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NASA NTRS2003

Example MODIS Global Cloud Optical and Microphysical Properties: Comparisons between Terra and Aqua

MODIS observations from the NASA EOS Terra spacecraft (launched in December 1999, 1030 local time equatorial crossing) have provided a unique data set of Earth observations. With the launch of the NASA Aqua spacecraft in May 2002 (1330 local time), two MODIS daytime (sunlit) and nighttime observations are now available in a 24 hour period, allowing for some measure of diurnal variability. We report on an initial analysis of several operational global (Level-3) cloud products from the two platforms. The MODIS atmosphere Level-3 products, which include clear-sky and aerosol products in addition to cloud products, are available as three separate files providing daily, eight-day, and monthly aggregations; each temporal aggregation is spatially aggregated to a 1 degree grid. The files contain approximately 600 statisitical datasets (from simple means and standard deviations to 1 - and 2-dimensional histograms). Operational cloud products include detection (cloud fraction), cloud-top properties, and daytimeonly cloud optical thickness and particle effective radius for both water and ice clouds. We will compare example global Terra and Aqua cloud fraction, optical thickness, and effective radius aggregations.

Hubanks, P. A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Accuracy Assessments and Validation of an Expanded UV Irradiance Database from Satellite Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS)

The TOMS UV irradiance database (1978 to 2000) has been expanded to include 5 new products (noon irradiance at 305, 310, 324, and 380 nm, and noon erythemal-weighted irradiance), in addition to the existing erythemal daily exposure, which permit direct Comparisons with ground-based measurements from UV spectrometers. Sensitivity studies are conducted to estimate uncertainties of the new TOMS UV irradiance data due to algorithm apriori assumptions. Comparisons with Brewer spectrometers as well as filter radiometers are used to review of the sources of known errors. Inability to distinguish between snow and cloud cover using only TOMS data results in large errors in estimating surface UV using snow climatology. A correction is suggested for the case when the regional snow albedo is known from an independent source. The summer-time positive bias between TOMS UV estimations and Brewer measurements can be seen at all wavelengths. This suggests the difference is not related to ozone absorption effects. We emphasize that uncertainty of boundary layer UV aerosol absorption properties remains a major source of error in modeling UV irradiance in clear sky conditions. Neglecting aerosol absorption by the present TOMS algorithm results in a positive summertime bias in clear-sky UV estimations over many locations. Due to high aerosol variability the bias is strongly site dependent. Data from UV-shadow-band radiometer and well-calibrated CIMEL sun-sky radiometer are used to quantify the bias at NASA/GSFC site in Greenbelt, MD. Recommendations are given to enable potential users to better account for local conditions by combining standard TOMS UV data with ancillary ground measurements.

Krotkov, N. A.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Survival of endospores of Bacillus subtilis on spacecraft surfaces under simulated martian environments: implications for the forward contamination of Mars

