scholarly journals Can Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Measurements Constrain Climate Predictions? Part I: Tuning

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (23) ◽  
pp. 9348-9366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon F. B. Tett ◽  
Michael J. Mineter ◽  
Coralia Cartis ◽  
Daniel J. Rowlands ◽  
Ping Liu
Keyword(s):  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Outgoing Radiation ◽  
Target Values ◽  
Hadley Centre

Perturbed physics configurations of version 3 of the Hadley Centre Atmosphere Model (HadAM3) driven with observed sea surface temperatures (SST) and sea ice were tuned to outgoing radiation observations using a Gauss–Newton line search optimization algorithm to adjust the model parameters. Four key parameters that previous research found affected climate sensitivity were adjusted to several different target values including two sets of observations. The observations used were the global average reflected shortwave radiation (RSR) and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instruments combined with observations of ocean heat content. Using the same method, configurations were also generated that were consistent with the earlier Earth Radiation Budget Experiment results. Many, though not all, tuning experiments were successful, with about 2500 configurations being generated and the changes in simulated outgoing radiation largely due to changes in clouds. Clear-sky radiation changes were small, largely due to a cancellation between changes in upper-tropospheric relative humidity and temperature. Changes in other climate variables are strongly related to changes in OLR and RSR particularly on large scales. There appears to be some equifinality with different parameter configurations producing OLR and RSR values close to observed values. These models have small differences in their climatology with the one group being similar to the standard configuration and the other group drier in the tropics and warmer everywhere.

scholarly journals Can Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Measurements Constrain Climate Predictions? Part II: Climate Sensitivity

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (23) ◽  
pp. 9367-9383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon F. B. Tett ◽  
Daniel J. Rowlands ◽  
Michael J. Mineter ◽  
Coralia Cartis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Sensitivity ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Total Solar Irradiance ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Prior Probabilities ◽  
Internal Climate Variability

A large number of perturbed-physics simulations of version 3 of the Hadley Centre Atmosphere Model (HadAM3) were compared with the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) estimates of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and reflected shortwave radiation (RSR) as well as OLR and RSR from the earlier Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) estimates. The model configurations were produced from several independent optimization experiments in which four parameters were adjusted. Model–observation uncertainty was estimated by combining uncertainty arising from satellite measurements, observational radiation imbalance, total solar irradiance, radiative forcing, natural aerosol, internal climate variability, and sea surface temperature and that arising from parameters that were not varied. Using an emulator built from 14 001 “slab” model evaluations carried out using the climateprediction.net ensemble, the climate sensitivity for each configuration was estimated. Combining different prior probabilities for model configurations with the likelihood for each configuration and taking account of uncertainty in the emulated climate sensitivity gives, for the HadAM3 model, a 2.5%–97.5% range for climate sensitivity of 2.7–4.2 K if the CERES observations are correct. If the ERBE observations are correct, then they suggest a larger range, for HadAM3, of 2.8–5.6 K. Amplifying the CERES observational covariance estimate by a factor of 20 brings CERES and ERBE estimates into agreement. In this case the climate sensitivity range is 2.7–5.4 K. The results rule out, at the 2.5% level for HadAM3 and several different prior assumptions, climate sensitivities greater than 5.6 K.

scholarly journals On the Surface Temperature Sensitivity of the Reflected Shortwave, Outgoing Longwave, and Net Incident Radiation

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (19) ◽  
pp. 6585-6593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hartmut H. Aumann ◽  
Alexander Ruzmaikin ◽  
Ali Behrangi
Keyword(s):  
Surface Temperature ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Incident Radiation ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Correlation Technique ◽  
Cloud Forcing ◽  
Global Mean

Abstract The global-mean top-of-atmosphere incident solar radiation (ISR) minus the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and the reflected shortwave radiation (RSW) is the net incident radiation (NET). This study analyzes the global-mean NET sensitivity to a change in the global-mean surface temperature by applying the interannual anomaly correlation technique to 9 yr of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) global measurements of RSW and OLR under cloudy and clear conditions. The study finds the observed sensitivity of NET that includes the effects of clouds to be −1.5 ± 0.25 (1σ) W m−2 K−1 and the clear NET sensitivity to be −2.0 ± 0.2 (1σ) W m−2 K−1, consistent with previous work using Earth Radiation Budget Experiment and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System data. The cloud effect, +0.5 ± 0.2 (1σ) W m−2 K−1, is a positive component of the NET sensitivity. The similarity of the NET sensitivities derived from forced and unforced models invites a comparison between the observed sensitivities and the effective sensitivities calculated for the Fourth Assessment Report models, although this requires some caution: The effective model sensitivities with clouds range from −0.88 to −1.64 W m−2 K−1, the clear NET sensitivity in the models ranges from −2.32 to −1.73 W m−2 K−1, and the cloud forcing sensitivities range from +0.14 to +1.18 W m−2 K−1. The effective NET and clear NET sensitivities derived from the models are statistically consistent with those derived from the AIRS data, considering the observational and model derivation uncertainties.

