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At least 73 records · Page 4

A Superposition Technique for Deriving Photon Scattering Statistics in Plane-Parallel Cloudy Atmospheres

Photon transport in a multiple scattering medium is critically dependent on scattering statistics, in particular the average number of scatterings. A superposition technique is derived to accurately determine the average number of scatterings encountered by reflected and transmitted photons within arbitrary layers in plane-parallel, vertically inhomogeneous clouds. As expected, the resulting scattering number profiles are highly dependent on cloud particle absorption and solar/viewing geometry. The technique uses efficient adding and doubling radiative transfer procedures, avoiding traditional time-intensive Monte Carlo methods. Derived superposition formulae are applied to a variety of geometries and cloud models, and selected results are compared with Monte Carlo calculations. Cloud remote sensing techniques that use solar reflectance or transmittance measurements generally assume a homogeneous plane-parallel cloud structure. The scales over which this assumption is relevant, in both the vertical and horizontal, can be obtained from the superposition calculations. Though the emphasis is on photon transport in clouds, the derived technique is applicable to any scattering plane-parallel radiative transfer problem, including arbitrary combinations of cloud, aerosol, and gas layers in the atmosphere.

Platnick, S.↗

Absorption of Solar Radiation by Clouds: An Overview

This talk provides an overview of the subject of absorption of solar radiation by clouds in the earth's atmosphere. The paper summarizes the available evidence which points to disagreements between theoretical and observed values of cloud absorption (and reflections). The importance of these discrepancies, particularly to remote sensing of clouds as well as to studies of cloud physics and earth radiation budgets, is emphasized. Existing cloud absorption and reflection measurements are reviewed and the persistent differences that exist between calculated and measured near-infrared cloud albedos are highlighted. Various explanations for these reflection and absorption discrepancies are discussed under two separate paths: a theoretician's approach and an experimentalist's approach. Examples for the former approach include model accuracy tests, large-droplet hypothesis, excess absorbing aerosol, enhanced water vapor continuum absorption, and effects of cloud inhomogeneity. The latter approach focuses on discussions of instrumental device, calibration, operational strategy, and signal/noise separation. A recommendation for future activities on this subject will be given.

Tsay, Si-Chee↗

Absorption of Solar Radiation by Clouds: A Second Look at Irradiance Measurements

A decade ago, Stephens and Tsay provided an overview of the subject of absorption of solar radiation by clouds in the earth's atmosphere. They summarized the available evidence that pointed to disagreements between theoretical and observed values of cloud absorption (and reflection). At that time, a theoretician's approach (assuming perfect flux measurements) was adopted to test the model uncertainty under various hypotheses, such as the omitted large drops, excess absorbing aerosols, enhanced water vapor continuum absorption, and cloud inhomogeneity. Since then, several advances in theoretical work have been made, but a satisfactory answer for the discrepancy is still lacking. Now, we offer an experimentalist's approach (focusing on field, not laboratory) to examine the observational uncertainty under numerous field factors, such as the temperature dependence, attitude control, and sampling strategy in the spatial and spectral domain. Examples from recent field campaigns have pointed out that these sources of error may be responsible for the unacceptable level of uncertainty (e.g., as large as 20 W/square m). We give examples of each, discuss their contribution to overall uncertainty in shortwave absorption, and suggest a coordinated approach to their solution.

Tsay, Si-Chee↗

Independent Pixel and Two Dimensional Estimates of LANDSAT-Derived Cloud Field Albedo

