Cirrus Cloud Radiative Characteristics from Continuous MPLNET Profiling at GSFC in 2012

We investigate cirrus cloud impact on top-of-atmosphere and surface radiative fluxes by pairing the Fu-Liou-Gu model with MPLNET lidar measurements at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2012. Seasonal and diurnal flux characteristics, including variance, are discussed, based on a cloud sample approaching 105 observations collected that year. Conceptual depictions of bulk annual cirrus effect are proposed as a function of cloud top height, layer depths and optical depth. We highlight those conditions for which cirrus forcing oscillates between positive and negative at the surface; a characteristic mostly unique to cirrus within the climate system. As this work represents an initial step toward implementing cirrus cloud radiative flux estimates as an operative MPLNET Level 2 product, we motivate the discussion through the continuing need for satellite and model verification datasets that improve cirrus physical characterization over varying climate regimes.