The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations
Cloud optical properties such as optical thickness along with surface albedo are important inputs for deriving the shortwave radiative effects of clouds from spaceborne remote sensing. Owing to insufficient knowledge about the snow or ice surface in the Arctic, cloud detection and the retrieval prod...
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:amt80069 2023-05-15T13:10:43+02:00 The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations Chen, Hong Schmidt, Sebastian King, Michael D. Wind, Galina Bucholtz, Anthony Reid, Elizabeth A. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal Smith, William L. Taylor, Patrick C. Kato, Seiji Pilewskie, Peter 2021-04-07 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2673-2021 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/2673/2021/ eng eng doi:10.5194/amt-14-2673-2021 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/2673/2021/ eISSN: 1867-8548 Text 2021 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2673-2021 2021-04-12T16:22:14Z Cloud optical properties such as optical thickness along with surface albedo are important inputs for deriving the shortwave radiative effects of clouds from spaceborne remote sensing. Owing to insufficient knowledge about the snow or ice surface in the Arctic, cloud detection and the retrieval products derived from passive remote sensing, such as from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), are difficult to obtain with adequate accuracy – especially for low-level thin clouds, which are ubiquitous in the Arctic. This study aims at evaluating the spectral and broadband irradiance calculated from MODIS-derived cloud properties in the Arctic using aircraft measurements collected during the Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE), specifically using the upwelling and downwelling shortwave spectral and broadband irradiance measured by the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) and the BroadBand Radiometer system (BBR). This starts with the derivation of surface albedo from SSFR and BBR, accounting for the heterogeneous surface in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) with aircraft camera imagery, followed by subsequent intercomparisons of irradiance measurements and radiative transfer calculations in the presence of thin clouds. It ends with an attribution of any biases we found to causes, based on the spectral dependence and the variations in the measured and calculated irradiance along the flight track. The spectral surface albedo derived from the airborne radiometers is consistent with prior ground-based and airborne measurements and adequately represents the surface variability for the study region and time period. Somewhat surprisingly, the primary error in MODIS-derived irradiance fields for this study stems from undetected clouds, rather than from the retrieved cloud properties. In our case study, about 27 % of clouds remained undetected, which is attributable to clouds with an optical thickness of less than 0.5. We conclude that passive imagery has the potential to accurately predict shortwave irradiances in the region if the detection of thin clouds is improved. Of at least equal importance, however, is the need for an operational imagery-based surface albedo product for the polar regions that adequately captures its temporal, spatial, and spectral variability to estimate cloud radiative effects from spaceborne remote sensing. Text albedo Arctic Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Atmospheric Measurement Techniques 14 4 2673 2697 |
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Open Polar |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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ftcopernicus |
language |
English |
description |
Cloud optical properties such as optical thickness along with surface albedo are important inputs for deriving the shortwave radiative effects of clouds from spaceborne remote sensing. Owing to insufficient knowledge about the snow or ice surface in the Arctic, cloud detection and the retrieval products derived from passive remote sensing, such as from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), are difficult to obtain with adequate accuracy – especially for low-level thin clouds, which are ubiquitous in the Arctic. This study aims at evaluating the spectral and broadband irradiance calculated from MODIS-derived cloud properties in the Arctic using aircraft measurements collected during the Arctic Radiation-IceBridge Sea and Ice Experiment (ARISE), specifically using the upwelling and downwelling shortwave spectral and broadband irradiance measured by the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR) and the BroadBand Radiometer system (BBR). This starts with the derivation of surface albedo from SSFR and BBR, accounting for the heterogeneous surface in the marginal ice zone (MIZ) with aircraft camera imagery, followed by subsequent intercomparisons of irradiance measurements and radiative transfer calculations in the presence of thin clouds. It ends with an attribution of any biases we found to causes, based on the spectral dependence and the variations in the measured and calculated irradiance along the flight track. The spectral surface albedo derived from the airborne radiometers is consistent with prior ground-based and airborne measurements and adequately represents the surface variability for the study region and time period. Somewhat surprisingly, the primary error in MODIS-derived irradiance fields for this study stems from undetected clouds, rather than from the retrieved cloud properties. In our case study, about 27 % of clouds remained undetected, which is attributable to clouds with an optical thickness of less than 0.5. We conclude that passive imagery has the potential to accurately predict shortwave irradiances in the region if the detection of thin clouds is improved. Of at least equal importance, however, is the need for an operational imagery-based surface albedo product for the polar regions that adequately captures its temporal, spatial, and spectral variability to estimate cloud radiative effects from spaceborne remote sensing. |
format |
Text |
author |
Chen, Hong Schmidt, Sebastian King, Michael D. Wind, Galina Bucholtz, Anthony Reid, Elizabeth A. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal Smith, William L. Taylor, Patrick C. Kato, Seiji Pilewskie, Peter |
spellingShingle |
Chen, Hong Schmidt, Sebastian King, Michael D. Wind, Galina Bucholtz, Anthony Reid, Elizabeth A. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal Smith, William L. Taylor, Patrick C. Kato, Seiji Pilewskie, Peter The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
author_facet |
Chen, Hong Schmidt, Sebastian King, Michael D. Wind, Galina Bucholtz, Anthony Reid, Elizabeth A. Segal-Rozenhaimer, Michal Smith, William L. Taylor, Patrick C. Kato, Seiji Pilewskie, Peter |
author_sort |
Chen, Hong |
title |
The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
title_short |
The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
title_full |
The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
title_fullStr |
The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
title_sort |
effect of low-level thin arctic clouds on shortwave irradiance: evaluation of estimates from spaceborne passive imagery with aircraft observations |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2673-2021 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/2673/2021/ |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
albedo Arctic |
genre_facet |
albedo Arctic |
op_source |
eISSN: 1867-8548 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/amt-14-2673-2021 https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/14/2673/2021/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2673-2021 |
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Atmospheric Measurement Techniques |
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14 |
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4 |
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2673 |
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2697 |
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1766240030457593856 |