A theoretical study has been conducted on the effects of cloud horizontal inhomogeneity on cloud albedo bias. A two-dimensional (2D) version of the Spherical Harmonic Discrete Ordinate Method (SHDOM) is used to estimate the albedo bias of the plane parallel (PP-IPA) and independent pixel (IPA-2D) approximations for a wide range of 2D cloud fields obtained from LANDSAT. They include single layer trade cumulus, open and closed cell broken stratocumulus, and solid stratocumulus boundary layer cloud fields over ocean. Findings are presented on a variety of averaging scales and are summarized as a function of cloud fraction, mean cloud optical depth, cloud aspect ratio, standard deviation of optical depth, and the gamma function parameter Y (a measure of the width of the optical depth distribution). Biases are found to be small for small cloud fraction or mean optical depth, where the cloud fields under study behave linearly. They are large (up to 0.20 for PP-IPA bias, -0.12 for IPA-2D bias) for large v. On a scene average basis PP-IPA bias can reach 0.30, while IPA-2D bias reaches its largest magnitude at -0.07. Biases due to horizontal transport (IPA-2D) are much smaller than PP-IPA biases but account for 20% RMS of the bias overall. Limitations of this work include the particular cloud field set used, assumptions of conservative scattering, constant cloud droplet size, no gas absorption or surface reflectance, and restriction to 2D radiative transport. The LANDSAT data used may also be affected by radiative smoothing.

Chambers, L. H.↗

From Simple Plane-Parallel to Complex Monte Carlo Calculations of Solar Fluxes and Radiances for Cloudy Atmospheres

In my presentation, I will describe several approximation methods with different level of complexity; they will be gradually applied to simple examples of horizontally inhomogeneous clouds. Understanding of photon horizontal transport and radiative smoothing can help to improve accuracy of the methods The accuracy of the methods will be compared with the full Monte Carlo calculations. The specifics of Monte Carlo in cloudy atmospheres will be also discussed. A special emphasis will be put on the strong forward scattering peak in the phase functions.

Marshak, Alexander↗

Contributions of the ARM Program to Radiative Transfer Modeling for Climate and Weather Applications

Accurate climate and weather simulations must account for all relevant physical processes and their complex interactions. Each of these atmospheric, ocean, and land processes must be considered on an appropriate spatial and temporal scale, which leads these simulations to require a substantial computational burden. One especially critical physical process is the flow of solar and thermal radiant energy through the atmosphere, which controls planetary heating and cooling and drives the large-scale dynamics that moves energy from the tropics toward the poles. Radiation calculations are therefore essential for climate and weather simulations, but are themselves quite complex even without considering the effects of variable and inhomogeneous clouds. Clear-sky radiative transfer calculations have to account for thousands of absorption lines due to water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases, which are irregularly distributed across the spectrum and have shapes dependent on pressure and temperature. The line-by-line (LBL) codes that treat these details have a far greater computational cost than can be afforded by global models. Therefore, the crucial requirement for accurate radiation calculations in climate and weather prediction models must be satisfied by fast solar and thermal radiation parameterizations with a high level of accuracy that has been demonstrated through extensive comparisons with LBL codes. See attachment for continuation.

climatology↗

Changes in the Surface Broadband Shortwave Radiation Budget During the 2017 Eclipse

While solar eclipses are known to greatly diminish the visible radiation reaching the surface of the Earth, less is known about the magnitude of the impact. We explore both the observed and modeled levels of change in surface radiation during the eclipse of 2017. We deployed a pyranometer and Pandora spectrometer instrument to Casper, Wyoming, and Columbia, Missouri, to measure surface broadband shortwave (SW) flux and atmospheric properties during the 21 August 2017 solar eclipse event. We performed detailed radiative transfer simulations to understand the role of clouds in spectral and broadband solar radiation transfer in the Earth’s atmosphere for the normal (non-eclipse) spectrum and red-shift solar spectra for eclipse conditions. The theoretical calculations showed that the non-eclipse-to-eclipse surface flux ratio depends strongly on the obscuration of the solar disk and slightly on the cloud optical depth. These findings allowed us to estimate what the surface broadband SW flux would be for hypothetical non-eclipse conditions from observations during the eclipse and further to quantify the impact of the eclipse on the surface broadband SW radiation budget. We found that the eclipse caused local reductions of time-averaged surface flux of about 379 W m−2 (50 %) and 329Wm-2 (46 %) during the ∼3 h course of the eclipse at the Casper and Columbia sites, respectively. We estimated that the Moon’s shadow caused a reduction of approximately 7 %–8% in global average surface broadband SW radiation. The eclipse has a smaller impact on the absolute value of surface flux reduction for cloudy conditions than a clear atmosphere; the impact decreases with the increase in cloud optical depth. However, the relative time-averaged reduction of local surface SW flux during a solar eclipse is approximately 45 %, and it is not sensitive to cloud optical depth. The reduction of global average SW flux relative to climatology is proportional to the non-eclipse and eclipse flux difference in the penumbra area and depends on cloud optical depth in the Moon’s shadow and geolocation due to the change in solar zenith angle. We also discuss the influence of cloud inhomogeneity on the observed SW flux. Our results not only quantify the reduction of the surface solar radiation budget, but also advance the understanding of broadband SW radiative transfer under solar eclipse conditions.