Evaluation of net shortwave radiation over China with a regional climate model

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-163
Author(s):  
X Liu ◽  
Y Kang ◽  
Q Liu ◽  
Z Guo ◽  
Y Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Monsoon Region ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
Sky Conditions

The regional climate model RegCM version 4.6, developed by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis, was used to simulate the radiation budget over China. Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) satellite data were utilized to evaluate the simulation results based on 4 radiative components: net shortwave (NSW) radiation at the surface of the earth and top of the atmosphere (TOA) under all-sky and clear-sky conditions. The performance of the model for low-value areas of NSW was superior to that for high-value areas. NSW at the surface and TOA under all-sky conditions was significantly underestimated; the spatial distribution of the bias was negative in the north and positive in the south, bounded by 25°N for the annual and seasonal averaged difference maps. Compared with the all-sky condition, the simulation effect under clear-sky conditions was significantly better, which indicates that the cloud fraction is the key factor affecting the accuracy of the simulation. In particular, the bias of the TOA NSW under the clear-sky condition was <±10 W m-2 in the eastern areas. The performance of the model was better over the eastern monsoon region in winter and autumn for surface NSW under clear-sky conditions, which may be related to different levels of air pollution during each season. Among the 3 areas, the regional average biases overall were largest (negative) over the Qinghai-Tibet alpine region and smallest over the eastern monsoon region.

scholarly journals The Climate Monitoring SAF Outgoing Longwave Radiation from AVHRR

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Clerbaux ◽  
Tom Akkermans ◽  
Edward Baudrez ◽  
Almudena Velazquez Blazquez ◽  
William Moutier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Cloud Properties ◽  
Climate Monitoring ◽  
Orbital Drift

Data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) have been used to create several long-duration data records of geophysical variables describing the atmosphere and land and water surfaces. In the Climate Monitoring Satellite Application Facility (CM SAF) project, AVHRR data are used to derive the Cloud, Albedo, and Radiation (CLARA) climate data records of radiation components (i.a., surface albedo) and cloud properties (i.a., cloud cover). This work describes the methodology implemented for the additional estimation of the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), an important Earth radiation budget component, that is consistent with the other CLARA variables. A first step is the estimation of the instantaneous OLR from the AVHRR observations. This is done by regressions on a large database of collocated observations between AVHRR Channel 4 (10.8 µm) and 5 (12 µm) and the OLR from the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments. We investigate the applicability of this method to the first generation of AVHRR instrument (AVHRR/1) for which no Channel 5 observation is available. A second step concerns the estimation of daily and monthly OLR from the instantaneous AVHRR overpasses. This step is especially important given the changes in the local time of the observations due to the orbital drift of the NOAA satellites. We investigate the use of OLR in the ERA5 reanalysis to estimate the diurnal variation. The developed approach proves to be valuable to model the diurnal change in OLR due to day/night time warming/cooling over clear land. Finally, the resulting monthly mean AVHRR OLR product is intercompared with the CERES monthly mean product. For a typical configuration with one morning and one afternoon AVHRR observation, the Root Mean Square (RMS) difference with CERES monthly mean OLR is about 2 Wm−2 at 1° × 1° resolution. We quantify the degradation of the OLR product when only one AVHRR instrument is available (as is the case for some periods in the 1980s) and also the improvement when more instruments are available (e.g., using METOP-A, NOAA-15, NOAA-18, and NOAA-19 in 2012). The degradation of the OLR product from AVHRR/1 instruments is also quantified, which is done by “masking” the Channel 5 observations.

