; later characterized Jupiter clouds with post-doc B. Carlson.

Rossow, W.B., and C. Sagan, 1975: Microwave boundary conditions on the atmosphere and clouds of Venus. J. Atmos. Sci., 32, 1164-1176, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1975)032<1164:mbcota>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., 1978: Cloud microphysics: Analysis of the clouds of Earth, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Icarus, 36, 1-50, doi:10.1016/0019-1035(78)90072-6.

Carlson, B.E., W.B. Rossow and G.S. Orton, 1988: Cloud microphysics of the giant planets. J. Atmos. Sci., 45, 2066-2081, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1988)045<2066:cmotgp>2.0.co;2.

2. Developed theory of the difference in organization of atmospheric general circulations between slowly and rapidly rotating planets; separated mean flow from wave propagation speeds in observations of Venus upper atmosphere cloud motions.

Rossow, W.B., and G.P. Williams, 1979: Large-scale motion in the Venus stratosphere. J. Atmos. Sci., 36, 377-389, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1979)036<0377:lsmitv>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., 1985: Atmospheric circulation of Venus. Issues in Atmospheric and Oceanic Modeling, Part A. Climate Dynamics, Advances in Geophysics, 28A, 347-37, doi:10.1016/s0065-2687(08)60230-7.

Rossow, W.B., A.D. Del Genio and T.P. Eichler, 1990: Cloud-tracked winds from Pioneer Venus OCPP images. J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 2053-2084, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1990)047<2052:ctwfvo>2.0.co;2.

3. Demonstrated feasibility of using satellite-based retrievals of cloud, atmosphere and surface properties to determine global distributions of top-of-atmosphere and surface radiative fluxes.

Rossow, W.B., and A.A. Lacis, 1990: Global, seasonal cloud variations from satellite radiance measurements. Part II: Cloud properties and radiative effects. J. Climate, 3, 1204-1253, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1990)003<1204:gscvfs>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., and Y-C. Zhang, 1995: Calculation of surface and top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes from physical quantities based on ISCCP datasets, Part II: Validation and first results. J. Geophys. Res., 100, D1, 1167-1197, doi:10.1029/94jd02746.

4. Developed first absolute visible and infrared calibration standard for whole international constellation of weather satellite imaging radiometers with later refinements.

Brest, C.L., and W.B. Rossow, 1992: Radiometric calibration and monitoring of NOAA AVHRR data for ISCCP. Int. J. Remote Sensing, 13, 235-273, doi:10.1080/01431169208904037.

Desormeaux, Y., W.B. Rossow, C.L. Brest and G.G. Campbell, 1993: Normalization and calibration of geostationary satellite radiances for ISCCP. J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., 10, 304-325, doi:10.1175/1520-0426(1993)010<0304:nacogs>2.0.co;2.

Brest, C.L., W.B. Rossow and M.D. Roiter, 1997: Update of radiance calibrations for ISCCP. J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., 14, 1091-1109, doi:10.1175/1520-0426(1997)014<1091:uorcfi>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., and J. Ferrier, 2015: Evaluation of long-term calibrations of the AVHRR visible radiances. J. Atmos. Ocean Tech., 32, 744-766, doi:10.1175/jtech-d-14-00134.1.

5. Led development of and produced global cloud products for ISCCP.

Rossow, W.B., and R.A. Schiffer, 1991: ISCCP cloud data products. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72, 2-20, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1991)072<0002:icdp>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., and L.C. Garder, 1993a: Cloud detection using satellite measurements of infrared and visible radiances for ISCCP. J. Climate, 6, 2341-2369, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<2341:cdusmo>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., A.W. Walker and L.C. Garder, 1993: Comparison of ISCCP and other cloud amounts. J. Climate, 6, 2394-2418, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<2394:coiaoc>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., and R.A. Schiffer, 1999: Advances in understanding clouds from ISCCP. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc.,80, 2261-2287, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1999)080<2261:aiucfi>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., K.R. Knapp and A.H. Young, 2022: International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project: Extending the record. J Climate, 35. 141-158, doi:10.1175/jcli-d-21-0157.1.

6. First global survey of cloud-top effective particle size for liquid water clouds with student Q-Y. Han.

Han, Q-Y., W.B. Rossow and A.A. Lacis, 1994: Near-global survey of effective cloud droplet radii in liquid water clouds using ISCCP data. J. Climate, 7, 465-497, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1994)007<0465:ngsoed>2.0.co;2.

7. Led development of global determinations of top-of-atmosphere and surface radiative fluxes that resolved diurnal, seasonal and interannual variations, including first global estimation of atmospheric radiative flux profiles.

Zhang, Y-C., W.B. Rossow and A.A. Lacis, 1995: Calculation of surface and top-of-atmosphere radiative fluxes from physical quantities based on ISCCP datasets, Part I: Method and sensitivity to input data uncertainties. J. Geophys. Res., 100, D1, 1149-1165, doi:10.1029/94jd02747.

Zhang, Y-C., W.B. Rossow, A.A. Lacis, M.I. Mishchenko and V. Oinas, 2004: Calculation of radiative fluxes from the surface to top-of-atmosphere based on ISCCP and other global datasets: Refinements of the radiative transfer model and the input data. J. Geophys. Res., 109, doi 10.1029/2003jd004457 (1-27 + 1-25).

8. First quantitative assessment of the relative proportion of liquid and ice clouds with student B. Lin.

Lin, B., and W.B. Rossow, 1996: Seasonal variation of liquid and ice water path in nonprecipitating clouds over oceans. J. Climate, 9, 2890-2902, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1996)009<2890:svolai>2.0.co;2

9. Demonstrated capability to accurately determine atmosphere and ocean energy transports from boundary fluxes; showed that the pattern of transport perturbations is not the same for all ENSO events.

