DIBS: A special kind of Cirrus clouds formed by dust
Competency Framework
WMO Satellite Skills
Application
Description
A conceptual model on DIBS: A special kind of Cirrus clouds formed by dust
Content
The strongest influence of DIBS, and especially of dusty cirrus, on surface weather is mainly the reduced solar radiation reaching the ground as dust particles act as condensation nuclei and form clouds where otherwise no clouds would have been present. As current numerical weather prediction models do not accurately account for microphysical cloud formation processes caused by the additional dust at higher atmospheric levels, predicted maximum temperatures often have a considerable bias towards higher values.