Validation of Clear-Sky Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) Longwave Radiation Product

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Zeng ◽  
Jie Cheng ◽  
Feng Yang
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Surface Radiation ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
Global Land

&lt;p&gt;Surface longwave (LW) radiation plays an important rolein global climatic change, which is consist of surface longwave upward radiation (LWUP), surface longwave downward radiation (LWDN) and surface longwave net radiation (LWNR). Numerous studies have been carried out to estimate LWUP or LWDN from remote sensing data, and several satellite LW radiation products have been released, such as the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project&amp;#8208;Flux Data (ISCCP&amp;#8208;FD), the Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment&amp;#8208;Surface Radiation Budget (GEWEX&amp;#8208;SRB) and the Clouds and the Earth&amp;#8217;s Radiant Energy System&amp;#8208;Gridded Radiative Fluxes and Clouds (CERES&amp;#8208;FSW). But these products share the common features of coarse spatial resolutions (100-280 km) and lower validation accuracy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Under such circumstance, we developed the methods of estimating long-term high spatial resolution all sky&amp;#160; instantaneous LW radiation, and produced the corresponding products from MODIS data from 2000 through 2018 (Terra and Aqua), named as Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) Longwave Radiation product, which can be free freely downloaded from the website (http://glass.umd.edu/Download.html).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this article, ground measurements collected from 141 sites in six independent networks (AmerciFlux, AsiaFlux, BSRN, CEOP, HiWATER-MUSOEXE and TIPEX-III) are used to evaluate the clear-sky GLASS LW radiation products at global scale. The bias and RMSE is -4.33 W/m&lt;sup&gt;2 &lt;/sup&gt;and 18.15 W/m&lt;sup&gt;2 &lt;/sup&gt;for LWUP, -3.77 W/m&lt;sup&gt;2 &lt;/sup&gt;and 26.94 W/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; for LWDN, and 0.70 W/m&lt;sup&gt;2 &lt;/sup&gt;and 26.70 W/m&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; for LWNR, respectively. Compared with validation results of the above mentioned three LW radiation products, the overall accuracy of GLASS LW radiation product is much better. We will continue to improve the retrieval algorithms and update the products accordingly.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Decadal Changes of Earth’s Outgoing Longwave Radiation

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Dewitte ◽  
Nicolas Clerbaux
Keyword(s):  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Earth Radiation Budget ◽  
Earth Radiation

The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) at the top of the atmosphere quantifies how the earth gains energy from the sun and loses energy to space. Its monitoring is of fundamental importance for understanding ongoing climate change. In this paper, decadal changes of the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) as measured by the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System from 2000 to 2018, the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment from 1985 to 1998, and the High-resolution Infrared Radiation Sounder from 1985 to 2018 are analysed. The OLR has been rising since 1985, and correlates well with the rising global temperature. An observational estimate of the derivative of the OLR with respect to temperature of 2.93 +/− 0.3 W/m 2 K is obtained. The regional patterns of the observed OLR change from 1985–2000 to 2001–2017 show a warming pattern in the Northern Hemisphere in particular in the Arctic, as well as tropical cloudiness changes related to a strengthening of La Niña.

scholarly journals Developing Clear-Sky Flux Products for the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Experiment

2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 1361-1374 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Futyan ◽  
J. E. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Diurnal Cycle ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Sampling Errors ◽  
Clear Sky ◽  
Temporal Sampling ◽  
Earth Radiation Budget ◽  
Earth Radiation

Abstract This paper describes the planned processing of monthly mean and monthly mean diurnal cycle flux products for the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment. The use of higher-spatial-resolution flux estimates based on multichannel narrowband imager data to improve clear-sky sampling is investigated. Significant improvements in temporal sampling are found, leading to reduced temporal sampling errors and less dependence on diurnal models for the monthly mean products. The reduction in temporal sampling errors is found to outweigh any spatial sampling errors that are introduced. The resulting flux estimates are used to develop an improved version of the half-sine model that is used for the diurnal interpolation of clear-sky longwave fluxes over land in the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) missions. Maximum outgoing longwave radiation occurs from 45 min to 1.5 h after local noon for most of the GERB field of view. Use of the ERBE half-sine model for interpolation therefore results in significant distortion of the diurnal cycle shape. The model that is proposed here provides a well-constrained fit to the true diurnal shape, even for limited clear-sky sampling, making it suitable for use in the processing of both GERB and CERES second-generation monthly mean clear-sky data products.

scholarly journals Unfiltering of the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) Data. Part I: Shortwave Radiation

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 1087-1105 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Clerbaux ◽  
S. Dewitte ◽  
C. Bertrand ◽  
D. Caprion ◽  
B. De Paepe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spectral Response ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Shortwave Radiation ◽  
Spectral Radiance ◽  
Visible Part ◽  
Earth Radiation Budget ◽  
Earth Radiation

