The Shortwave Spectral Radiometer for Atmospheric Science: Capabilities and Applications from the ARM User Facility

Riihimaki, Laura; Flynn, Connor; McComiskey, Allison; Lubin, Dan; Blanchard, Yann; Feingold, Graham; Feldman, D.; Gristey, Jake J.; Herrera, Christian; Hodges, Gary; Kassianov, Evgueni I.; LeBlanc, Samuel; Marshak, Alexander; Michalsky, Joseph; Pilewskie, P.; Schmidt, S.; Scott, Robert Haney; Shea, Yolanda; Thome, Kurtis J.; Wagener, R.; Wielicki, Bruce A.

doi:10.1175/bams-d-19-0227.1

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Moreover, the slope is mostly close to one (0.85-1.18) and absolute values of intercept are mostly near zero (less than 0.07) for both the aerosol and radiative properties considered here. It is expected that SAS-He data collected for a period exceeding 10 years (since 2011) will be used to derive previously unavailable or enhanced data products of aerosol, clouds, surface (e.g., Riihimaki et al, 2021) at multiple sites with worldwide locations and these ground-based products combined with those offered by aircraft and satellite observations (Remer et al, 2023) will be imperative in the context of evaluation and improvements of model predictions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1b) with a wide spectral coverage and high spectral resolution (Table 1). Certainly, this important capability is superior to the MFRSR, since it increases substantially the opportunity to extend the existing MFRSR-based retrievals to expected multidisciplinary studies with focus on the climate-important properties (Riihimaki et al, 2021). For example, unique absorption and scattering properties of ice and liquid water cloud particles can be retrieved from cloud-transmitted radiance spectra measured with a wide spectral coverage and high spectral resolution (e.g., LeBlanc et al, 2015).…”

Section: Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5). It should be emphasized that the spectrally resolved 𝐴𝑂𝐷𝑠 offer a valuable avenue for estimating aerosol columnar size distributions (e.g., King et al, 1978;Sayer et al, 2012;Kassianov et al, 2021;Torres and Fuertes, 2021). Aerosol intensive properties, including single-scattering albedo and asymmetry parameter, are possible through retrievals combining 𝐴𝑂𝐷𝑠 and 𝐷𝐷𝑅𝑠 (e.g., Kassianov et al, 2007;Ge et al, 2010).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric (SAS-He): Design and Evaluation

Kassianov,

Flynn,

Barnard

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. A novel ground-based radiometer, referred to as the Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric (SAS-He), is introduced. This radiometer uses the shadow band technique to report total irradiance and its direct and diffuse components frequently (every 30 sec) with continuous spectral coverage (350–1700 nm) and moderate spectral (~2.5 nm ultraviolet/visible, and ~6 nm shortwave-infrared) resolution. The SAS-He’s performance is evaluated using integrated datasets collected over coastal regions during three field campaigns supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, namely (1) Two-Column Aerosol Project (TCAP; Cape Cod, Massachusetts), (2) Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER; in and around Houston, Texas), and (3) Eastern Pacific Cloud Aerosol Precipitation Experiment (EPCAPE; La Jolla, California). We compare (i) aerosol optical depth (𝐴𝑂𝐷) and total optical depth (𝑇𝑂𝐷) derived from the direct irradiance, (ii) the diffuse irradiance and direct-to-diffuse ratio (𝐷𝐷𝑅) calculated from two components of the total irradiance. As part of the evaluation, both 𝐴𝑂𝐷 and 𝑇𝑂𝐷 derived from the SASHe direct irradiance are compared to those provided by collocated Cimel sunphotometer (CSPHOT) at five (380, 440, 500, 675, 870 nm) and two (1020, 1640 nm) wavelengths, respectively. Additionally, the SAS-He diffuse irradiance and 𝐷𝐷𝑅 are contrasted with their counterparts offered by a collocated Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) at six (415, 500, 615, 675, 870, 1625 nm) wavelengths. Overall, reasonable agreement is demonstrated between the compared products despite the challenging observational conditions associated with varying aerosol loadings and diverse types of aerosols and clouds. The 𝐴𝑂𝐷- and 𝑇𝑂𝐷-related values of root-mean-square error are within the expected measurement uncertainty of 𝐴𝑂𝐷 (0.01–0.02).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric (SAS-He): Design and Evaluation

