The 23rd Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology

10E.6
RADIATION FLUXES IN A TROPICAL CLOUD CLUSTER RETRIEVED FROM AIRBORNE RADAR DATA. PART II: THREE-DIMENSIONAL RADIATIVE HEATING AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Chidong Zhang, RSMAS/University of Miami, Miami, FL; and G. Gu

The first part of this study shows that radiation fluxes in a tropical cloud cluster retrieved from airborne radar data compare well to in situ observations. This lends encouragement to use the retrieved radiation fluxes to calculate three-dimensional cloud radiative heating/cooling fields. The results demonstrate that cloud infrared (IR) cooling is mainly concentrated to the very top part of the cloud. The rest of the cloud and the area underneath the cloud are heated by the cloud green-house effect. The solar heating, on the other hand, is able to extend into a deeper layer from the cloud top. The lower part of the cloud and the area underneath the cloud are cooled due to solar reflection and absorption by the cloud. The magnitudes of IR cooling and solar heating near the cloud top are much larger than IR heating and solar cooling below. The mean cloud radiative heating/cooling profiles for a cloud region depend on the distribution of cloud-top heights within the region. In a region where cloud-top height varies substantially, mean cloud IR cooling is weak, while cloud cooling near the surface and heating aloft due to solar radiation remain strong. When the radiative heating profiles are averaged over the entire region under study containing both cloud and clear sky, the regional mean solar heating profile deviates considerably from the clear-sky mean profile, while the regional mean IR heating profile is similar to the clear-sky mean profile. It is concluded that the radiative effect of cloud on the large-scale environment sensitively depends the cloud population and fractional coverage in the region under consideration

The 23rd Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology