Exploring the Cloud Top Phase Partitioning in Different Cloud Types Using Active and Passive Satellite Sensors

One of the largest uncertainties in numerical weather prediction and climate models is the representation of mixed-phase clouds. With the aim of understanding how the supercooled liquid fraction (SLF)
in clouds with temperature from -40$^\circ$C to 0$^\circ$C is related to temperature, geographical
location, and cloud type, our analysis contains a comparison of four satellite-based datasets (one derived from active and three from passive satellite
sensors), and focuses on SLF distribution near-globally, but also stratified by latitude and continental/maritime
regions. Despite the warm bias in cloud top temperature of the passive sensor compared to the active sensor and the phase mismatch in collocated data, all datasets indicate, at the same height-level, an increase of SLF with cloud optical thickness, and generally larger SLF in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere
(up to about 20\% difference), with the exception of continental low-level clouds, for which the opposite is true.