Experiments were conducted in a Mars simulation chamber (MSC) to characterize the survival of endospores of Bacillus subtilis under high UV irradiation and simulated martian conditions. The MSC was used to create Mars surface environments in which pressure (8.5 mb), temperature (-80, -40, -10, or +23 degrees C), gas composition (Earth-normal N2/O2 mix, pure N2, pure CO2, or a Mars gas mix), and UV-VIS-NIR fluence rates (200-1200 nm) were maintained within tight limits. The Mars gas mix was composed of CO2 (95.3%), N2 (2.7%), Ar (1.7%), O2 (0.2%), and water vapor (0.03%). Experiments were conducted to measure the effects of pressure, gas composition, and temperature alone or in combination with Mars-normal UV-VIS-NIR light environments. Endospores of B. subtilis, were deposited on aluminum coupons as monolayers in which the average density applied to coupons was 2.47 x 10(6) bacteria per sample. Populations of B. subtilis placed on aluminum coupons and subjected to an Earth-normal temperature (23 degrees C), pressure (1013 mb), and gas mix (normal N2/O2 ratio) but illuminated with a Mars-normal UV-VIS-NIR spectrum were reduced by over 99.9% after 30 sec exposure to Mars-normal UV fluence rates. However, it required at least 15 min of Mars-normal UV exposure to reduce bacterial populations on aluminum coupons to non-recoverable levels. These results were duplicated when bacteria were exposed to Mars-normal environments of temperature (-10 degrees C), pressure (8.5 mb), gas composition (pure CO2), and UV fluence rates. In other experiments, results indicated that the gas composition of the atmosphere and the temperature of the bacterial monolayers at the time of Mars UV exposure had no effects on the survival of bacterial endospores. But Mars-normal pressures (8.5 mb) were found to reduce survival by approximately 20-35% compared to Earth-normal pressures (1013 mb). The primary implications of these results are (a) that greater than 99.9% of bacterial populations on sun-exposed surfaces of spacecraft are likely to be inactivated within a few tens of seconds to a few minutes on the surface of Mars, and (b) that within a single Mars day under clear-sky conditions bacterial populations on sun-exposed surfaces of spacecraft will be sterilized. Furthermore, these results suggest that the high UV fluence rates on the martian surface can be an important resource in minimizing the forward contamination of Mars. c2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bacillus subtilis/growth & development/physiology/↗
NASA NTRS1996

Asymmetry in the Diurnal Variation of Surface Albedo

Remote sensing of surface properties and estimation of clear-sky and surface albedo generally assumes that the albedo depends only on the solar zenith angle. The effects of dew, frost, and precipitation as well as evaporation and wind can lead to some systematic diurnal variability resulting in an asymmetric diurnal cycle of albedo. This paper examines the symmetry of both surface-observed albedos and top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) albedos derived from satellite data. Broadband and visible surface albedos were measured at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Southern Great Plains Central Facility, at some fields near the ARM site, and over a coniferous forest in eastern Virginia. Surface and wind conditions are available for most cases. GOES-8 satellite radiance data are converted to broadband albedo using bidirectional reflectance functions and an empirical narrowband-to-broadband relationship. The initial results indicate that surface moisture has a significant effect and can change the albedo in the afternoon by 20% relative to its morning counterpart. Such effects may need to be incorporated in mesoscale and even large-scale models of atmospheric processes.

Mayor, S.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Cloud Detection Using Measured and Modeled State Parameters

In this study, hourly RUC analyses were used to examine the differences between RH and temperature values from RUC reanalysis data and from radiosonde atmospheric profiles obtained at the ARM SCF. The results show that the temperature observations from the SONDE and RUC are highly correlated. The RHs are also well-correlated, but the SONDE values generally exceed those from RUC. Inside cloud layers, the RH from RUC is 2-14% lower than the RH from SONDE for all RUC layers. Although the layer mean RH within clouds is much greater than the layer mean RH outside cloud or in the clear-sky, RH thresholds chosen as a function of temperature can more accurately diagnose cloud occurrence for either dataset. For overcast clouds, it was found that the 50% probability RH threshold for diagnosing a cloud, within a given upper tropospheric layer is roughly 90% for the Vaisala RS80-15LH radisonde and 80% for RUC data. While for the partial cloud (cloud amount is less than 90%), the RH thresholds of SONDE are close to RUC for a given probability in upper tropospheric layers. The probabilities of detecting clouds at a given RH and temperature should be useful for a variety of application such as the development of new cloud parameterizations or for estimating the vertical profile of cloudiness underneath a given cloud observed from the satellite to construct a 3-D cloud data set for computing atmospheric radiative heating profiles or determining potential aircraft icing conditions.

