| << | Interaction of Aerosols, Clouds and Radiation/Transboundary Transport of Air Pollution | >> |
Abstract
Radiation is the ultimate source and sink for the climate system. Due to the presence of clouds, radiative energy is vertically redistributed. The shortwave irradiance at the surface decreases during overcast conditions. However, at the top of atmosphere the irradiance increases because of the high reflectance of clouds. To consider the energy redistribution inside the cloud layer and above/ below the cloud we used the radiative transfer model DAK (Doubling Adding KNMI) to calculate heating rates and flux profiles for overcast cases. Atmospheric profiles were derived by means of the Integrated Profiling Technique (IPT). Simulated irradiances at the surface are compared with ground-based BSRN measurements.