Zhang, Y-C., and W.B. Rossow, 1997: Estimating meridional energy transports by the atmospheric and oceanic general circulations using boundary flux data. J. Climate., 10, 2358-2373, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1997)010<2358:emetbt>2.0.co;2.

Zhang, Y-C., W.B. Rossow, P. Stackhouse, A. Romanou and B.A. Wielicki, 2007: Decadal variations of global energy and ocean heat budget and meridional energy transports inferred from recent global data sets. J. Geophys. Res., 112, D22101, doi 10.1029/2007jd008435, (1-8).

10. First global determination of cloud layer distributions with student J. Wang and development of a general statistical model of cloud vertical structure by cloud type.

Wang, J., and W.B. Rossow, 1995: Determination of cloud vertical structure from upper air observations. J. Appl. Meteor., 34, 2243-2258, doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1995)034<2243:docvsf>2.0.co;2.

Wang, J., W.B. Rossow and Y-C. Zhang, 2000: Cloud vertical structure and its variations from a 20-year global rawinsonde dataset. J. Climate, 13, 3041-3056, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<3041:cvsaiv>2.0.co;2.

Rossow, W.B., Y-C. Zhang and J-H. Wang, 2005: A statistical model of cloud vertical structure based on reconciling cloud layer amounts inferred from satellites and radiosonde humidity profiles. J. Climate, 18, 3587-3605, doi:10.1175/jcli3479.1.

Rossow, W.B. and Y-C. Zhang, 2010: Evaluation of a statistical model of cloud vertical structure using combined CloudSat and CALIPSO cloud layer profiles. J. Climate, 23, 6641-6653, doi:10.1175/2010jcli3734.1.

11. Quantified the relationship, globally at mesoscale, of area-mean cloud optical thickness and cloud water path in the presence of smaller-scale cloud variability.

Rossow, W.B., C. Delo and B. Cairns, 2002: Implications of the observed mesoscale variations of clouds for Earth’s radiation budget. J. Climate, 15, 557-585, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<0557:iotomv>2.0.co;2.

12. Demonstrated alternate and correct mathematical analysis of feedback relationships with post-doc F. Aires.

Aires, F., and W.B. Rossow, 2003: Inferring instantaneous, multi-variate and non-linear sensitivities for the analysis of feedback processes in a dynamical system: The Lorenz model case study. Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 129, 239-275, doi:10.1256/qj.01.174.

13. Established an alternative analysis of clouds in terms of weather conditions that are identified by characteristic joint distributions of cloud properties instead of separate cloud types.

Rossow, W.B., G. Tselioudis, A. Polak and C. Jakob, 2005: Tropical climate described as a distribution of weather states indicated by distinct mesoscale cloud property mixtures. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, doi 10.1029/2005gl024584, (1-4).

Tselioudis, G., W.B. Rossow, Y-C. Zhang and D. Konsta, 2013: Global weather states and their properties from passive and active satellite cloud retrievals. J. Climate, 26, 7734-7746, doi:10.1175/jcli-d-13-00024.1.

Tselioudis, G., W. B. Rossow, C. Jakob, J. Remillard, D. Tropf, and Y-C. Zhang, 2021: Evaluation of clouds, radiation, and precipitation in CMIP6 models using global Weather States derived from ISCCP-H cloud property data. J. Climate, 34, 7311-7324, doi:10.1175/jcli-d-21-0076.1.

14. Demonstrated close association of tropical convection that penetrates into the stratosphere with the largest sized storms.

Rossow, W.B., and C. Pearl, 2007: 22-year survey of tropical convection penetrating into the lower stratosphere. Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L04803, doi: 10.1029/2006gl028635, (1-4).

15. Identified a characteristic switching of deep convection from ordinary plume-convection to mesoscale-organized systems over the lifecycle of a Madden-Julian perturbation and at the initiation of the African Easterly Waves that are precursors to Atlantic hurricanes with post-docs E. Tromeur and A. Mekonnen.

Tromeur, E., and W.B. Rossow, 2010: Interaction of tropical deep convection with the large-scale circulation in the Madden-Julian oscillation. J. Climate, 23, 1837-1853, doi:10.1175/202009jcli3240.1.

Mekonnen, A., and W.B. Rossow, 2011: The interaction between deep convection and easterly waves tropical North Africa: A weather state perspective. J. Climate, 24, 4276-4294, doi:10.1175/2011jcli3900.1.

Mekonnen, A., and W.B. Rossow, 2018: The interaction between cloud regimes and easterly wave activity over Africa: Convective transitions and mechanisms. Mon. Wea. Rev., 146. 1945-1961, doi:10.1175/mwr-d-17-0217.1.

16. Confirmed earlier, more limited observations, that the preponderance of tropical precipitation is produced by mesoscale-organized deep convective systems which are actually relative rare.

Rossow, W.B., A. Mekonnen, C. Pearl and W. Goncalves, 2013: Tropical precipitation extremes. J. Climate, 26, 1457-1466, doi: 10.1175/jcli-d-11-00725.1.

17. Determined for the first time the generation of available potential energy directly from observational estimates of atmospheric diabatic heating with student J. Romanski.

Romanski, J., and W.B. Rossow, 2013: Contributions of individual atmospheric diabatic heating processes to the generation of available potential energy. J. Climate, 26, 4244-4263, doi:10.1175/jcli-d-12-00457.1.

18. Quantified the role of different specific weather conditions in determining the atmospheric energy budget in each climate zone.

Rossow, W.B., Y-C. Zhang and G. Tselioudis, 2016: Atmospheric diabatic heating in different weather states and the general circulation. J. Climate, 29, 1059-1065, doi:10.1175/jcli-d-15-0760.1.