Yi, Y.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Implications of Observed High Supersaturation for TTL Cloud Formation and Dehydration

In situ measurements of water vapor concentration made during the CRYSTAL-FACE and Pre-AVE missions indicate higher than expected supersaturations in both clear and cloudy air near the cold tropical tropopause: (1) steady-state ice supersaturations of 20-30% were measured within cirrus at T < 200 K; (2) supersaturations exceeding 100% (near water saturation) were observed under cloud-free conditions near 187 K. The in-cloud measurements challenge the conventional belief that any water vapor in excess of ice saturation should be depleted by crystal growth given sufficient time. The high clear-sky supersaturations imply that thresholds for ice nucleation due to homogeneous freezing of aerosols (or any other mechanism) are much higher than those inferred from laboratory measurements. We will use simulations of Tropical Tropopause Layer (TTL) transport and cloud formation throughout the tropics to show that these effects have important implications for TTL cloud frequency and freeze-drying of air crossing the tropical tropopause cold trap.

Jensen, Eric↗
NASA NTRS2004

Spatially Varying Spectrally Thresholds for MODIS Cloud Detection

The EOS science team has developed an elaborate global MODIS cloud detection procedure, and the resulting MODIS product (MOD35) is used in the retrieval process of several geophysical parameters to mask out clouds. While the global application of the cloud detection approach appears quite robust, the product has some shortcomings on the regional scale, often over determining clouds in a variety of settings, particularly at night. This over-determination of clouds can cause a reduction in the spatial coverage of MODIS derived clear-sky products. To minimize this problem, a new regional cloud detection method for use with MODIS data has been developed at NASA's Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC). The approach is similar to that used by the GHCC for GOES data over the continental United States. Several spatially varying thresholds are applied to MODIS spectral data to produce a set of tests for detecting clouds. The thresholds are valid for each MODIS orbital pass, and are derived from 20-day composites of GOES channels with similar wavelengths to MODIS. This paper and accompanying poster will introduce the GHCC MODIS cloud mask, provide some examples, and present some preliminary validation.

Haines, S. L.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Results of CoSMIR Under-Flights of the SSMIS

The first copy of the SSMIS (Special Sensor Microwave/Imager/Sounder) was launched on board the DMSP (Defense Meteorological Satellite Project) F-16 satellite in October 2003. During March-April 2004, six 5-hour SSMIS under-flights were conducted with the CoSMIR on board the NASA ER-2 aircraft over the coastal region of California. CoSMIR has nine channels at the frequencies of 50.3, 52.8, 53.6, 91.665 (V and H polarization), 150, 183.3+/-1, 183.3+/-3, and 183.3+/-6.6 GHz. All except the two 91.665 GHz channels are horizontally polarized. The instrument was carefully calibrated with LN2 target in the laboratory before the flights. Three of the aircraft flights passed over Lakes Pyramid and Tahoe that could be used to validate the in-flight sensor calibration. Immediately after these flights, an inter-comparison of the calibrated SSMIS and CoSMIR brightness temperatures (T(sub b)) followed. The results showed that, for channels at frequencies > or equal to 91.665 GHz, the SSMIS and CoSMIR T(sub b) values tracked each other very well; for some channels there were some bias with magnitude generally less than 3-4 K (SSMIS values were higher). For the three 50-54 GHz channels, the SSMIS T(sub b) values were higher and frequency-dependent. For the least opaque channel at 50.3 GHz, the SSMIS T(sub b)'s over the ocean surface were higher than those of CoSMIR by more than 20 K under the clear-sky conditions. The most plausible explanation for this to happen is to assume that the 50-54 GHx channels of the SSMIS are vertically polarized. This assumption appears to be consistent with independent radiative transfer calculations. Attempts to estimate vertically polarized radiometric responses for 50-54 GHz channels of the SSMIS based on the CoSMIR observations are not plausible and results not reliable because of the highly variable ocean surface conditions (e.g., wind-induced emissivity changes). A conversion of the CoSMIR 50-54 GHz channels from horizontal to vertical polarization, and a subsequent repetition of the SSMIS under-flights are the right approach for the calibration/validation of the 50-54 GHz channels of the SSMIS. Details of the SSMIS-CoSMIR inter-comparison will be presented.

