Broadband Radiative Fluxes Computed from NASA Langley SatCORPS Global Cloud Composite Dataset

The NASA Langley Satellite Cloud and Radiation Property Retrieval System (SatCORPS) is a comprehensive set of algorithms designed to derive global cloud information by exploiting imagery data from operational geostationary and polar-orbiting meteorological satellites. The SatCORPS Global Cloud Composite dataset (GCC) is a high-resolution 3 km cloud property dataset derived from multi-satellite observations operating around the globe. The GCC 3 km cloud properties are incorporated into the NASA Langley version of Fu-Liou radiative transfer model (RTM) to calculate hourly broadband radiative fluxes at the surface (SFC), top of the atmosphere (TOA) and interior of the atmosphere (ATM). The radiation budget of SFC, TOA or ATM plays an important role in regulating and advancing our understanding of the energy balance of the earth system. Radiative flux is controlled by many complex processes involving clouds, the atmosphere, and the earth’s surface. The GCC cloud properties from SatCORPS and the atmospheric profiles and surface properties from the SatCORPS processing system enable the calculation of global high spatiotemporal radiative fluxes. In this study, the broadband radiative fluxes for the downwelling and upwelling components of solar shortwave (SW) and thermal infrared longwave (LW) irradiances were calculated using the NASA Langley Fu-Liou RTM. The fluxes are calculated at 3 km and 20 km spatial resolution. Due to the long calculation time, 3 km is only applicable to the specified area, while 20 km is applicable globally. Since global fluxes are usually computed at a coarser resolution based on domain-averaged cloud optical properties, the high-resolution 3 km and 20 km fluxes will be used to explore the accuracy of domain-averaged flux calculations when the domain-averaged cloud optical properties are used in RTM. In addition, the 3 km and 20 km fluxes are evaluated respectively by comparison with other radiative flux data and irradiance measurements, such as the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) Synoptic One-degree (SYN1deg) data and Surface Radiation Budget Network (SURFRAD) data.