 |
| Titel |
Influence of cloud edges on atmospheric radiative transfer and its consequences for satellite retrievals |
| VerfasserIn |
Holger Sihler, Steffen Beirle, Tim Deutschmann, Christoph Hörmann, Marloes Penning de Vries, Thomas Wagner |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2014
|
| Medientyp |
Artikel
|
| Sprache |
Englisch
|
| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 16 (2014) |
| Datensatznummer |
250099008
|
| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2014-14745.pdf |
|
|
|
|
|
| Zusammenfassung |
| Clouds have a strong influence on satellite measurements in general and the analysis of
absorbing trace gases and aerosol optical depth in particular. Effects of 3D features like
spatial heterogeneities and structured cloud boundaries increase when the spatial
resolution of the instruments approaches the dimensions of cloud features and if
the vertical and horizontal dimensions of clouds are similar: at coarser resolution
opposing effects average out, at finer resolution 3D effects may be fully resolved.
Hence, measurements by future satellite-borne spectrometers, like the Tropospheric
Monitoring Experiment (TROPOMI) designed to resolve horizontal features of 7x7
km2, will be strongly influenced by 3D cloud effects. This type of spectrometer is
primarily used to measure trace gases, but aerosol properties may be retrieved as
well.
In this study, the influence of important 3D effects on atmospheric radiative transfer are
investigated using Monte Carlo simulations: effects of cloud shadows, illuminated cloud sides
and structured cloud boundaries. We discuss the influence on trace gas retrievals, cloud
fractions, and aerosol optical thickness. Additionally, the influence of cloud parameters (e.g.
cloud top height, cloud optical density) and observation geometry will be studied. Special
emphasis is put on visualising the different effects using the box air-mass factor concept. |
|
|
|
|
|
|