0000000000241418
AUTHOR
G. Wind
Apparent absorption of solar spectral irradiance in heterogeneous ice clouds
[1] Coordinated flight legs of two aircraft above and below extended ice clouds played an important role in the Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling Experiment (Costa Rica, 2007). The Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer measured up- and downward irradiance on the high-altitude (ER-2) and the low-altitude (DC-8) aircraft, which allowed deriving apparent absorption on a point-by-point basis along the flight track. Apparent absorption is the vertical divergence of irradiance, calculated from the difference of net flux at the top and bottom of a cloud. While this is the only practical method of deriving absorption from aircraft radiation measurements, it differs from true absorption when…
Comparing irradiance fields derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer airborne simulator cirrus cloud retrievals with solar spectral flux radiometer measurements
[1] During the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers–Florida Area Cirrus Experiment, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) airborne simulator (MAS) and the solar spectral flux radiometer (SSFR) operated on the same aircraft, the NASA ER-2. While MAS provided two-dimensional horizontal fields of cloud optical thickness and effective ice particle radius, the SSFR measured spectral irradiance in the visible to near-infrared wavelength range (0.3–1.7 μm). The MAS retrievals, along with vertical profiles from a combined radar/lidar system on board the same aircraft were used to construct three-dimensional cloud fields, which were input into Monte Carlo ra…