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A method is presented for calculating the average net radiation heat flux to turbine vanes and blades. The net radiation heat flux at a vane leading edge calculated by this method was compared with heat flux values independently determined from experimental tests on a vane in a cascade. The spectral emissivities of the turbine vane and the cascade wall were also measured.
Information is presented pertaining to the measurement and estimation of reflected and emitted components of the radiation balance. Information is included about reflectance and transmittance of solar radiation from and through the leaves of some grass and forb prairie species, bidirectional reflectance from a prairie canopy is discussed and measured and estimated fluxes are described of incoming and outgoing longwave and shortwave radiation. Results of the study showed only very small differences in reflectances and transmittances for the adaxial and abaxial surfaces of grass species in the visible and infrared wavebands, but some differences in the infrared wavebands were noted for the forbs. Reflectance from the prairie canopy changed as a function of solar and view zenith angles in the solar principal plane with definite asymmetry about nadir. The surface temperature of prairie canopies was found to vary by as much as 5 C depending on view zenith and azimuth position and on the solar azimuth. Aerodynamic temperature calculated from measured sensible heat fluxes ranged from 0 to 3 C higher than nadir-viewed temperatures. Models were developed to estimate incoming and reflected shortwave radiation from data collected with a Barnes Modular Multiband Radiometer. Several algorithms for estimating incoming longwave radiation were evaluated and compared to actual measures of that parameter. Net radiation was calculated using the estimated components of the shortwave radiation streams, determined from the algorithms developed, and from the longwave radiation streams provided by the Brunt, modified Deacon, and the Stefan-Boltzmann models. Estimates of net radiation were compared to measured values and found to be within the measurement error of the net radiometers used in the study.
Aerosol perturbations over selected land regions are imposed in Version-4 of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-4) general circulation model (GCM) to assess the influence of increasing aerosol concentrations on regional circulation patterns and precipitation in four selected regions: India, Africa, and North and South America. Part 1 of this paper addresses the responses to aerosol perturbations in India and Africa. This paper presents the same for aerosol perturbations over the Americas. GEOS-4 is forced with prescribed aerosols based on climatological data, which interact with clouds using a prognostic scheme for cloud microphysics including aerosol nucleation of water and ice cloud hydrometeors. In clear-sky conditions the aerosols interact with radiation. Thus the model includes comprehensive physics describing the aerosol direct and indirect effects on climate (hereafter ADE and AIE respectively). Each simulation is started from analyzed initial conditions for 1 May and was integrated through June-July-August of each of the six years: 1982 1987 to provide a 6-ensemble set. Results are presented for the difference between simulations with double the climatological aerosol concentration and one-half the climatological aerosol concentration for three experiments: two where the ADE and AIE are applied separately and one in which both the ADE and AIE are applied. The ADE and AIE both yield reductions in net radiation at the top of the atmosphere and surface while the direct absorption of shortwave radiation contributes a net radiative heating in the atmosphere. A large net heating of the atmosphere is also apparent over the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean that is attributable to the large aerosol perturbation imposed over Africa. This atmospheric warming and the depression of the surface pressure over North America contribute to a northward shift of the inter-Tropical Convergence Zone over northern America, an increase in precipitation over Central America and the Caribbean, and an enhancement of convergence in the North American monsoon region.
A set of earth radiation budget observations spanning the time period 1979 to 1987 is considered. A diurnally averaged eight year top-of-the-atmosphere net radiation field is analyzed along with a zonally averaged radiation budget. Variability in the net radiation due to changes in the clear sky shortwave and longwave radiation fields or changes in the total cloudiness distribution and the cloud properties is assessed, along with those radiation-budget parameters key to the earth's heat balance.
For a number of years there has been considerable interest in the earth's radiation budget (ERB) or energy balance, and entails making the best measurements possible of absorbed solar radiation, reflected shortwave radiation (RSW), thermal outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and net radiation. ERB data are fundamental to the development of realistic climate models and studying natural and anthropogenic perturbations of the climate. Much of the interest and investigations in the earth's energy balance predated the age of earth-orbiting satellites (Hunt et al., 1986). Beginning in the mid 1960's earth-orbiting satellites began to play an important role in making measurements of the earth's radiation flux although much effort had gone into measuring ERB parameters prior to 1960 (House et al., 1986). Beginning in 1974 and extending until the present time, three different satellite experiments (not all operating at the same time) have been making radiation budget measurements almost continually in time. Two of the experiments were totally dedicated to making radiation budget measurements of the earth, and the other experiment flown on NOAA sun-synchronous AVHRR weather satellites produced radiation budget parameters as a by-product. The heat budget data from the AVHRR satellites began collecting data in June 1974 and have operated almost continuously for 23 years producing valuable data for long term climate monitoring.