Wang, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Theoretical and Observational Determination of Global and Regional Radiation Budget, Forcing and Feedbacks at the Top-of-Atmosphere and Surface

Report consists of: 1. List of accomplishments 2. List of publications 3. Abstracts of published or submitted papers and 4. Subject invention disclosure. The accomplishments of the grant listed are: 1. Improved the third-order turbulence closure in cloud resolving models to remove the liquid water oscillation. 2. Used the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) large-eddy simulation (LES) model to provide data for radiation transfer testing. 3. Revised shortwave k-distribution models based on HITRAN 2000. 4. Developed a gamma-weighted two-stream radiative transfer model for radiation budget estimate applications. 5. Estimated the effect of spherical geometry to the earth radiation budget. 6. Estimated top-of-atmosphere irradiance over snow and sea ice surfaces. 7. Estimated the aerosol direct radiative effect at the top of the atmosphere. 8. Estimated the top-of-atmosphere reflectance of the clear-sky molecular atmosphere over ocean. 9. Developed and validated new set of Angular Distribution Models for the CERES TRMM satellite instrument (tropical) 10. Developed and validated new set of Angular Distribution Models for the CERES Terra satellite instrument (global) 11. Quantified the top-of-atmosphere direct radiative effect of aerosols over global oceans from merged CERES and MODIS observations 12 Clarified the definition of TOA flux reference level for radiation budget studies 13. Developed new algorithm for unfaltering CERES measured radiances 14. Used multiangle POLDER measurements to produce narrowband angular distribution models and examine the effect of scene identification errors on TOA albedo estimates 15. Developed and validated a novel algorithm called the Multidirectional Reflectance Matching (MRM) model for inferring TOA albedos from ice clouds using multi-angle satellite measurements. 16. Developed and validated a novel algorithm called the Multidirectional Polarized Reflectance Matching (MPRM) model for inferring particle shapes from ice clouds using multi-angle polarized satellite measurements. 17. Developed 4 advanced light scattering models including the three-dimensional (3D) uniaxial perfectly matched layer (UPML) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) model. 18. Develop sunglint in situ measurement and study reflectance distribution in the sunglint area. 19. Lead a balloon-borne radiometer TOA albedo validation effort. 20. Developed a CERES surface UVB, UVA, and UV index product.

Loeb, Norman G.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Top-of-Atmosphere Direct Radiative Effect of Aerosols from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Satellite Instrument (CERES)

Nine months of CERES/TRMM broadband fluxes combined with VIRS high-resolution imager measurements are used to estimate the daily average direct radiative effect of aerosols for clear-sky conditions over the tropical oceans. On average, aerosols have a cooling effect over the tropics of 4.6 +/- 1 W/sq m. The magnitude is approx.2 W/sq m smaller over the southern tropical oceans than it is over northern tropical oceans. The direct effect derived from CERES is highly correlated with coincident aerosol optical depth retrievals inferred from 0.63 microns VIRS radiances (correlation coefficient of 0.96). The slope of the regression line is approx. -32 W/sq m/t over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, but changes both regionally and seasonally, depending on the aerosol characteristics. Near sources of biomass burning and desert dust, the aerosol direct effect reaches -25 W sq m to -30 W/sq m. The direct effect from CERES also shows a dependence on wind speed. The reason for this dependence is unclear-it may be due to increased aerosol (e.g. sea-salt or aerosol transport) or increased surface reflection (e.g. due to whitecaps). The uncertainty in the tropical average direct effect from CERES is approx. 1 W/sq m (approx. 20%) due mainly to cloud contamination, the radiance-to-flux conversion, and instrument calibration. By comparison, uncertainties in the direct effect from the ERBE and CERES "ERBE-Like" products are a factor of 3 to 5 larger.

