Time-series of zenith radiance and surface flux under cloudy skies: Radiative smoothing, optical thickness retrievals and large-scale stationarity

Details Time-series of zenith radiance and surface flux under cloudy skies: Radiative smoothing, optical thickness retrievals and large-scale stationarity Time-series of zenith radiance and surface flux under cloudy skies: Radiative smoothing, optical thickness retrievals and large-scale stationarity

Publishing date

Sep 2002

URL

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002georl..29q...6v&link_type=abstract

Journals

Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 29, Issue 17, pp. 6-1, CiteID 1825, DOI 10.1029/2001GL014153

Science

Physics

Field

Geophysics

Additional info 2

3

Additional info 3

Atmospheric Composition And Structure: Transmission And Scattering Of Radiation, Meteorology And Atmospheric Dynamics: Radiative Processes, Mathematical Geophysics: Fractals And Multifractals

Type

Scientific paper

Abstract

Cloudy sky zenith radiance time-series covering spatial scales a few meters up to 200-400 km measured by a ground-based photometer at 753 nm are investigated with 2nd-order structure functions, and compared to broad-band short-wave column transmittance. A previously reported scale break occurs at scales on the order of the vertical cloud extension due to radiative smoothing (i.e., lateral photon transport by diffusion in optically thick clouds). We use simulated radiance and flux fields for 3D clouds to explain why optical depths can be extracted with reasonable accuracy from surface fluxes by using 1D radiative transfer theory at large-enough scales. We also show clear evidence of a transition from nonstationary to stationary behavior, i.e., a scale break, occurring at spatial scales of a few tens of kilometers. We argue that this qualitative change in the correlations of remotely observed radiation fields is likely to carry over to the most highly variable inherent cloud property, namely optical depth.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Time-series of zenith radiance and surface flux under cloudy skies: Radiative smoothing, optical thickness retrievals and large-scale stationarity does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Time-series of zenith radiance and surface flux under cloudy skies: Radiative smoothing, optical thickness retrievals and large-scale stationarity, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Time-series of zenith radiance and surface flux under cloudy skies: Radiative smoothing, optical thickness retrievals and large-scale stationarity will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1047939