surface radiation↗

Impact of Three-Dimensional Radiative Effects on Satellite Retrievals of Cloud Droplet Sizes

There are several dozen papers that study the effects of cloud horizontal inhomogeneity on the retrievals of cloud optical thickness, but only a few of them deal with cloud droplet sizes. This paper is one of the first comprehensive attempts to fill this gap: It takes a close theoretical look at the radiative effects of cloud 3-D structure in retrievals of droplet effective radii. Under some general assumptions, it was found that ignoring subpixel (unresolved) variability produces a negative bias in the retrieved effective radius, while ignoring cloud inhomogeneity at scales larger than a pixel scale (resolved variability), on the contrary, leads to overestimation of the domain average droplet size. The theoretical results are illustrated with examples from Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of cumulus (Cu) and stratocumulus (Sc) cloud fields. The analysis of cloud drop size distributions retrieved from both LES fields confirms that ignoring shadowing in 1-D retrievals results in substantial overestimation of effective radii which is more pronounced for broken Cu than for Sc clouds. Collocated measurements of broken Cu clouds by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) are used to check simulations and theory with observations. The analysis of ASTER and MODIS data and associated derived products recommends against blindly using retrieved effective radii for broken cloud fields, especially if one wants to relate aerosol amounts to cloud droplet sizes.

Marshak, Alexander↗

Inhomogeneous models of the Venus clouds containing sulfur

Based on the suggestion that elemental sulfur is responsible for the yellow color of Venus, calculations are compared at 3.4 microns of the reflectivity phase function of two sulfur containing inhomogeneous cloud models with that of a homogeneous model. Assuming reflectivity observations with 25% or less total error, comparison of the model calculations leads to a minimum detectable mass of sulfur equal to 7% of the mass of sulfuric acid for the inhomogeneous drop model. For the inhomogeneous cloud model the comparison leads to a minimum detectable mass of sulfur between 17% and 38% of the mass of the acid drops, depending upon the actual size of the large particles. It is concluded that moderately accurate 3.4 microns reflectivity observations are capable of detecting quite small amounts of elemental sulfur at the top of the Venus clouds.

Smith, S. M.↗

Computation of Domain-Averaged Shortwave Irradiance by a One-Dimensional Algorithm Incorporating Correlations between Optical Thickness and Direct Incident Radiation

A one-dimensional radiative transfer algorithm that accounts for correlations between the optical thickness and the incident direct solar radiation is developed to compute the domain-averaged shortwave irradiance profile. It divides the direct irradiance into four components and treats the direct irradiance in two separate, clear and cloudy columns to account for the fact that clouds attenuate the direct irradiance more than clear-sky. The horizontal inhomogeneity of clouds in the cloudy column is treated by the gamma weighted two-stream approximation, which assumes that the optical thickness of clouds follows a gamma distribution. The algorithm inputs the cloud fraction, cumulative cloud fraction as a function of height, and a parameter expressing the shape of the probability density function of the cloud optical thickness distribution in addition to inputs required for a two-stream radiative transfer model. These cloud property inputs can be obtained using ground- and satellite-based instruments. Therefore, the algorithm can treat realistic cloud overlap features and horizontal inhomogeneity of clouds in a framework of one- dimensional radiative transfer. Heating rates computed by the algorithm using cloud fields generated by cloud resolving models agree with those computed with a Monte Carlo model. If optical properties in computational layers that divide a vertically extensive cloud are correlated, the irradiance profile computed by the algorithm further improves.

