P2.2
Using CERES SYN Product to Investigate the Diurnal Cycle
Patrick Taylor, LRC, Hampton, VA; and N. Loeb
The diurnal cycle of precipitation is poorly represented in climate models. As a result, models likely misrepresent the diurnal cycle of cloud types and the associated cloud radiative effects (CREs). This effect can produce instantaneous errors in the shortwave CRE exceeding -100 W m-2 for an error in the time of convective maximum of only 2 hours. This represents the need to characterize the diurnal cycle of cloud types and CREs, in a manner adequate to test climate models. The Cloud and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) provides a Synoptic (SYN) product available at 3-hourly intervals including all sky and clear sky top of atmosphere, surface, and atmospheric fluxes and cloud properties. In this research, we use the CERES SYN data product to provide a diurnal cycle composite of tropical radiative fluxes. Further, the diurnal cycle of CERES SYN radiative fluxes and cloud properties will be sorted into dynamical regime using 500-hPa vertical velocities from the ECMWF interim reanalysis to provide a meaningful comparison with climate models.
Poster Session 2, Radiation Poster Session II: Remote Sensing Applications
Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 5:30 PM-8:30 PM, Exhibit Hall
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