Abstract The method used to estimate the unfiltered shortwave broadband radiance from the filtered radiances measured by the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument is presented. This unfiltering method is used to generate the first released edition of the GERB-2 dataset. The method involves a set of regressions between the unfiltering factor (i.e., the ratio of the unfiltered and filtered broadband radiances) and the narrowband observations of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) instrument. The regressions are theoretically derived from a large database of simulated spectral radiance curves obtained by radiative transfer computations. The generation of the database is fully described. Different sources of error that may affect the GERB unfiltering have been identified and the associated error magnitudes are assessed on this database. For most of the earth–atmosphere conditions, the error introduced during the unfiltering process is below 1%. In some conditions (e.g., low sun elevation above the horizon) the error can present a higher relative value, but the absolute error value remains well under the accuracy goal of 1% of the full instrument scale (2.4 W m−2 sr−1). To increase the confidence level, the edition 1 unfiltered radiances of GERB-2 are validated by cross comparison with collocated and coangular Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) observations for different scene types. In addition to an overall offset between the two instruments, the intercomparisons indicate a scene-type dependency up to 4% in unfiltered radiance. Further studies are required to confirm the cause, but an insufficiently accurate characterization of the shortwave spectral response of the GERB instrument in the visible part of the spectrum is one area under further investigation.

Estimation of Near-Real-Time Outgoing Longwave Radiation from Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) Radiance Measurements

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 643-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kexin Zhang ◽  
Mitchell D. Goldberg ◽  
Fengying Sun ◽  
Lihang Zhou ◽  
Walter W. Wolf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Outgoing Longwave Radiation ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Longwave Radiation ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Regression Coefficients ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Time Basis ◽  
Cross Track

AbstractThis study describes the algorithm for deriving near-real-time outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) from Cross-Track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) hyperspectral infrared sounder radiance measurements. The estimation of OLR on a near-real-time basis provides a unique perspective for studying the variability of Earth’s current atmospheric radiation budget. CrIS-derived OLR values are estimated as a weighted linear combination of CrIS-adjusted “pseudochannel” radiances. The algorithm uses the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) as the transfer instrument, and a least squares regression algorithm is applied to generate two sets of regression coefficients. The first set of regression coefficients is derived from collocated Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) OLR on Aqua and pseudochannel radiances calculated from AIRS radiances. The second set of coefficients is derived to adjust the CrIS pseudochannel radiance to account for the differences in pseudochannel radiances between AIRS and CrIS. The CrIS-derived OLR is then validated by using a limited set of available CERES SNPP OLR observations over 1° × 1° global grids, as well as monthly OLR mean and interannual differences against CERES OLR datasets from SNPP and Aqua. The results show that the bias of global CrIS OLR estimation is within ±2 W m−2 and that the standard deviation is within 5 W m−2 for all conditions, and ±1 and 3 W m−2 for homogeneous scenes. The interannual CrIS-derived OLR differences agree well with Aqua CERES interannual OLR differences on a 1° × 1° spatial scale, with only a small drift of the global mean of these two datasets of around 0.004 W m−2.

Toward Optimal Closure of the Earth's Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Budget

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 748-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman G. Loeb ◽  
Bruce A. Wielicki ◽  
David R. Doelling ◽  
G. Louis Smith ◽  
Dennis F. Keyes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Heat Content ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Total Solar Irradiance ◽  
Radiation Budget ◽  
Instrument Calibration ◽  
Earth Radiation Budget ◽  
Net Flux ◽  
Global Mean

Abstract Despite recent improvements in satellite instrument calibration and the algorithms used to determine reflected solar (SW) and emitted thermal (LW) top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiative fluxes, a sizeable imbalance persists in the average global net radiation at the TOA from satellite observations. This imbalance is problematic in applications that use earth radiation budget (ERB) data for climate model evaluation, estimate the earth’s annual global mean energy budget, and in studies that infer meridional heat transports. This study provides a detailed error analysis of TOA fluxes based on the latest generation of Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) gridded monthly mean data products [the monthly TOA/surface averages geostationary (SRBAVG-GEO)] and uses an objective constrainment algorithm to adjust SW and LW TOA fluxes within their range of uncertainty to remove the inconsistency between average global net TOA flux and heat storage in the earth–atmosphere system. The 5-yr global mean CERES net flux from the standard CERES product is 6.5 W m−2, much larger than the best estimate of 0.85 W m−2 based on observed ocean heat content data and model simulations. The major sources of uncertainty in the CERES estimate are from instrument calibration (4.2 W m−2) and the assumed value for total solar irradiance (1 W m−2). After adjustment, the global mean CERES SW TOA flux is 99.5 W m−2, corresponding to an albedo of 0.293, and the global mean LW TOA flux is 239.6 W m−2. These values differ markedly from previously published adjusted global means based on the ERB Experiment in which the global mean SW TOA flux is 107 W m−2 and the LW TOA flux is 234 W m−2.

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