A high resolution infrared radiative transfer scheme to study the interaction of radiation with cloud

✍ Scribed by W. T. Roach; A. Slingo

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1979
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 640 KB
• Volume: 105
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0035-9009
• DOI: 10.1002/qj.49710544508

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This paper describes a high resolution radiative transfer scheme which calculates infrared fluxes and heating rates in a cloudy atmosphere. It is intended as a research tool for use in studies of the role of radiation in the physics of fog and layer cloud. The spectrum is split into five bands and allowance is made for molecular absorption by the water vapour 6.3 μm band and the rotation band beyond 20 μm, the 15 μm carbon dioxide band, the 9.6 μm ozone band, and the continuum absorption by water vapour in the 10 μm atmospheric window. The strong absorption by cloud water droplets is calculated directly from the droplet size distribution function. The scheme has been run with a model stratocumulus cloud included, using data based on tethered balloon observations at Cardington. A large cooling rate of 8.7 K per hour is shown to exist at the cloud top.