A new web browser for viewing and manipulating meteorological data sets is located on a web server at NASA, Langley Research Center. The browser uses a live access server (LAS) developed by the Thermal Modeling and Analysis Project at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. LAS allows researchers to interact directly with the data to view, select, and subset the data in terms of location (latitude, longitude) and time such as day, month, or year. In addition, LAS can compare two data sets and can perform averages and variances, LAS is used here to show how it functions as an internet/web browser for use by the scientific and educational community. In particular its versatility in displaying and manipulating data sets of atmospheric measurements in the earth's radiation budget (ERB) or energy balance, which includes measurements of absorbed solar radiation, reflected shortwave radiation (RSW), thermal outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and net radiation is demonstrated. These measurements are from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) experiment and the surface radiation budget (SRB) experiment.
A new web browser for viewing and manipulating meteorological data sets is located on a web server at NASA, Langley Research Center. The browser uses a live access server (LAS) developed by the Thermal Modeling and Analysis Project at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory. LAS allows researchers to interact directly with the data to view, select, and subset the data in terms of location (latitude, longitude) and time such as day, month, or year. In addition, LAS can compare two data sets and can perform averages and variances, LAS is used here to show how it functions as an internet/web browser for use by the scientific and educational community. In particular its versatility in displaying and manipulating data sets of atmospheric measurements in the earth s radiation budget (ERB) or energy balance, which includes measurements of absorbed solar radiation, reflected shortwave radiation (RSW), thermal outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and net radiation is demonstrated. These measurements are from the Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System (CERES) experiment and the surface radiation budget (SRB) experiment.
This paper focuses on the role of cloud- and surface-atmosphere forcing on the net radiation balance and their potential impact on the general circulation at climate time scales. The globally averaged cloud-forcing estimates and cloud sensitivity values taken from various recent studies are summarized. It is shown that the net radiative heating over the tropics is principally due to high clouds, while the net cooling in mid- and high latitudes is dominated by low and middle clouds.
Several factors contribute to the errors encountered. With the exception of the line-by-line model, all of the models employ simplifying assumptions that place fundamental limits on their accuracy and range of validity. For example, all 2-D modeling groups use the diffusivity factor approximation. This approximation produces little error in tropospheric H2O and CO2 cooling rates, but can produce significant errors in CO2 and O3 cooling rates at the stratopause. All models suffer from fundamental uncertainties in shapes and strengths of spectral lines. Thermal flux algorithms being used in 2-D tracer tranport models produce cooling rates that differ by as much as 40 percent for the same input model atmosphere. Disagreements of this magnitude are important since the thermal cooling rates must be subtracted from the almost-equal solar heating rates to derive the net radiative heating rates and the 2-D model diabatic circulation. For much of the annual cycle, the net radiative heating rates are comparable in magnitude to the cooling rate differences described. Many of the models underestimate the cooling rates in the middle and lower stratosphere. The consequences of these errors for the net heating rates and the diabatic circulation will depend on their meridional structure, which was not tested here. Other models underestimate the cooling near 1 mbar. Suchs errors pose potential problems for future interactive ozone assessment studies, since they could produce artificially-high temperatures and increased O3 destruction at these levels. These concerns suggest that a great deal of work is needed to improve the performance of thermal cooling rate algorithms used in the 2-D tracer transport models.
To elucidate the role of solar and long-wave transfers in maintaining stationary planetary waves, the potential vorticity equation appropriate to these disturbances in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during winter is solved with realistic radiation physics included in the heating term. A series of model experiments demonstrates the roles of the various optically active constituents in maintaining the stationary planetary waves. Clouds and the net radiative heating tend to amplify stationary planetary wavenumber one by increasing the forcing asymmetry, but destructive interference between radiative heating and other diabatic processes and topography causes the net radiative heating to dampen stationary planetary wavenumber two. In the presence of clouds, water vapor and to a lesser extent carbon dioxide damp the waves by reducing cloud-generated forcing asymmetries, particularly at zonal wavenumber one.
Global atmospheric energy balance is one of the fundamental processes for the earth's climate system. This study uses currently available satellite data sets of radiative energy at the top of atmosphere (TOA) and surface and latent and sensible heat over oceans for the year 2000 to assess the global annual energy budget. Over land, surface radiation data are used to constrain assimilated results and to force the radiation, turbulent heat, and heat storage into balance due to a lack of observation-based turbulent heat flux estimations. Global annual means of the TOA net radiation obtained from both direct measurements and calculations are close to zero. The net radiative energy fluxes into the surface and the surface latent heat transported into the atmosphere are about 113 and 86 Watts per square meter, respectively. The estimated atmospheric and surface heat imbalances are about -8 ~ 9 Watts per square meter, values that are within the uncertainties of surface radiation and sea surface turbulent flux estimates and likely systematic biases in the analyzed observations. The potential significant additional absorption of solar radiation within the atmosphere suggested by previous studies does not appear to be required to balance the energy budget the spurious heat imbalances in the current data are much smaller (about half) than those obtained previously and debated at about a decade ago. Progress in surface radiation and oceanic turbulent heat flux estimations from satellite measurements significantly reduces the bias errors in the observed global energy budgets of the climate system.
