Radiation budget

METR280
Satellite Meteorology/Climatology

Professor Menglin Jin

Radiation budget
 Basic definitions
 Some problems with measuring radiation budget
using satellites
 Satellites/sensors which have been used to measure
radiation budget
 Solar constant
 Top of atmosphere radiation budget
 Surface Radiation Budget
 Global-scale ERB climatologies
Problems
 Problems with measuring radiation budget
components
• Inverse problem
• Diurnal problem
• Spectral correction problem
• Angular dependence problem
Satellites/sensors
 Satellites/sensors
• NOAA polar orbiters
– Reflected SWR (0.5-0.7 m)
– LWR (TIR) (10.5-12.5 m)
• Nimbus 6 and 7 (‘75-’78 and ‘78-’87)
– Earth Radiation Budget instrument
– 0.2-3.8 m (SWR) and 0.2-50 m (broadl)
– LWR = Broad - SWR
• Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
– ERBS and NOAA 9 and 10
Satellites/sensors
 EOS program (NASA)
• TERRA (EOS AM)
– Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES)
– ToA radiation budget
– Cloud height, amount, particle size
– Next generation ERBE

– Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR)

– Surface planetary albedo measurements
– Multiangle measurements
Satellites/sensors
 Terra
• Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
– Surface temperature*
– Snow cover and reflectance*
– Cloud cover with 250m resolution by day and 1,000m
resolution at night*
– Cloud properties*
– Aerosol properties*
– Fire occurrence, size, and temperature
– Cirrus cloud cover*
 Multifrequency Imaging Microwave Radiometer
(MIMR)
• Similar to ESMR, SMMR, SSM/I
– Products
– Precipitation, soil moisture*
– Ice and snow cover*
– SST*
– Oceanic wind speed
– Atmospheric cloud water content and water vapor*

*Significant to radiation budget

Radiation budget
 Solar constant
• The average annual irradiance received outside the
Earth’s atmosphere on a surface normal to the incident
radiation and at the Earth’s mean distance from Sun.
• Roughly 1370 Wm-2
• Interannual variation of 0.2 Wm-2, but annual variation
of 3 Wm-2
 Top of atmosphere radiation budget
• We want to know the SW radiate exitance (MSW) and
LW radiant exitance (MLW), a.k.a. Outgoing Longwave
Radiation
Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance
Monitors
Class Participation

If solar constant is 1370W/m2

What is

Incident solar radiaiton?

http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/
static/cahalan/Radiation/NoCloud.html
Radiation budget
 Surface radiation budget
• Must make corrections for the atmosphere
• Components
– Downwelling SWR (insolation)
– Upwelling SWR (reflected)
– Downwelling LWR (atmospheric emission)
– Upwelling LWR (terrestrial emission)
• Net radiation is the sum of the components
Satellites detect the radiation emitted by the Earth +
reflected solar radiation, modified by the
atmosphere
 Instantaneous Fluxes at TOA
and Angular Distribution Models
CERES Radiance Measurement TOA Flux Estimate SW
LW
WN

Satellite

Z Nadir
(radiance direction)

Sun
•
q
qo

θo: Solar zenith angle. f

θ: Zenith angle of the radiance. Range: 0-180.; 0 for straight-up; 90 for
horizon; and 180 for straight-down.
φ: Relative azimuth angle of radiance.
Range: 0-360.; 0 as forward scattering; 180 as back scattering.
Solar zenith angle
 • Downwelling SWR
– Three possible fates

Solar irradiance ToA albedo Surface albedo

 sun E sun   sun E sun A  E atm  (1 Asfc ) Esfc

cos() Energy absorbed by atmosphere

Downwelling SWR irradiance at surface
Solar insolation Reflected radiance Atm. absorp.
ToA insolation = reflected at top of atm. + absorbed by atm. + downwelling SWR at surface
 sun E sun   L  E atm
E
• cos(): cosinesfc 
of the solar zenith angle
1 Asfc
• irradiance: A radiant flux density incident on some area (Wm ) -2

• We’re interested in Esfc

• Assuming isotropic reflection (same amount of reflection in every direction)...
This figure was prepared by Robert A. Rohde
Radiance at the Top of the Atmosphere
(TOA) (GOME Measurement):
Radiation budget
• Upwelling SWR (reflected)
– Product of surface albedo (Asfc) and the
downwelling SWR at the surface (Esfc)
– Surface albedo is the key
– How do we account for cloud cover
– Monthly minimum surface albedo
Radiation budget
• Downwelling LWR (atmospheric emission)
– Depends on:
– Temperature profile of atmosphere
– Moisture profile of atmosphere
– Type and amount of cloud cover
– Soundings (radiosonde or satellite sounder)
• Upwelling LWR (terrestrial emission)
– Little reflected, nearly all emission
– Need to know surface temperature and emissivity of
surface
Klein et al., 2002
 White Sky Spectral Albedo
7 - 22 April, 2002

NIR (0.1-0.4) Red (0.0-0.16) Blue (0.0-0.18)

(NASA M. D. King)
No Data
 CMG Broadband White-Sky Albedo (0.3-5.0m)
14 - 29 September, 2001

No Data 0.0 0.2 0.4+

 CMG Broadband White-Sky Albedo (0.3-5.0m)
1 - 16 January, 2002

No Data 0.0 0.2 0.4+

 CMG Broadband White-Sky Albedo (0.3-5.0m)
18 February - 5 March, 2002

No Data 0.0 0.2 0.4+

 CMG Broadband White-Sky Albedo (0.3-5.0m)
7 - 22 April, 2002

No Data 0.0 0.2 0.4+

Radiation budget
• Net radiation
– Can simply sum the four components
– Better to retrieve directly
– Visible brightness highly related to surface net
radiation
The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE)
 Incident solar radiaiton

Absorbed solar S↓(TOA) = 340*(1-α)= 290

Emitted Infrared
F↑(TOA) = 270 Cnet(TOA)=-20
Csolar(TOA)=-50 & CIR(TOA)=+30 http://climate.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Cloud feedback creats ΔCnet static/cahalan/Radiation/NoCloud.html
ERB climatologies
 Global-scale ERB climatologies
• Includes effects of surface and atmosphere

ToA net radiation Planetary albedo

N  (1  Ap ) Q  I
Net LWR flux

Fraction of energy Incoming solar flux

absorbed by clouds,
atm. and surface
ERB climatologies
• Planetary albedo
– Changes in surface albedo (greening of vegetation,
snow cover, sea ice)
– Changes in cloud cover
– 0.30 (Stephens and others, 1981)
– 0.31 (Ohring and Gruber, 1983)
• LWR flux
– Same as OLR (little incoming LWR)
– Goverened by surface temperature and cloud cover
• Global ToA net radiation: close to 0
Cloud forcing
 Cloud forcing
• Cloud are the primary moderator of the short and
longwave radiation streams
• How do changes in cloud cover affect climate?
Cloud forcing

Net rad. heating Planetary albedo

H  (1  A p ) Q  F
Net LWR
emittance

Fraction of energy Incoming solar flux

absorbed by clouds,
atm. and surface

C  H  H clr H under clear skies

C  Q ( Aclr  A)  (Fclr  F )

Effect of cloud forcing

Cloud Forcing
 Cloud forcing (sometimes described as cloud
radiative forcing) is the difference between the
radiation budget components for average cloud
conditions and cloud-free conditions.
 Clouds increase the global reflection of solar
radiation from 15 to 30%, reducing the amount of
solar radiation absorbed by the Earth by about 44
W/m².
Cloud forcing
• Effect of cloud forcing
– Clear sky radiative heating (Fclr) peaks in tropics and
decreases toward poles
– Clear sky albedo (Aclr) peaks in tropics but also has
large negative values in mid latitudes
– Total cloud forcing is near 0 in tropics
– Effects are greatest (and negative) with low stratus
clouds off west coasts of continents
– Primarily negative over most of mid to high latitudes
– Effects are positive over Sahara and Sahel