Kato, S.↗

Design, Evaluation and GCM-Performance of a New Parameterization for Microphysics of Clouds with Relaxed Arakawa-Schubert Scheme (McRas)

A prognostic cloud scheme named McRAS (Microphysics of clouds with Relaxed Arakawa-Schubert Scheme) was developed with the aim of improving cloud-microphysics, and cloud-radiation interactions in GCMs. McRAS distinguishes convective, stratiform, and boundary-layer clouds. The convective clouds merge into stratiform clouds on an hourly time-scale, while the boundary-layer clouds do so instantly. The cloud condensate transforms into precipitation following the auto-conversion relations of Sundqvist that contain a parametric adaptation for the Bergeron-Findeisen process of ice crystal growth and collection of cloud condensate by precipitation. All clouds convect, advect, and diffuse both horizontally and vertically with a fully active cloud-microphysics throughout its life-cycle, while the optical properties of clouds are derived from the statistical distribution of hydrometeors and idealized cloud geometry. An evaluation of McRAS in a single column model (SCM) with the GATE Phase III data has shown that McRAS can simulate the observed temperature, humidity, and precipitation without discernible systematic errors. An evaluation with the ARM-CART SCM data in a cloud model intercomparison exercise shows reasonable but not an outstanding accurate simulation. Such a discrepancy is common to almost all models and is related, in part, to the input data quality. McRAS was implemented in the GEOS II GCM. A 50 month integration that was initialized with the ECMWF analysis of observations for January 1, 1987 and forced with the observed sea-surface temperatures and sea-ice distribution and vegetation properties (biomes, and soils), with prognostic soil moisture, snow-cover, and hydrology showed a very realistic simulation of cloud process, incloud water and ice, and cloud-radiative forcing (CRF). The simulated ITCZ showed a realistic time-mean structure and seasonal cycle, while the simulated CRF showed sensitivity to vertical distribution of cloud water which can be easily altered by the choice of time constant and incloud critical cloud water amount regulators for auto-conversion. The CRF and its feedbacks also have a profound effect on the ITCZ. Even though somewhat weaker than observed, the McRAS-GCM simulation produces robust 30-60 day oscillations in the 200 hPa velocity potential. Two ensembles of 4-summer (July, August, September) simulations, one each for 1987 and 1988 show that the McRAS-GCM simulates realistic and statistically significant precipitation differences over India, Central America, and tropical Africa. Several seasonal simulations were performed with McRAS-GEOS II GCM for the summer (June-July- August) and winter (December-January-February) periods to determine how the simulated clouds and CRFs would be affected by: i) advection of clouds; ii) cloud top entrainment instability, iii) cloud water inhomogeneity correction, and (iv) cloud production and dissipation in different cloud-processes. The results show that each of these processes contributes to the simulated cloud-fraction and CRF.

Sud, Y. C.↗

On the hydrodynamic interaction of shock waves with interstellar clouds. 1: Nonradiative shocks in small clouds

The interstellar medium (ISM) is inhomogeneous, with clouds of various temperatures and densities embedded in a tenuous intercloud medium. Shocks propagating through the ISM can ablate or destroy the clouds, at the same time significantly altering the properties of the intercloud medium. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical study of the simplest case of the interaction between a shock wave and a spherical cloud, in which the shock far from the cloud is steady and planar, and in which radiative losses, thermal conduction, magnetic fields, and gravitational forces are all neglected. As a result, the problem is completely specified by two numbers: the Mach number of the shock, M, and the ratio of the density of the cloud to that of the intercloud medium, Chi. For strong shocks we show that the dependence on M scales out, so the primary independent parameter is Chi. Variations from this simple case are also considered: the potential effect of radiative losses is assessed by calculations in which the ratio of specific heats in the cloud is 1.1 instead of 5/3; the effect of the initial shape of the cloud is studied by using a cylindrical cloud instead of a spherical one; and the role of the initial shock is determined by considering the case of a cloud embedded in a wind. Local adaptive mesh refinement techniques with a second-order, two-fluid, two-dimensional Godunov hydrodynamic scheme are used to address these problems, allowing heretofore unobtainable numerical resolution. Convergence studies to be described in a subsequent paper demonstrate that about 100 zones per cloud radius are needed for accurate results; previous calculations have generally used about a third of this number. The results of the calculations are analyzed in terms of global quantities which provide an overall description of te shocked cloud: the size and shape of the cloud, the mean density, the mean pressure, the mean velocity, the velocity dispersion, and the total circulation.

