Next-generation angular distribution models for top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from CERES instruments: methodology

Su, Wenying; Corbett, J.; Eitzen, Zachary A.; Liang, Lusheng

doi:10.5194/amt-8-611-2015

Cited by 132 publications

(151 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The LW fluxes showed much less sensitivity to cloud property changes than the SW fluxes, especially over the Arctic Ocean where cloud optical depth changed significantly. This is because the LW ADMs over the snow-ice surfaces have very little sensitivity to cloud optical depth (Su et al, 2015a), but they were developed for discrete cloud fraction intervals, and larger flux changes are noted in regions experiencing large cloud fraction changes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here scene type is a combination of variables (e.g., surface type, cloud fraction, cloud optical depth, cloud phase, aerosol optical depth, precipitable water, lapse rate) that are used to group the data to develop distinct angular distribution models (ADMs). Note that the SW ADMs are developed as a function of θ 0 , θ, φ for each scene type, whereas the LW ADMs are a weak function of θ 0 and φ and are developed only as a function of θ Su et al, 2015a).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Terra ADMs and Aqua ADMs were developed separately using multi-year CERES Terra and Aqua measurements in RAP mode and in cross-track mode using the scene identification information from Terra MODIS and Aqua MODIS Su et al, 2015a). The high-resolution MODIS imager provides cloud conditions for every CERES footprint.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, the Edition 4 Aqua ADMs (Su et al, 2015a) are used to invert fluxes for the CERES measurements on NPP. The CERES footprint size on NPP is larger than that on Aqua.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of different footprint sizes and cloud algorithms on the top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP)

Liang

Miller

et al. 2017

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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Abstract. Only one Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument is onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) and it has been placed in cross-track mode since launch; it is thus not possible to construct a set of angular distribution models (ADMs) specific for CERES on NPP. Edition 4 Aqua ADMs are used for flux inversions for NPP CERES measurements. However, the footprint size of NPP CERES is greater than that of Aqua CERES, as the altitude of the NPP orbit is higher than that of the Aqua orbit. Furthermore, cloud retrievals from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which are the imagers sharing the spacecraft with NPP CERES and Aqua CERES, are also different. To quantify the flux uncertainties due to the footprint size difference between Aqua CERES and NPP CERES, and due to both the footprint size difference and cloud property difference, a simulation is designed using the MODIS pixel-level data, which are convolved with the Aqua CERES and NPP CERES point spread functions (PSFs) into their respective footprints. The simulation is designed to isolate the effects of footprint size and cloud property differences on flux uncertainty from calibration and orbital differences between NPP CERES and Aqua CERES. The footprint size difference between Aqua CERES and NPP CERES introduces instantaneous flux uncertainties in monthly gridded NPP CERES measurements of less than 4.0 W m −2 for SW (shortwave) and less than 1.0 W m −2 for both daytime and nighttime LW (longwave). The global monthly mean instantaneous SW flux from simulated NPP CERES has a low bias of 0.4 W m −2 when compared to simulated Aqua CERES, and the root-mean-square (RMS) error is 2.2 W m −2 between them; the biases of daytime and nighttime LW flux are close to zero with RMS errors of 0.8 and 0.2 W m −2 . These uncertainties are within the uncertainties of CERES ADMs. When both footprint size and cloud property (cloud fraction and optical depth) differences are considered, the uncertainties of monthly gridded NPP CERES SW flux can be up to 20 W m −2 in the Arctic regions where cloud optical depth retrievals from VIIRS differ significantly from MODIS. The global monthly mean instantaneous SW flux from simulated NPP CERES has a high bias of 1.1 W m −2 and the RMS error increases to 5.2 W m −2 . LW flux shows less sensitivity to cloud property differences than SW flux, with uncertainties of about 2 W m −2 in the monthly gridded LW flux, and the RMS errors of global monthly mean daytime and nighttime fluxes increase only slightly. These results highlight the importance of consistent cloud retrieval algorithms to maintain the accuracy and stability of the CERES climate data record.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, the Edition 4 Aqua ADMs (Su et al, 2015a) are used to invert fluxes for the CERES measurements on NPP. The CERES footprint size on NPP is larger than that on Aqua.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of different footprint sizes and cloud algorithms on the top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP)

