Cloud and precipitation impacts on the energy budget of low cloud regimes
Abstract
Regions dominated by low cloud cover like the southeastern Pacific are important modulators of the global energy and water balance. Recent CloudSat estimates suggest that precipitation plays a larger role in these regions than previously estimated by conventional spaceborne precipitation sensors. This analysis focuses on first quantifying the southeastern Pacific energy budget terms and then on characterizing the impacts of clouds and precipitation on the energy budget. A suite of radiation products, including estimates from the Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument, the CloudSat Fluxes and Heating Rates (FLXHR) product, and the GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget (SRB), are used to assess the energy budget terms and their uncertainties. CloudSat FLXHR products are then combined with the CloudSat rain profile retrieval to calculate cloud impact parameters. Shortwave and longwave cloud radiative forcing and cloud radiative heating and cooling efficiencies, which quantify the degree to which a precipitating cloud cools the surface or heats the atmosphere, respectively, are explored to highlight the impact of clouds and precipitation on the energy budget terms. Preliminary analysis shows large uncertainties in estimates of both top of atmosphere and surface shortwave radiative fluxes, as well as in surface downwelling longwave fluxes. Results also show large gradients in the surface cooling efficiencies and a transition from atmospheric cooling to heating across the transition from stratocumulus to shallow cumulus.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.A43B0262R
- Keywords:
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- 3310 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Clouds and cloud feedbacks;
- 3359 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Radiative processes;
- 3354 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Precipitation;
- 3360 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Remote sensing