Klein, Richard I.↗

Microwave radiances from precipitating clouds containing aspherical ice, combined phase, and liquid hydrometeors

A numerical algorithm based on Eddington's second approximation to the equation of radiative transfer has been developed in order to compute the radiances with horizontal and vertical polarization that emerge from precipitating clouds. This algorithm yields a rapid solution to problems pertaining to clouds with vertically inhomogeneous structure. Precipitating clouds containing liquid, mixtures of phases, and ice hydrometeors are modelled. It is shown that the lower-frequency radiances are sensitive to liquid precipitation at low altitudes while the higher-frequency radiances are more sensitive to the ice hydrometeors at the cloud tops. The extinction coefficients of aspherical hydrometeors are presented as a function of rainfall rates. The fact that vertically polarized radiances are warmer than horizontally polarized ones at high rainfall rates, with the difference diminishing at lower frequencies, is due to aspherical ice hydrometeors in the upper regions of precipitating clouds.

Wu, R.↗

Parameterizing Grid-Averaged Longwave Fluxes for Inhomogeneous Marine Boundary Layer Clouds

This paper examines the relative impacts on grid-averaged longwave flux transmittance (emittance) for Marine Boundary Layer (MBL) cloud fields arising from horizontal variability of optical depth tau and cloud sides, First, using fields of Landsat-inferred tau and a Monte Carlo photon transport algorithm, it is demonstrated that mean all-sky transmittances for 3D variable MBL clouds can be computed accurately by the conventional method of linearly weighting clear and cloudy transmittances by their respective sky fractions. Then, the approximations of decoupling cloud and radiative properties and assuming independent columns are shown to be adequate for computation of mean flux transmittance. Since real clouds have nonzero geometric thicknesses, cloud fractions A'(sub c) presented to isotropic beams usually exceed the more familiar vertically projected cloud fractions A(sub c). It is shown, however, that when A(sub c)less than or equal to 0.9, biases for all-sky transmittance stemming from use of A(sub c) as opposed to A'(sub c) are roughly 2-5 times smaller than, and opposite in sign to, biases due to neglect of horizontal variability of tau. By neglecting variable tau, all-sky transmittances are underestimated often by more than 0.1 for A(sub c) near 0.75 and this translates into relative errors that can exceed 40% (corresponding errors for all-sky emittance are about 20% for most values of A(sub c). Thus, priority should be given to development of General Circulation Model (GCM) parameterizations that account for the effects of horizontal variations in unresolved tau, effects of cloud sides are of secondary importance. On this note, an efficient stochastic model for computing grid-averaged cloudy-sky flux transmittances is furnished that assumes that distributions of tau, for regions comparable in size to GCM grid cells, can be described adequately by gamma distribution functions. While the plane-parallel, homogeneous model underestimates cloud transmittance by about an order of magnitude when 3D variable cloud transmittances are less than or equal to 0.2 and by approx. 20% to 100% otherwise, the stochastic model reduces these biases often by more than 80%.

Barker, Howard W.↗

Validation of satellite retrievals of cloud microsphysics and liquid water path using observations from FIRE

