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UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE CAMPINA GRANDE – UFCG

CENTRO DE TECNOLOGIA EM RECURSOS NATURAIS – CTRN
UNIDADE ACADÊMICA DE CIÊNCIAS ATMOSFÉRICAS – UACA
PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM METEOROLOGIA – PPGMET

Disciplina: Radiação Solar e Terrestre

Professor: Carlos A. C. dos Santos

Aula - 9
Porque Deus amou o mundo de tal maneira que deu o seu Filho unigênito, para que
todo aquele que nele crê não pereça, mas tenha a vida eterna. (João 3:16)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in
him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Campina Grande – PB

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.1 Introduction

- Solar radiation emanating from the sun is attenuated, before

reaching the ground, by the earth's atmosphere, which can be
classified into two broad types:

(1) atmosphere without clouds; and

(2) atmosphere with clouds.

- We will describe the constituents of a cloudless atmosphere.

- Maximum radiation on the earth is received under cloudless

and clear skies.

- Most solar devices operate when radiation is at a maximum or at

least above a certain threshold level.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.1 Introduction

- However, high levels of radiation can create serious problems

in, for instance, agriculture and architecture.

- Consequently, the cloudless condition is important from both the

utilization and the control point of view.

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.2 The Earth's Atmosphere

- Since about the beginning of XX century, the vertical structure of

the earth's atmosphere has been generally described by a
succession of standard atmospheres.

- The model used today was adopted in 1976.

- Figure 5.2.1 shows vertical temperature profiles and variation

of pressure to a height of 100 km.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.2 The Earth's Atmosphere

- The earth's atmosphere is divided into a number of concentric

spheres: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere,
thermosphere, etc., and important temperature variations exist
in each of these.

- However, density and pressure decrease continuously.

- The U.S. standard atmosphere (U.S.S.A.) (1976) sea-level values

of pressure, temperature, and density are as follows:

Pressure: 1013.25 mbars, 760 mm Hg or 101.325 kPa

Temperature: 288 K or 15 °C
Density: 1.225 kg m-3.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.2 The Earth's Atmosphere

- Up to a height of about 90 km, molecular weights of gases

remain fairly constant; beyond this height, molecular weights
slowly decrease.

- Fig. 5.2.2 shows the vertical variation of molecular weights up

to 700 km from the earth.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.2 The Earth's Atmosphere

- The earth's atmosphere consists mainly of molecular nitrogen

and molecular oxygen.

- Clean dry air contains about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1%

argon, and 0.33% carbon dioxide by volume.

- In addition, the earth’s atmosphere contains water vapor and

particulate matter (aerosols) such as dust, soot, water drops,
and ice crystals, which are highly variable in time and space.

- Consequently, in order to determine the transmittance of the

atmosphere to solar radiation, the total atmosphere of the
earth is usually divided into three groups: dry air molecules,
water vapor, and aerosols.

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.2 The Earth's Atmosphere

- Solar radiation entering the earth's atmosphere is attenuated by

each of these groups.

- The composition and distribution of these three groups will now

be discussed.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.3 Clean Dry Air

- The actual composition and concentration of the constituents of

clean air vary with geographic location, elevation, and season.

- The concentration of some gases such as carbon dioxide, ozone,

carbon monoxide, and methane can be highly variable.

- These gases are not homogeneously distributed throughout the

atmosphere in space or time.

- These variations are a function of the industrial and

agricultural activity of the place, its surroundings, and the
general dynamic nature of the atmosphere.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.3 Clean Dry Air

- All molecules of air reduce solar energy by scattering, which

takes place at all wavelengths, and which therefore is called a
continuum process.

- Air molecules, though, absorb solar radiation only at selective

wavelengths.

- The most important dry air absorbers are ozone, carbon

dioxide, oxygen, oxides of nitrogen, nitrogen, and hydrocarbon
combinations.

- The basics of selective absorption and the particular wavelengths

at which some of these gases absorb solar radiation will be
discussed in the following classes.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.3 Clean Dry Air

- In the upper atmosphere, ozone (good) is created mainly by

ultraviolet solar radiation.

- On the ground (bad ozone), it is formed through the

decomposition of nitrogen oxide that enters the atmosphere
from factory smoke and forest fires, for example.

- The amount of total ozone (l) in a vertical column of air is given in

units of atmosphere centimeters (atm cm).

- This is the height of gaseous ozone if all the ozone in a vertical

column of unit area were brought to normal temperature and
surface pressure (NTP).

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Instruments on the ground (at Halley) and high above Antarctica (Total Ozone Mapping
Spectrometer [TOMS], Ozone Monitoring Instrument [OMI], and Ozone Mapping and Profiler
Suite [OMPS]) measured an acute drop in total atmospheric ozone during October in the early
and middle 1980s. (Halley data supplied by J. D. Shanklin, British Antarctic Survey ).

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.3 Clean Dry Air

- The vertical distribution of ozone varies with latitude and

season.

- It is mainly concentrated between a 10 and 35 km altitude.

- The profile given in Fig. 5.3.2 has been considered to represent

average conditions at midlatitudes.

- This profile results in 0.35 cm(NTP) ozone.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.4 Water Vapor

- Water can exist in the atmosphere in three states: gas, liquid,

and ice.

- Water in the gaseous state is called water vapor.

- The amount of water vapor in the atmosphere can be defined in

several ways.