Loeb, N. G.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Angular Distribution Models for Top-of-Atmosphere Radiative Flux Estimation from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System Instrument on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Satellite: Validation - Part II

Top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes from the Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System (CERES) are estimated from empirical angular distribution models (ADMs) that convert instantaneous radiance measurements to TOA fluxes. This paper evaluates the accuracy of CERES TOA fluxes obtained from a new set of ADMs developed for the CERES instrument onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The uncertainty in regional monthly mean reflected shortwave (SW) and emitted longwave (LW) TOA fluxes is less than 0.5 W/sq m, based on comparisons with TOA fluxes evaluated by direct integration of the measured radiances. When stratified by viewing geometry, TOA fluxes from different angles are consistent to within 2% in the SW and 0.7% (or 2 W/sq m) in the LW. In contrast, TOA fluxes based on ADMs from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) applied to the same CERES radiance measurements show a 10% relative increase with viewing zenith angle in the SW and a 3.5% (9 W/sq m) decrease with viewing zenith angle in the LW. Based on multiangle CERES radiance measurements, 18 regional instantaneous TOA flux errors from the new CERES ADMs are estimated to be 10 W/sq m in the SW and, 3.5 W/sq m in the LW. The errors show little or no dependence on cloud phase, cloud optical depth, and cloud infrared emissivity. An analysis of cloud radiative forcing (CRF) sensitivity to differences between ERBE and CERES TRMM ADMs, scene identification, and directional models of albedo as a function of solar zenith angle shows that ADM and clear-sky scene identification differences can lead to an 8 W/sq m root-mean-square (rms) difference in 18 daily mean SW CRF and a 4 W/sq m rms difference in LW CRF. In contrast, monthly mean SW and LW CRF differences reach 3 W/sq m. CRF is found to be relatively insensitive to differences between the ERBE and CERES TRMM directional models.

Loeb, N. G.↗
NASA NTRS2003

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.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Interannual Variability in Surface LW Fluxes Over the Tropical Oceans As Seen in ISCCP-FD and GEWEX SRB Data Sets

One notable aspect of Earth s climate is that although the planet appears to be very close to radiative balance at top-of-atmosphere (TOA), the atmosphere itself and underlying surface are not. Profound exchanges of energy between the atmosphere and oceans, land and cryosphere occur over a range of time scales. Recent evidence from broadband satellite measurements suggests that even these TOA fluxes contain some detectable variations. Our ability to measure and reconstruct radiative fluxes at the surface and at the top of atmosphere is improving rapidly. In this work we will evaluate two recently released estimates of radiative fluxes, focusing primarily on surface estimates. The International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project FD radiative flux profiles are available from mid-1 983 to near present and have been constructed by driving the radiative transfer physics from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) global model with ISCCP clouds and TOVS (TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder)thermodynamic profiles. Fu!l and clear sky SW and LW fluxes are produced. A similar product from the NASA/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Project using different radiative flux codes and thermodynamics from the NAS/Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-1) assimilation model makes a similar calculation of surface fluxes. However this data set currently extends only through 1995. Significant differences in both interannual variability as well as trends are found between among these data sets. For radiative fluxes these differences are traced to TOVS thermodynamic soundings used to drive the ISCCP-FD calculations. Errors in near surface temperature and precipitable water cascade into ISCCP upward and downward IR flux components, demonstrably affecting interannual variability. Revised estimates of clear-sky fluxes over ocean are made using statistical algorithms and water vapor from the (SSM/I) Special Sensor Microwave Imager. These calculations show strong near-surface water vapor feedback over the tropical oceans in association with SST changes. However, it is also shown that ISCCP longwave cloud forcing, common to both the ISCCP-FD and GEWEX SRB retrievals, is the main driver of a long-term decrease in net LW flux to the surface during the near-20 year period covered by these revised estimates.

