A comparison of ground and satellite observations of cloud cover to saturation pressure differences during a cold air outbreak
- North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
The role of clouds in the atmospheric general circulation and the global climate is twofold. First, clouds owe their origin to large-scale dynamical forcing, radiative cooling in the atmosphere, and turbulent transfer at the surface. In addition, they provide one of the most important mechanisms for the vertical redistribution of momentum and sensible and latent heat for the large scale, and they influence the coupling between the atmosphere and the surface as well as the radiative and dynamical-hydrological balance. In existing diagnostic cloudiness parameterization schemes, relative humidity is the most frequently used variable for estimating total cloud amount or stratiform cloud amount. However, the prediction of relative humidity in general circulation models (GCMs) is usually poor. Even for the most comprehensive GCMs, the predicted relative humidity may deviate greatly from that observed, as far as the frequency distribution of relative humidity is concerned. Recently, there has been an increased effort to improve the representation of clouds and cloud-radiation feedback in GCMs, but the verification of cloudiness parameterization schemes remains a severe problem because of the lack of observational data sets. In this study, saturation pressure differences (as opposed to relative humidity) and satellite-derived cloud heights and amounts are compared with ground determinations of cloud cover over the Gulf Stream Locale (GSL) during a cold air outbreak.
- Research Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Research, Washington, DC (United States). Environmental Sciences Div.
- OSTI ID:
- 264058
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9503140-; ON: DE96010942; CNN: Contract 091575-A-Q1; TRN: 96:003652-0003
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. atmospheric radiation measurement (ARM) science team meeting, San Diego, CA (United States), 19-23 Mar 1995; Other Information: PBD: Apr 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the fifth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) science team meeting; PB: 421 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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