A parameterization that relates the reflected solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the net solar flux at the surface in terms of only the column water vapor amount and the solar zenith angle was tested against surface observations. Net surface fluxes deduced from coincidental collocated satellite-measured radiances and from measurements from towers in Boulder during summer and near Saskatoon in winter have mean differences of about 2 W/sq m, regardless of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Furthermore, comparisons between the net fluxes deduced from the parameterization and from surface measurements showed equally good agreement when the data were partitioned into morning and afternoon observations. This is in contrast to results from an empirical clear-sky algorithm that is unable to account adequately for the effects of clouds and that shows, at Boulder, a distinct morning to afternoon variation. It is also demonstrated that the parameterization may be applied to irradiances at the top of the atmosphere that have been temporally averaged. The good agreement between the results of the parameterization and surface measurements suggests that the algorithm is a useful tool for a variety of climate studies.
A parameterization that relates the reflected solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the net solar flux at the surface in terms of only the column water vapor amount and the solar zenith angle was tested against surface observations. Net surface fluxes deduced from coincidental collocated satellite-measured radiances and from measurements from towers in Boulder during summer and near Saskatoon in winter have mean differences of about 2 W/sq m, regardless of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. Furthermore, comparisons between the net fluxes deduced from the parameterization and from surface measurements showed equally good agreement when the data were partitioned into morning and afternoon observations. This is in contrast to results from an empirical clear-sky algorithm that is unable to account adequately for the effects of clouds and that shows, at Boulder, a distinct morning to afternoon variation, which is presumably due to the predominance of different cloud types throughout the day. It is also demonstrated that the parameterization may be applied to irradiances at the top of the atmosphere that have been temporally averaged by using the temporally averaged column water vapor amount and the temporally averaged cosine of the solar zenith angle. The good agreement between the results of the parameterization and surface measurements suggests that the algorithm is a useful tool for a variety of climate studies.
The distribution of many chemical constituents of the atmosphere (e.g., ozone) is at least partially determined by the. distribution of net radiative heating in the atmosphere. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant effect of high cirrus clouds on the net radiative heating of the tropical lower stratosphere. A model of tropical lower stratospheric ozone is then used to demonstrate the sensitivity of calculated ozone to the varying cloud cover used in the model. We conclude that calculated ozone is sensitive to the inclusion of clouds In models and that models of the atmosphere should include a realistic description of tropical cirrus clouds in order to accurately simulate the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
The distribution of many chemical constituents of the atmosphere (e.g., ozone) is at least partially determined by the, distribution of net radiative heating in the atmosphere. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant effect of high cirrus clouds on the net radiative heating of the tropical lower stratosphere. A model of tropical lower stratospheric ozone is then used to demonstrate the sensitivity of calculated ozone to the varying cloud cover used in the model. We conclude that calculated ozone is sensitive to the inclusion of clouds in models and that models of the atmosphere should include a realistic description of tropical cirrus clouds in order to accurately simulate the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
The distribution of many chemical constituents of the atmosphere (e.g., ozone) is at least partially determined by the distribution of net radiative heating in the atmosphere. In this paper, we demonstrate the significant effect of high cirrus clouds on the net radiative heating of the tropical lower stratosphere. A model of tropical lower stratospheric ozone is then used to demonstrate the sensitivity of calculated ozone to the varying cloud cover used in the model. We conclude that calculated ozone is sensitive to the inclusion of clouds in models and that models of the atmosphere should include a realistic description of tropical cirrus clouds in order to accurately simulate the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
Optically thin cirrus cloud (optical depth < 0.3) net radiative forcing represents one of the primary uncertainties in climate feedback, as sub-visible clouds play a fundamental role in atmospheric radiation balance and climate change. A lidar is a very sensitive optical device to detect clouds with an optical depth as low as 10-4. In this paper we assess the daytime net radiative forcing of sub-visible cirrus clouds detected at Goddard Space Flight Center, a permanent observational site of the NASA Micro Pulse Lidar Network in 2012. Depending on their height, season and hour of the day, the solar albedo effect can outweigh the infrared greenhouse effect, cooling the earth atmosphere system rather than warming it exclusively. As result, based on latitude, the net forcing of sub-visible cirrus clouds can be more accurately parameterized in climate models.
The study, in addition to investigating the consistency of climatological products from Nimbus-7 Earth Radiation Budget and Temperature Humidity Infrared Radiometer experiments, focussed on the climatological analysis of the specified regions of the Earth. The climatological study consisted of the effects of various types of clouds on the net radiation, albedos, and emitted radiation. In addition to a correlational study for determining consistency level of data, a population study of the regions was formulated and conducted. The regions under this study were formed by clustering the target areas using the criteria of climatological conditions such as geography, ocean, and land. Research is limited to tropics from 18 deg north to 18 deg south. A correlational study indicates that there is high positive correlation between high clouds and albedo, and a reduced negative correlation between albedo and net radiation.