Dr. Gang Hong

Research Interests

My research interests are tropical meteorology, atmospheric radiation and remote sensing, and cloud climatology.

• Detection of Tropical Deep Convective Clouds and Its Application to Cloud Climatology

Tropical deep convective clouds play a major role in the Earth's climate by transporting heat, moisture, and momentum from the lower to the upper troposphere. Those penetrating into the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) also contribute to the exchange of air between the troposphere and the stratosphere. My research in this area focuses on deriving properties of tropical deep convective clouds using passive microwave measurements acquired by the AMSU-B aboard NOAA satellites and measurements from the PR and VIRS aboard TRMM satellite. I have developed an algorithm to detect tropical deep convective clouds using the three water vapor channels around 183.3 GHz from the AMSU-B. This algorithm has been used to survey interannual to diurnal variations of tropical deep convective clouds and convective overshooting using the AMSU-B aboard the NOAA polar orbiting satellites from 1999 to 2005.

• Atmospheric Remote Sensing and Radiation

This research focuses on retrieving ice cloud and aerosol properties from the MODIS and AIRS measurements as well as other satellites included in the NASA A-Train satellite constellation. Parameterizations for shortwave and longwave radiative properties of ice clouds have been developed for several existing schemes using ice cloud microphysical properties obtained from field campaigns and broadband-averaged single-scattering properties of nonspherical ice particles. The redeveloped parameterizations have been used to investigate the cloud radiative from the MODIS and AIRS measurements.

• Scattering Properties of Nonspherical Ice Particles at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths (Database is Available and Specific Requirements are Welcome )

The single-scattering properties (extinction efficiency, absorption efficiency, single-scattering  albedo, asymmetry factor, and scattering phase function matrix) of ice particles are fundamental to the radiative transfer in ice clouds, which thereby are the basis for estimating the optical and microphysical properties of ice clouds. My research focus in this area is investigating the scattering properties of nonspherical ice particles with various habits for millimeter and submillimeter-wave frequencies (up to 1000 GHz). A database of single-scattering properties and bulk scattering properties averaged over a set of over 1100 particle size distributions measured from field campagins has been developed.

Selected Publications

• Hong, G., P. Yang, P. Minnis, Y.-X. Hu, and G. North, 2008: Do contrails significantly reduce daily temperature range? submitted to Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L23815, doi:10.1029/2008GL036108. (Contrail Story Published on Nature News)
• Hong, G., G. Heygster, J. Notholt, and S. A. Buehler, 2008: Interannual to diurnal variations in tropical and subtropical deep convective clouds and convective overshooting from seven years of AMSU-B measurements, J. Climate, 21, 4168-4189.
• Hong, G., P. Yang, B. A. Baum, and A. J. Heymsfield, 2008: Relationship between ice water content and equivalent radar reflectivity for clouds consisting of nonspherical ice particles, J. Geophys. Res.,113, D20205, doi:10.1029/2008JD009890.
• Hong, G., P. Yang, B.-C. Gao, B. A. Baum, Y. X. Hu, M. D. King, and S. Platnick, 2007: High cloud properties from three years of MODIS Terra and Aqua data over the Tropics, J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 46, 1840-1856.
• Hong, G., P. Yang, F. Weng, and Q. Liu, 2008: Microwave scattering properties of sand particles: Application to the simulation of microwave radiances over sandstorms, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 109, 684-702.
• Hong, G., and G. Heygster, 2007: Intense tropical thunderstorms detected by the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing, 46, 996-1005.
• Hong, G., 2007: Radar backscattering properties of nonsperhical ice crystals at 94 GHz, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D22203, doi: 10.1029/2007JD008839.
• Hong, G., 2007: Parameterization of scattering and absorption properties of nonspherical ice crystals at microwave frequencies, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D11208, 10.1029/2006JD008364.
• Hong, G., P. Yang, H.-L. Huang, S. A. Ackerman, and I. N. Sokolik, 2006: Simulation of high-spectral-resolution infrared signature of overlapping cirrus clouds and mineral dust, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L04805, doi:10.1029/2005GL024381.
• Hong, G., G. Heygster, and C. A. M. Rodriguez, 2006: Effect of cirrus clouds on the diurnal cycle of tropical deep convective clouds, J. Geophy. Res., 111, D6209, doi:10.1029/2005JD006208.
• Hong, G., G. Heygster, J. Miao, and K. Kunzi, 2005: Detection of tropical deep convective clouds from AMSU-B water vapor channels measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D05205, doi:10.1029/2004JD004949.
• Full list of publications