Other Names

Cloud Liquid Water Path, Cloud Ice Path

Definition

It is the cloumn amount of liquid water in the cloud
Cloud Liquid Water is usually expressed either in g/m² or mg/cm². It varies greatly from cloud to cloud and also depends on the cloud particle phase(water,ice,liquid, mixed). Cloud Liquid Water plays an important role in the transport of energy (latent heat) in the earth-atmosphere system.

Applications

(1) Global energy budget	(3) Greenhouse effect
(2) Climate change	(4) Global warming

Other sources for data

1. SSM/I Data Sets 2. AMSR Data at NSIDC