Kassianov,

Flynn,

Barnard

et al. 2024

Preprint

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“…First, pyranometers and pyrgeometers have been used worldwide for many decades. Second, the MFRSR is representative of several emerging shortwave measurement capabilities adopted by the ARM Facility for long-term observations (Riihimaki et al, 2021).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadband and filter radiometers at Ross Island, Antarctica: Detection of cloud ice phase versus liquid water influences on shortwave and longwave radiation

Scarci,

Scott,

Ghiz

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Surface radiometer data from Ross Island, Antarctica, collected during the austral summer 2015–16 by the US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program West Antarctic Radiation Experiment (AWARE), are used to evaluate how shortwave and longwave irradiance respond to changing cloud properties as governed by contrasting meteorological regimes. Shortwave atmospheric transmittance is derived from pyranometer measurements, and cloud conservative-scattering optical depth is derived from filter radiometer measurements at 870 nm. With onshore flow associated with marine air masses, clouds contain mostly liquid water. With southerly flow over the Transantarctic Mountains, orographic forcing induces substantial cloud ice water content. These ice and mixed-phase clouds attenuate more surface shortwave irradiance than the maritime-influenced clouds, and also emit less longwave irradiance due to colder cloud base temperature. These detected irradiance changes are in a range that can mean onset or inhibition of surface melt over ice shelves. This study demonstrates how basic and relatively low-cost broadband and filter radiometers can be used to detect subtle climatological influences of contrasting cloud microphysical properties at very remote locations.

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“…These cloud fields exhibit detailed three-dimensional (3D) spatial structure, are characterized by small scales, and evolve quickly (Berg & Kassianov, 2008;Lamer & Kollias, 2015). Recent work has shown that the SSI variability in this environment is captured compactly by the shape of the SSI probability density function (PDF; Gristey et al, 2020b;Riihimaki et al, 2021;Schmidt et al, 2007Schmidt et al, , 2009; the PDF is typically bimodal, representing separately the cloud shadows and the [clearsky] gaps between. The bimodal SSI PDF is routinely observed but can only be simulated by computationally expensive 3D radiative transfer, providing rare direct observational evidence for 3D radiative effects (Villefranque & Hogan, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

Influence of Aerosol Embedded in Shallow Cumulus Cloud Fields on the Surface Solar Irradiance

et al. 2022

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Ubiquitous shallow cumulus clouds are associated with complex variability in surface solar irradiance (SSI). Aerosol embedded in the cloud field typically has a much smaller overall radiative effect, but can significantly perturb the shape of the SSI probability density function (PDF). These perturbations have important implications for several applications that utilize SSI, but are poorly quantified and are the subject of this study. Multiple cases of shallow cumulus cloud fields with embedded aerosol are simulated at the Southern Great Plains Atmospheric Observatory using large eddy simulation (LES). The LES‐derived cloud and aerosol fields are then ingested into Monte Carlo three‐dimensional (3D) radiative transfer to simulate SSI. We find a variety of perturbations to the SSI PDF that depend on aerosol presence and optical properties. The processes leading to these perturbations include extinction of the direct beam that often increases from the clear‐sky region toward cloud edge due to aerosol hygroscopic growth, and scattering of radiation by aerosol into cloud shadows. The ability to predict the SSI PDF in the presence of aerosol is assessed by adding three representative aerosol optical properties into an existing machine learning framework. We show that machine learning accurately predicts the SSI PDF across a wide range of conditions with negligible computational expense. Importance metrics reveal the relatively high influence of aerosol optical properties in making the predictions. These new findings highlight the important role that aerosol plays in SSI variability for highly 3D cloud‐aerosol environments and provides a computationally efficient route forward for its simulation.

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The Shortwave Spectral Radiometer for Atmospheric Science: Capabilities and Applications from the ARM User Facility

Abstract: Capsule The maturing of ground-based solar shortwave spectral measurements at the U.S. DOE ARM User Facility facilitates progress in climate predictability by constraining cloud and aerosol radiative effects in complex environments.

Cited by 8 publications

References 67 publications

Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric (SAS-He): Design and Evaluation

Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Hemispheric (SAS-He): Design and Evaluation

Broadband and filter radiometers at Ross Island, Antarctica: Detection of cloud ice phase versus liquid water influences on shortwave and longwave radiation

Influence of Aerosol Embedded in Shallow Cumulus Cloud Fields on the Surface Solar Irradiance

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