Cloud effective radii (r(sub e)) and cloud liquid water path (LWP) are derived from ISCCP spatially sampled satellite data and validated with ground-based pyranometer and microwave radiometer measurements taken on San Nicolas Island during the 1987 FIRE IFO. Values of r(sub e) derived from the ISCCP data are also compared to values retrieved by a hybrid method that uses the combination of LWP derived from microwave measurement and optical thickness derived from GOES data. The results show that there is significant variability in cloud properties over a 100 km x 80 km area and that the values at San Nicolas Island are not necessarily representative of the surrounding cloud field. On the other hand, even though there were large spatial variations in optical depth, the r(sub e) values remained relatively constant (with sigma less than or equal to 2-3 microns in most cases) in the marine stratocumulus. Furthermore, values of r(sub e) derived from the upper portion of the cloud generally are representative of the entire stratiform cloud. When LWP values are less than 100 g m(exp -2), then LWP values derived from ISCCP data agree well with those values estimated from ground-based microwave measurements. In most cases LWP differences were less than 20 g m(exp -2). However, when LWP values become large (e.g., greater than or equal to 200 g m(exp -2)), then relative differences may be as large as 50%- 100%. There are two reasons for this discrepancy in the large LWP clouds: (1) larger vertical inhomogeneities in precipitating clouds and (2) sampling errors on days of high spatial variability of cloud optical thicknesses. Variations of r(sub e) in stratiform clouds may indicate drizzle: clouds with droplet sizes larger than 15 microns appear to be associated with drizzling, while those less than 10 microns are indicative of nonprecipitating clouds. Differences in r(sub e) values between the GOES and ISCCP datasets are found to be 0.16 +/- 0.98 micron.

Rossow, W.↗

Vertical cloud structure models for the NTRZ EQZ, SEB and STRZ of Jupiter

Latitude-dependent models of the vertically inhomogeneous Jovian cloud structure are presented. The models assume an atmospheric composition with (CH4)/(H2) = 2.0 x .003, (He)/(H2) = 0.11 and (NH3)/(H2) = 2.0 x .0004 consistent with the Voyager IRIS measurements and employ refractive indices appropriate for ammonia ice particles and a photochemical stratospheric aerosol layer. The free parameters of the models are determined by fitting the results of multiple, scratching calculations to the near-infrared center and limb spectra of Clark and McCord and the center-to-limb 6190, 6350, 7250, 7500, 8900 and 9500 A photometric measurements of West. The resulting synthetic center-to-limb profiles are in excellent agreement with the observations. Of the regions studied the tropical zones are the most similar, with the observed differences explained by variations in the vertical extent of the cloudy layers. The Equatorial Zone is a unique region with denser NH3 clouds than either of the tropical zones. At visible and near-infrared wavelengths the belt-zone contrasts can be explained by opacity differences. The optical depth of the stratospheric aerosol layer is larger in a belt, while the tropospheric clouds are deeper and thinner.

Carlson, B. E.↗

Ultraviolet spectroscopy of Venus - Initial results from the Pioneer Venus orbiter

Ultraviolet spectroscopy of the Venus cloud tops reveals absorption features attributed to sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere above the cloud tops. Measurements of scattered sunlight at 2663 angstroms show evidence for horizontal and vertical inhomogeneities in cloud structure. Images of the planet at SO2 absorption wavelengths show albedo features similar to those seen at 3650 angstroms from Mariner 10. Airglow emissions are consistent with an exospheric temperature of about 275 K, and a night airglow emission has been detected, indicating the precipitation of energy into the dark thermosphere.

Stewart, A. I.↗

Spatial autocorrelation of radiation measured by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment: Scene inhomogeneity and reciprocity violation

The spatial autocorrelation functions of broad-band longwave and shortwave radiances measured by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) are analyzed as a function of view angle in an investigation of the general effects of scene inhomogeneity on radiation. For nadir views, the correlation distance of the autocorrelation function is about 900 km for longwave radiance and about 500 km for shortwave radiance, consistent with higher degrees of freedom in shortwave reflection. Both functions rise monotonically with view angle, but there is a substantial difference in the relative angular dependence of the shortwave and longwave functions, especially for view angles less than 50 deg. In this range, the increase with angle of the longwave functions is found to depend only on the expansion of pixel area with angle, whereas the shortwave functions show an additional dependence on angle that is attributed to the occlusion of inhomogeneities by cloud height variations. Beyond a view angle of about 50 deg, both longwave and shortwave functions appear to be affected by cloud sides. The shortwave autocorrelation functions do not satisfy the principle of directional reciprocity, thereby proving that the average scene is horizontally inhomogeneous over the scale of an ERBE pixel (1500 sq km). Coarse stratification of the measurements by cloud amount, however, indicates that the average cloud-free scene does satisfy directional reciprocity on this scale.

Davies, Roger↗