Reply to comments on "Effective radius of ice cloud particle populations derived from aircraft probes" by Heymsfield et al, 2006

Gerber (2007, hereafter Ge07) and Garrett (2007,hereafter Ga07) have written comments in reference to Heymsfield et al. (2006, hereafter H06). Dr. Gerber is the developer of the cloud-integrating nelphelometer (CIN) probe that, with assumptions, directly measures volume extinction coefficient in visible wavelengths the asymmetry parameter (Gerber et al. 2000). Professor Garrett, using data, wrote a seminal paperon the relationship of ice cloud effective radius to air temperature (Garrett et al. 2003). In their 2006 paper,that the ice cloud volume extinction coefficient visible wavelengths, δ, measured by the CIN probe may be overestimated by a factor of ∼2. The measurements supporting this were taken from CIN probes and particle probes on two aircraft in the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers-coauthor and asking whether they had scientific arguments disagreeing with the interpretations presented. Gerber’s response was forwarded within days and is noted in H06’s acknowledgments. Garrett also provided comments. The comments in Ge07 are addressed in section 2a and those of Ga07 in section 2b. Conclusions are summarized in section 3.