- For the present context, we give two definitions: mixing ratio

(Mr) and precipitable water (w’).

- The mixing ratio is the ratio of the mass of water vapor to the
mass of dry air in a unit volume.

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.4 Water Vapor

- Precipitable water is the total amount of water vapor in the

zenith direction between the earth’s surface (or a surface at a
specific elevation) and the top of the atmosphere.

- Therefore, precipitable water can be written

1 ∞
′
𝑤 = න 𝑀𝑟 𝑑𝑧 (1)
𝑔 0
where z is the vertical height, and g is the acceleration due to
gravity.

- From this equation, the units of w' are mass per unit area.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.4 Water Vapor

- However, precipitable water is often described as the thickness

of the liquid water that would be formed if all the vapor in the
zenith direction were condensed at the surface of a unit area.

- Equation (1) can still be employed since a height of 1 cm

corresponds to 1 g cm-2 of precipitable water.

- Few data on the vertical distribution of water vapor are

available.

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- Table 5.4.1 contains the mean

annual mixing ratios and
precipitable water in 2 km
altitude intervals.

- This table is based on a

particular model of the
mixing ratio distribution
combined with the U.S.S.A.
1962.

- About one-half the

precipitable water is
concentrated in the first 2 km
above sea level; beyond 12
km, precipitable water is
practically nonexistent.

- The total amount of

precipitable water is about 2
cm.

- Table 5.4.1 contains the mean

annual mixing ratios and
precipitable water in 2 km
altitude intervals.

- This table is based on a

particular model of the
mixing ratio distribution
combined with the U.S.S.A.
1962.

- About one-half the

precipitable water is
concentrated in the first 2 km
above sea level; beyond 12
km, precipitable water is
practically nonexistent.

- The total amount of

precipitable water is about 2
cm.

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- Table 5.4.1 contains the mean

annual mixing ratios and
precipitable water in 2 km
altitude intervals.

- This table is based on a

particular model of the
mixing ratio distribution
combined with the U.S.S.A.
1962.

- About one-half the

precipitable water is
concentrated in the first 2 km
above sea level; beyond 12
km, precipitable water is
practically nonexistent.

- The total amount of

precipitable water is about 2
cm.

- The mean mixing ratio is

highest in the first 2-km
altitude.

- It decreases rapidly to its

minimum value at a height of
16 km, and then slowly
increases again.

- The amount of precipitable

water can be highly variable.

- It varies with season.

- An extremely dry atmosphere

may contain as little as 1 mm
of precipitable water and a
humid atmosphere may
contain more that 40 mm.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.4 Water Vapor

- Many countries publish national contour maps of the monthly

mean values of precipitable water.

- Bannon and Steele (1960) have published world maps of

precipitable water.

- For locations without such maps or tables, some simple

correlation between precipitable water and other atmospheric
measurements is necessary.

- Numerous authors have proven the existence of correlations

between precipitable water and partial pressure of water
vapor, or dew-point temperature, or relative humidity.

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.4 Water Vapor

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MYDAL2_M_SKY_WV

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.5 Aerosols

- An aerosol is a small solid or liquid particle that remains

suspended in the air and follows the motion of the air within
certain broad limits.

- Obviously, rain, snow, and hail are NOT aerosol particles.

- However, coagulated water vapor molecules that follow the

motion of the air are considered aerosols.

- In contrast to molecules of the permanent atmospheric gases,

suspended particles within the atmosphere display
considerable diversity in volume, size, distribution, form, and
material composition.

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.5 Aerosols

- Natural aerosol particles range in radius from 10-3 to 102 μm.

- Very small particles (called Aitken particles) from 10-3 to 10-1

μm; and large particles from 0.1 to 1 μm.

- Particles in the 1-100 μm range are called giant particles.

- The amount of aerosols in the atmosphere is sometimes

specified in terms of the number of particles per cubic
centimeter.

- The number of dust particles is usually greater over land than

over water and greater in the drier seasons.

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The colors represent the different chemical components.

The dotted, solid, and dashed lines correspond to the different mixing states (soluble, mixed,
and insoluble, respectively).

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.5 Aerosols

- The number of dust particles is lower in cold polar or arctic air

and higher in tropical air.

- To this number must be added a large amount of particulate

matter injected into the atmosphere from domestic heating
plants during winter.

- Below 20 km, condensation, and precipitation are the chief

cleaners of "dry" dust from the atmosphere.

- Rain reduces the number of aerosol particles but increases the

size of those that remain.

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https://youtu.be/ygulQJoIe2Y https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063040

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.5 Aerosols

- An atmosphere containing aerosols is also called turbid or

hazy.

- A property of an aerosol-laden atmosphere that depletes direct

solar radiation is called atmospheric turbidity.

- Turbidity is an optical parameter of the atmosphere and can be

roughly related to horizontal visibility, a subjective
measurement.

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5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.5 Aerosols

- The presence of aerosols in the atmosphere can be quantified

by any one of the following three parameters:

(1) number of dust particles per cubic centimeter,

(2) atmospheric turbidity, and

(3) visibility.

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https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/climate/climate-change/monitoring-the-atmosphere/aerosols-and-climate.html

5 - A CLOUDLESS-SKY ATMOSPHERE AND ITS OPTICS

5.6 Relative Optical Path Length, Relative Optical Mass m

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