Relationship between solar net radiative fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and at the surface

Journal Article · Thu Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0469(1993)050<1122:RBSNRF>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:6362264

Schmetz, J ^[1]

---

1. European Space Agency, Darmstadt (Germany)

Previous work has discussed the existence of a linear relationship between the net solar radiative flux densities at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) that can be exploited for inferring the net surface radiation directly from the satellite observed net radiation. In physical terms the net solar flux at the surface can be estimated from the difference between the satellite-inferred net flux at TOA and total solar absorption in the atmosphere. This paper presents model calculations of the influence on solar absorption of water vapor, solar zenith angle, cloud-top altitude, and cloud optical thickness. The model results indicate a somewhat complex relation between the solar net fluxes at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere. It is pointed out that cloud altitude and optical depth have a large impact on solar atmospheric absorption; high clouds decrease solar absorption by the atmosphere whereas low clouds increase it. This difference between solar atmospheric absorption for low and high clouds increases with cloud optical depth. An intriguing result is that changes of total atmospheric absorption with cloud-top height are nearly completely compensated by corresponding changes in the net flux at the top of the atmosphere, thus leaving the surface solar net flux constant. Furthermore, this paper provides a very simple parameterization for estimating the clear-sky solar atmospheric absorption as a function of solar zenith angle and the vertically integrated water vapor content of the atmosphere. 36 refs., 7 figs., 4 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 6362264
• Journal Information: Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences; (United States), Vol. 50:8; ISSN 0022-4928
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
LIGHT SCATTERING
SOLAR FLUX
SOLAR RADIATION
ABSORPTION
ANGULAR CORRELATION
CLOUDS
ENERGY BUDGETS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METEOROLOGY
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
WATER VAPOR
CORRELATIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
RADIATIONS
SCATTERING
SORPTION
STELLAR RADIATION
VAPORS
140100* - Solar Energy- Resources &amp; Availability