Air truth validation of cloud albedo estimated from NOAA advanced very high resolution radiometer data

Hayasaka, Tadahiro; Kuji, Makoto; Tanaka, Masayuki

doi:10.1029/94jd00964

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…In situ measurements from aircraft can give instantaneous cloud albedo estimates, but are limited in space, time, and viewing angle. Such estimates vary widely within as well as between experiments, ranging from 0.1 to 0.9, with an average around 0.4-0.5 (see, e.g., Robinson 1958;Griggs 1968;Salomonson and Marlatt 1968;Hayasaka et al 1994;Peng et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Quantification of Monthly Mean Regional-Scale Albedo of Marine Stratiform Clouds in Satellite Observations and GCMs

Bender¹,

Charlson²,

Ekman³

et al. 2011

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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Planetary albedo-the reflectivity for solar radiation-is of singular importance in determining the amount of solar energy taken in by the Earth-atmosphere system. Modeling albedo, and specifically cloud albedo, correctly is crucial for realistic climate simulations. A method is presented herein by which regional cloud albedo can be quantified from the relation between total albedo and cloud fraction, which in observations is found to be approximately linear on a monthly mean scale. This analysis is based primarily on the combination of cloud fraction data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and albedo data from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES), but the results presented are also supported by the combination of cloud fraction and proxy albedo data from satelliteborne lidar [Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO)]. These data are measured and derived completely independently from the CERES-MODIS data. Applied to low-level marine stratiform clouds in three regions (off the coasts of South America, Africa, and North America), the analysis reveals regionally uniform monthly mean cloud albedos, indicating that the variation in cloud shortwave radiative properties is small on this scale. A coherent picture of low ''effective'' cloud albedo emerges, in the range from 0.35 to 0.42, on the basis of data from CERES and MODIS. In its simplicity, the method presented appears to be useful as a diagnostic tool and as a constraint on climate models. To demonstrate this, the same method is applied to cloud fraction and albedo output from several current-generation climate models [from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, phase 3 (CMIP3), archive]. Although the multimodel mean cloud albedo estimates agree to within 20% with the satellite-based estimates for the three focus regions, model-based estimates of cloud albedo are found to display much larger variability than do the observations, within individual models as well as between models.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Quantification of Monthly Mean Regional-Scale Albedo of Marine Stratiform Clouds in Satellite Observations and GCMs

Bender¹,

Charlson²,

Ekman³

et al. 2011

Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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“…The cloud optical thickness has properties similar to the rainfall rate; therefore, it was compared to surface shortwave irradiance obtained by pyranometer (Hayasaka and Iwabuchi 2001). A distribution of transmittance in cloudy atmosphere is well expressed by the normal (Gaussian) function in time and space because the cloud optical thickness can be expressed with lognormal distribution (Hayasaka et al 1994). We have not directly investigated the consistency of the probability density distribution for month-long periods in a space of 280 km by 280 km; however, the above discussion suggests that the analysis performed in this study is reasonable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Clouds on Surface Shortwave Irradiance in China: Estimation by Surface Radiation Measurements and Satellite Data

Hayasaka

Shi

2014

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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Clouds affect shortwave irradiance and the energy budget at the Earth's surface. We investigated the potential radiative forcing in China by applying simple linear regression analysis on pyranometer measurements and data from the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP). The potential radiative forcing is a measure of sensitivity of the surface shortwave irradiance to atmospheric parameters (here, cloud amount and cloud optical thickness). The negative correlation between the potential radiative forcing of cloud amount and cloud optical thickness strengthens with an increase in the cloud optical thickness up to about 8, after which it weakens. In contrast, the correlation coefficient between the cloud optical thickness and its potential radiative forcing varies widely for a low optical thickness and converges to a small negative value with an increase in the optical thickness; this is particularly true for data from the South and East regions. The potential radiative forcings obtained by analyzing pyranometer observation data are consistent with those calculated from ISCCP data in the previous study.

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“…Validation not only confirms the accuracy and precision of the satellite-sensor products but also provides several clues for their advancement. Many attempts to validate the cloud properties observed from space have been published (e.g., Hayasaka et al 1994;Nakajima and Nakajima 1995;Kuji et al 2000;Kawamoto et al 2001;Dong et al 2002;Nakajima et al 2005;Painemal and Zuidema 2011;King et al 2013). Most of these studies validated the water cloud products of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard the TERRA and AQUA satellites, usually over relatively short time periods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of MODIS and AHI Observed Water Cloud Properties Using Surface Radiation Data

Khatri

Hayasaka

Iwabuchi

et al. 2018

Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan

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The present study implements long-term surface observed radiation data (pyranometer observed global flux and sky radiometer observed spectral zenith transmittance data) of multiple SKYNET sites to validate water cloud optical properties (cloud optical depth COD and effective radius Re) observed from space by MODIS onboard TERRA and AQUA satellites and AHI onboard Himawari-8 satellite. Despite some degrees of differences in COD and Re between MODIS and AHI, they both showed common features when validated using surface based global flux data as well as cloud properties retrieved from sky radiometer observed zenith transmittance data. In general, CODs from both satellite sensors are found to overestimated when clouds are optically thin. Among a number of factors (spatial and temporal variations of cloud, sensor and solar zenith angles), the solar zenith angle (SZA) is found to have an impact on COD difference between reflectance based satellite sensor and transmittance based sky radiometer. The Re values from the sky radiometer and satellite sensor are generally poorly correlated. The difference in Re between the sky radiometer and satellite sensor is negatively correlated with COD difference between them, which is likely due to the inherent influence of Re retrieval precision on COD retrieval and vice versa in transmittance based sky radiometer.

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Air truth validation of cloud albedo estimated from NOAA advanced very high resolution radiometer data

Cited by 10 publications

References 38 publications

Quantification of Monthly Mean Regional-Scale Albedo of Marine Stratiform Clouds in Satellite Observations and GCMs

Quantification of Monthly Mean Regional-Scale Albedo of Marine Stratiform Clouds in Satellite Observations and GCMs

Effects of Clouds on Surface Shortwave Irradiance in China: Estimation by Surface Radiation Measurements and Satellite Data

Validation of MODIS and AHI Observed Water Cloud Properties Using Surface Radiation Data

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