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

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Abstract

Radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument are fundamental variables for understanding the Earth's energy balance and how it changes with time. TOA radiative fluxes are derived from the CERES radiance measurements using empirical angular distribution models (ADMs). This paper evaluates the accuracy of CERES TOA fluxes using direct integration and flux consistency tests. Direct integration tests show that the overall bias in regional monthly mean TOA shortwave (SW) flux is less than 0.2 Wm -2 and the RMSE is less than 1.1 Wm -2. The bias and RMSE are very similar between Terra and Aqua. The bias in regional monthly mean TOA LW fluxes is less than 0.5 Wm -2 and the RMSE is less than 0.8 Wm -2 for both Terra and Aqua. The accuracy of the TOA instantaneous flux is assessed by performing tests using fluxes inverted from nadir- and oblique-viewing angles using CERES along-track observations and temporally and spatially matched MODIS observations, and using fluxes inverted from multi-angle MISR observations. The averaged TOA instantaneous SW flux uncertainties from these two tests are about 2.3 % (1.9 Wm -2) over clear ocean, 1.6 % (4.5 Wm -2) over clear land, and 2.0 % (6.0 Wm -2) over clear snow/ice; and are about 3.3 % (9.0 Wm -2), 2.7 % (8.4 Wm -2), and 3.7 % (9.9 Wm -2) over ocean, land, and snow/ice under all-sky conditions. The TOA SW flux uncertainties are generally larger for thin broken clouds than for moderate and thick overcast clouds. The TOA instantaneous daytime LW flux uncertainties derived from the CERES-MODIS test are 0.5 % (1.5 Wm -2), 0.8 % (2.4 Wm -2), and 0.7 % (1.3 Wm -2) over clear ocean, land, and snow/ice; and are about 1.5 % (3.5 Wm -2), 1.0 % (2.9 Wm -2), and 1.1 % (2.1 Wm -2) over ocean, land, and snow/ice under all-sky conditions. The TOA instantaneous nighttime LW flux uncertainties are about 0.5-1 % (< 2.0 Wm -2) for all surface types. Flux uncertainties caused by errors in scene identification are also assessed by using the collocated CALIPSO, CloudSat, CERES and MODIS data product. Errors in scene identification tend to underestimate TOA SW flux by about 0.6 Wm -2 and overestimate TOA daytime (nighttime) LW flux by 0.4 (0.2) Wm -2 when all CERES viewing angles are considered.

Figures

  • Figure 1. Probability distributions of aerosol optical depth retrieved from Ed4SSF using Terra measurements from 2000 to 2005 for θ0= 34– 36◦. (a) For glint angle > 40◦, the AOD threshold values are 0.066 and 0.12 for coarse-mode-like aerosols and are 0.094 and 0.207 for fine-mode-like aerosols. (b) For glint angle ≤ 40◦, the AOD threshold values are 0.056 and 0.124.
  • Figure 2. The rms error between normalized measured radiances and normalized ADM-predicted radiances, (a) using ADMs from Loeb et al. (2005), and (b) using the new ADMs. All clear-sky footprints from Terra RAP measurements in 2002 were used.
  • Figure 3. Relationship between SW radiances and ln(f τ̃ ) over ocean using CERES Terra measurements. (a) for liquid cloud in the angular bin of θ0= 44–46 ◦, θ = 18–20◦, and φ= 88–90◦ and (b) for ice cloud in the angular bin of θ0= 54–56 ◦, θ = 14–16◦, and φ= 176–178◦. Colored dots are instantaneous SW radiances; black dots are mean SW radiances calculated for each 0.02 intervals of ln(f τ̃ ). Black lines are the sigmoidal fits.
  • Figure 4. Cumulative distributions of the relative rms errors for the sigmoidal fits over cloudy ocean using CERES Terra measurements.
  • Figure 5. CERES SW anisotropic factors over ocean in the principal plane for (a) liquid clouds with different ln(f τ̃ ) values, (b) clouds of different phases with ln(f τ̃ )= 6. Anisotropic factors are derived for θ0= 44–46 ◦ based upon 60 months of CERES Terra measurements.
  • Figure 6. CERES SW anisotropic factors in the principal plane for a region centered at 6.5◦ S and −59.5◦W for (a) July and (b) September for θ0= 24 ◦ for all available NDVI bins. Anisotropic factors are derived based upon 60 months of CERES Terra measurements over clear CERES footprints.
  • Table 1. The rms error (%) between normalized measured radiances and ADM-predicted radiances over clear-sky land. Two versions of CERES ADMs are used (Loeb and New). The new ADM results are stratified into two populations by using the median aerosol optical depth (AODm) of each 1 ◦ by 1◦ region.
  • Figure 7. The rms error between normalized measured radiances and normalized ADM-predicted radiances for clear-sky land, (a) using ADMs from Loeb et al. (2005), (b) using the new ADMs, (c) using the new ADMs only for footprints with AODs less than the median AOD, and (d) using the new ADMs only for footprints with AODs greater than the median AOD.

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Su, W., Corbett, J., Eitzen, Z., & Liang, L. (2015). Next-generation angular distribution models for top-of-atmosphere radiative flux calculation from CERES instruments: Validation. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 8(8), 3297–3313. https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3297-2015

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