The spectral signature of cloud spatial structure in shortwave irradiance

Song, Shi; Schmidt, K. Sebastian; Pilewskie, Peter; King, Michael D.; Heidinger, Andrew K.; Walther, Andi; Iwabuchi, Hironobu; Wind, Gala; Coddington, Odele M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13791-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13791-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13791-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 21

Research article

|

08 Nov 2016

Research article |

| 08 Nov 2016

The spectral signature of cloud spatial structure in shortwave irradiance

Shi Song, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Peter Pilewskie, Michael D. King, Andrew K. Heidinger, Andi Walther, Hironobu Iwabuchi, Gala Wind, and Odele M. Coddington

Data sets

PATMOS-x GOES Level-2 products, CIMSS A. Heidinger, A. Walther, S. Wanzong, Y. Li, D. Botambekov, C. Molling, and M. Foster http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/clavrx/

MODIS Airborne Simulator L2 cloud product (MAS_PGE06), NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive & Distribution System (LAADS) M. D. King, S. Platnick, G. T. Arnold, and G. Wind https://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/archive/MAS_eMAS/TC4/

Daytime Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties (DCOMP) Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document, NOAA NESDIS STAR A. Walther, W. Straka, and A. K. Heidinger http://www.star.nesdis.noaa.gov/goesr/docs_reports_ATBD.php

Short summary

The radiative effects of spatially complex cloud fields are notoriously difficult to estimate and are afflicted with errors up to ±50 % of the incident solar radiation. We find that horizontal photon transport, the leading cause for these three-dimensional effects, manifests itself through a spectral fingerprint – a new observable that holds promise for reducing the errors associated with spatial complexity by moving the problem to the spectral dimension.