Highly accurate modeling of hyperspectral infrared spectra in clear and cloudy atmospheres

Clouds play a major role in the energy budget of the atmosphere and in the variability of the atmosphere (see, e.g., Su et al. 2014, Li et al. 2016). Recent advances in hyperspectral infrared remote sensing in cloudy atmospheres allow us to make quantitative comparisons between observations and models. We developed an accurate and flexible radiative transfer model with cloud scattering calculation based on the DISORT code. The calculation of hyperspectral line-by-line radiances are tested using ECMWF climatological states of the terrestrial atmosphere, which includes 7377 atmospheric states of both clear and cloudy atmospheres. We compare radiances synthesized from model output against observed hyperspectral radiances. Extremely accurate benchmarks will be established using LBLRTM, which are useful for checking the accuracy of approximately radiative transfer codes.