Robertson, F. R.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Surface characteristics of spacecraft components affect the aggregation of microorganisms and may lead to different survival rates of bacteria on Mars landers

Layers of dormant endospores of Bacillus subtilis HA101 were applied to eight different spacecraft materials and exposed to martian conditions of low pressure (8.5 mbar), low temperature (-10 degrees C), and high CO(2) gas composition and irradiated with a Mars-normal ultraviolet (UV-visible- near-infrared spectrum. Bacterial layers were exposed to either 1 min or 1 h of Mars-normal UV irradiation, which simulated clear-sky conditions on equatorial Mars (0.1 tau). When exposed to 1 min of Mars UV irradiation, the numbers of viable endospores of B. subtilis were reduced three to four orders of magnitude for two brands of aluminum (Al), stainless steel, chemfilm-treated Al, clear-anodized Al, and black-anodized Al coupons. In contrast, bacterial survival was reduced only one to two orders of magnitude for endospores on the non-metal materials astroquartz and graphite composite when bacterial endospores were exposed to 1 min of Mars UV irradiation. When bacterial monolayers were exposed to 1 h of Mars UV irradiation, no viable bacteria were recovered from the six metal coupons listed above. In contrast, bacterial survival was reduced only two to three orders of magnitude for spore layers on astroquartz and graphite composite exposed to 1 h of Mars UV irradiation. Scanning electron microscopy images of the bacterial monolayers on all eight spacecraft materials revealed that endospores of B. subtilis formed large aggregates of multilayered spores on astroquartz and graphite composite, but not on the other six spacecraft materials. It is likely that the formation of multilayered aggregates of endospores on astroquartz and graphite composite is responsible for the enhanced survival of bacterial cells on these materials.

Mars↗
NASA NTRS1995

Sensitivity of Multi-Angle Remote Sensing Observations to Aerosol Sphericity

Multi-angle, multi-spectral remote sensing observations, such as those anticipated from the Earth Observing System (EOS) Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR), can distinguish spherical from non-spherical particles over calm ocean for mineral-dust-like particles with the range of sizes and column amounts expected under natural conditions. The ability to make such distinctions is critical if remote sensing of atmospheric aerosol properties is to provide significant new contributions to our understanding of the global-scale, clear-sky solar radiation balance.

MISR aerosol aerosol properties↗
NASA NTRS2003

Validation of the Archived CERES Surface and Atmosphere Radiation Budget (SARB) at SGP

The CERES Surface and Atmosphere Radiation Budget (SARB) product (Charlock et al, 2002) includes the vertical profile of broadband SW, broadband LW, and 8-12 micron window (WN) fluxes; upwelling and downwelling at TOA, 70 hPa, 200 hPa, 500 hPa, and the surface; and for all-sky and clear-sky conditions. We test the archived CERES TRMM record of SARB for January-August 1998 and focus on discrepancies with ground-based measurements at SGP. The CERES SARB is generated by a highly modified Fu-Liou radiative transfer code (Fu and Liou, 1993). The most critical inputs for this application are cloud optical properties (fractional area, optical depth, particle size and phase, height of top, and estimate of geometrical thickness Minnis et al., 2002) from the narrowband VIRS imager. Numerous VIRS pixels (approx. 2km resolution at nadir) are matched to each of the large (approx. 20km) CERES broadband footprints (Wielicki et al, 1996). Other inputs include temperature and humidity from ECMWF (Rabier et al, 1998) , NCEP ozone profiles from SBUV and TOVS (Yang et al, 2001), aerosol optical thickness (AOT) from the Model for Atmospheric Transport and Chemistry (MATCH) aerosol assimilation (Collins et al., 2001) or alternately from the VIRS imager (Ignatov and Stowe, 2000). VIRS AOT is available for clear and partly cloudy ocean footprints during daylight; and only when viewing geometry renders a contribution from sunglint as unlikely. For other footprints, AOT is taken from MATCH. AOT is apportioned into fractions of dust (Tegan and Lacis, 1996), sea salt, sulfate, dust, soluble organic, insoluble organic, and soot (Hess et al., 1996) using the 6-hourly MATCH output. Tuned fluxes are retrieved by adjusting inputs to nudge computed TOA fluxes toward CERES observations (Rose et al, 1997). In clear conditions, the fields of humidity, surface skin temperature, surface albedo and AOT are adjusted to produce a closer match of computed and observed fluxes at TOA. When CERES footprints have clouds, the cloud optical thickness, fractional area within the footprint, and temperature of cloud top are adjusted by the tuning algorithm. Both tuned and untuned fluxes are archived, as are the respective adjustments to any parameters at the surface or within the atmosphere.

