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    Radiative budget and cloud radiative effect over the Atlantic from ship-based observations
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2012) Kalisch, J.; Macke, A.
    The aim of this study is to determine cloud-type resolved cloud radiative budgets and cloud radiative effects from surface measurements of broadband radiative fluxes over the Atlantic Ocean. Furthermore, based on simultaneous observations of the state of the cloudy atmosphere, a radiative closure study has been performed by means of the ECHAM5 single column model in order to identify the model's ability to realistically reproduce the effects of clouds on the climate system. An extensive database of radiative and atmospheric measurements has been established along five meridional cruises of the German research icebreaker Polarstern. Besides pyranometer and pyrgeometer for downward broadband solar and thermal radiative fluxes, a sky imager and a microwave radiometer have been utilized to determine cloud fraction and cloud type on the one hand and temperature and humidity profiles as well as liquid water path for warm non-precipitating clouds on the other hand. Averaged over all cruise tracks, we obtain a total net (solar + thermal) radiative flux of 144 W m−2 that is dominated by the solar component. In general, the solar contribution is large for cirrus clouds and small for stratus clouds. No significant meridional dependencies were found for the surface radiation budgets and cloud effects. The strongest surface longwave cloud effects were shown in the presence of low level clouds. Clouds with a high optical density induce strong negative solar radiative effects under high solar altitudes. The mean surface net cloud radiative effect is −33 W m−2. For the purpose of quickly estimating the mean surface longwave, shortwave and net cloud effects in moderate, subtropical and tropical climate regimes, a new parameterisation was created, considering the total cloud amount and the solar zenith angle. The ECHAM5 single column model provides a surface net cloud effect that is more cooling by 17 W m−2 compared to the radiation observations. This overestimation in solar cooling is mostly caused by the shortwave impact of convective clouds. The latter show a large overestimation in solar cooling of up to 114 W m−2. Mean cloud radiative effects of cirrus and stratus clouds were simulated close to the observations.
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    Radiative effects of the cloudy atmosphere from ground and satellite based observations
    (Les Ulis : EDP Sciences, 2010) Macke, A.; Kalisch, J.; Zoll, Y.; Bumke, K.
    The radiation budget from surface observations and parameterizations is combined with that from satellite observations along the cruise tracks of the German icebreaker POLARSTERN in the North and South Atlantic under tropical, subtropical and mid-latitude conditions. Between 2008 and 2010 The German Leibniz-network OCEANET participated in six transfers from or to Bremerhaven, Germany to or from Punta Arenas, Southern Chile or Cape Town, South Africa. The present chapter introduces exemplarily the atmospheric measurements and resulting radiation products. The following properties are derived: Standard meteorological data, broadband downward solar and thermal irradiances, underwater profiles of spectral irradiance, latent and sensible heat fluxes, humidity and temperature profiles, water vapour and liquid water path, aerosol optical thickness and vertical profiles of aerosol optical thickness, cloud cover and cloud type. Cloud radiative effects at the surface have been determined for different marine cloud types. Together with top-of-atmosphere radiation fluxes from the SEVIRI radiometer onboard METEOSAT, the effect of clouds on atmospheric heating or cooling have been determined. The resulting cloud/radiation correlations will help to quantify the effects of clouds on the surface, ToA- and atmospheric radiation budget and to evaluate the ability of climate models to simulate these effects. © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2010.