Liang

Miller

et al. 2017

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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“…The dominance of this leading spatio-temporal pattern, despite being consistent with observations from the ERBS (Rutan et al 2014), is somewhat surprising given that the TOA albedo is a quantity normalized by the amount of incoming solar radiation. This dominance indicates a strong dependence of the TOA albedo on 275 the SZA itself that has been well documented in empirically-based angular distribution models (Loeb et al, 2003;Loeb et al, 2005;Su et al, 2015), but warrants further investigation into the physical processes at play.…”

Section: From Model Output 270mentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into the diurnal cycle of global Earth outgoing radiation using a numerical weather prediction model

Gristey¹,

Gurney²,

Morcrette³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract.A globally-complete, high-temporal resolution and multiple-variable approach is employed to analyse the diurnal cycle of Earth's outgoing energy flows. This is made possible via the use of Met Office model output for September 2010 that is assessed alongside regional satellite observations throughout. Principal component analysis applied to the longwave component of modelled outgoing radiation reveals dominant diurnal patterns related to land surface heating and convective cloud development, respectively explaining 68.5 % and 16.0 % of the variance at the global scale. The total variance explained 15 by these first two patterns is markedly less than previous regional estimates from observations, and this analysis suggests that around half of the difference relates to the lack of global coverage in the observations. The first pattern is strongly and simultaneously coupled to the land surface temperature diurnal variations. The second pattern is strongly coupled to the cloud water content and height diurnal variations, but lags the cloud variations by several hours. We suggest that the mechanism controlling the delay is a moistening of the upper troposphere due to the evaporation of anvil cloud. The shortwave component 20 of modelled outgoing radiation, analysed in terms of albedo, exhibits a very dominant pattern explaining 88.4 % of the variance that is related to the angle of incoming solar radiation, and a second pattern explaining 6.7 % of the variance that is related to compensating effects from convective cloud development and marine stratocumulus cloud dissipation. Similar patterns are found to exist in regional satellite observations. The first pattern is controlled by changes in surface and cloud albedo, and Rayleigh and aerosol scattering. The second pattern is strongly coupled to the diurnal variations in both cloud water content 25 and height in convective regions but only cloud water content in marine stratocumulus regions, with substantially shorter lag times compared with the longwave counterpart. This indicates that the shortwave radiation response to diurnal cloud development and dissipation is more rapid, which is found to be robust in the regional satellite observations. These global, diurnal radiation patterns and their coupling with other geophysical variables demonstrate the process level understanding that can be gained using this approach and highlight a need for global, diurnal observing systems for Earth outgoing radiation in 30 the future.Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi

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On the relative stability of CERES reflected shortwave and MISR and MODIS visible radiance measurements during the Terra satellite mission

Corbett

Loeb

2015

JGR Atmospheres

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Fifteen years of visible, near‐infrared, and broadband shortwave radiance measurements from Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), Multiangle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR), and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on board NASA's Terra satellite are analyzed in order to assess their long‐term relative stability for climate purposes. A regression‐based approach between CERES, MODIS, and MISR (An camera only) reflectances is used to calculate the bias between the different reflectances relative to a reference year. When compared to the CERES shortwave broadband reflectance, relative drift between the MISR narrowbands is within 1% decade−1. Compared to the CERES shortwave reflectance, the MODIS narrowband reflectances show a relative drift of less than −1.33% decade−1. When compared to MISR, the MODIS reflectances show a relative drift of between −0.36% decade−1 and −2.66% decade−1. We show that the CERES Terra SW measurements are stable over the time period relative to CERES Aqua. Using this as evidence that CERES Terra may be absolutely stable, we suggest that the CERES, MISR, and MODIS instruments meet the radiometric stability goals for climate applications set out in Ohring et al. (2005).

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Next-generation angular distribution models for top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from CERES instruments: methodology

Cited by 132 publications

References 57 publications

The effects of different footprint sizes and cloud algorithms on the top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP)

The effects of different footprint sizes and cloud algorithms on the top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument on Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP)

Insights into the diurnal cycle of global Earth outgoing radiation using a numerical weather prediction model

On the relative stability of CERES reflected shortwave and MISR and MODIS visible radiance measurements during the Terra satellite mission

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