The effect of Cloud Vertical Structure classes on the radiation budget of the atmosphere and surface

The role of clouds in the planet's energy flows is well-established. In this presentation we examine how the different cloud vertical configurations affect the radiation budget. Specifically, active cloud observations from A-Train's CloudSat and CALIPSO satellites offer the opportunity to classify the most prominent Cloud Vertical Structures (CVSs) and assess their radiative effects on the earth-atmosphere system. This is accomplished with the help of the 2B-CLDCLASS-LIDAR and 2B-FLXHR-LIDAR merged CloudSat-CALIPSO products. The radiative effects of the CVS classes reveal the major radiative warmers and coolers from the perspective of the planet as a whole, the surface, and the atmosphere. We find that single-layer low clouds dominate planetary and atmospheric cooling, and thermal infrared surface warming. The CVS class that is the most vertically extensive, despite being only the fourth most frequent, is either first or second in radiative importance for both the solar and the thermal infrared regardless of whether one focuses on the planet as a whole (TOA), the surface, or the atmosphere. While the overall effect of clouds on the radiation budget of the atmosphere is small and is driven mainly by the thermal IR part of the spectrum, its geographical variability is large and is modulated by contrasting CVS classes that are either conspicuous radiative warmers or coolers. The radiative importance of the various CVS classes depends critically on their global frequency of occurrence: the most prominent contributors to the atmospheric radiative effect are three of the four CVS classes with the highest occurrence frequencies.