Charlock, Thomas P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Global, Multi-Year Analysis of Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System Terra Observations and Radiative Transfer Calculations

An extended record of the Terra Surface and Atmosphere Radiation Budget (SARB) computed by CERES (Clouds and Earth s Radiant Energy System) is produced in gridded form, facilitating an investigation of global scale direct aerosol forcing. The new gridded version (dubbed FSW) has a spacing of 1 at the Equator. A companion document (Rutan et al. 2005) focuses on advances to (and validation of) the ungridded, footprint scale calculations (dubbed CRS), primarily in clear-sky conditions. While mainly intended to provide observations of fluxes at the top of atmosphere (TOA), CERES (Wielicki et al. 1996) includes a program to also compute the fluxes at TOA, within the atmosphere and at the surface, and also to validate the results with independent ground based measurements (Charlock and Alberta 1996). ARM surface data has been a focus for this component of CERES. To permit the user to infer cloud forcing and direct aerosol forcing with the computed SARB, CERES includes surface and TOA fluxes that have been computed for cloud-free (clear) and aerosol free (pristine) footprints; this accounts for aerosol effects (SW scattering and absorption, and LW scattering, absorption and emission) to both clear and cloudy skies.

Charlock, T. P.↗
NASA NTRS2006

A Climatology of Midlatitude Continental Clouds from the ARM SGP Central Facility: Cloud Fraction and Radiative Forcing - Part II

Data collected at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) central facility are analyzed for determining the variability of cloud fraction and radiative forcing at several temporal scales between January 1997 and December 2002. Cloud fractions are estimated for total cloud cover and for single-layer low (0-3 km), middle (3-6 km), and high clouds (greater than 6 km) using ARM SGP ground-based paired lidar-radar measurements. Shortwave (SW), longwave (LW), and net cloud radiative forcings (CRF) are derived from up- and down-looking standard precision spectral pyranometers and precision infrared radiometer measurements. The annual averages of total, and single-layer, nonoverlapped low, middle and high cloud fractions are 0.49, 0.11, 0.03, and 0.17, respectively. Total and low cloud amounts were greatest from December through March and least during July and August. The monthly variation of high cloud amount is relatively small with a broad maximum from May to August. During winter, total cloud cover varies diurnally with a small amplitude, mid-morning maximum and early evening minimum, and during summer it changes by more than 0.14 over the daily cycle with a pronounced early evening minimum. The diurnal variations of mean single-layer cloud cover change with season and cloud height. Annual averages of all-sky, total, and single-layer high, middle, and low LW CRFs are 21.4, 40.2, 16.7, 27.2, and 55.0 Wm(sup -2), respectively; and their SW CRFs are -41.5, -77.2, -37.0, -47.0, and -90.5 Wm(sup -2). Their net CRFs range from -20 to -37 Wm(sup -2). For all-sky, total, and low clouds, the maximum negative net CRFs of -40.1, -70, and -69.5 Wm(sup -2), occur during April; while the respective minimum values of -3.9, -5.7, and -4.6 Wm(sup -2), are found during December. July is the month having maximum negative net CRF of -46.2 Wm(sup -2) for middle clouds, and May has the maximum value of -45.9 Wm(sup -2) for high clouds. An uncertainty analysis demonstrates that the calculated CRFs are not significantly affected by the difference between clear-sky and cloudy conditions. A more comprehensive cloud fraction study from both surface and satellite observations will follow.

Dong, Xiquan↗