The effect of cloud type on earth's energy balance - results for selected regions

Journal Article · Thu Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1992 · Journal of Climate; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(1992)005<1157:TEOCTO>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:7184764

Ockert-bell, M E; Hartmann, D L ^[1]

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1. Washington Univ., Seattle (United States)

International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) C1 cloud information is compared with planetary albedo, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), and net radiation measured at the top of the atmosphere by the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). Principal component analysis indicates that the day-to-day variations of the abundances of the 35 cloud types of the C1 data are correlated with each other, so that for many purposes the data set can be well represented by about five cloud types. Using stepwise multiple regression, the ISCCP C1 data can be used to predict the day-to-day variations of the energy balance measured by ERBE for 2.5-deg regions. Total fractional area coverage of cloudiness is a relatively poor predictor of radiation budget quantities. If the total fractional area coverage by clouds is divided into contributions from several distinct cloud types, the fractional coverages by these several cloud types will together form a much better prediction of radiation budget quantities than the single variable of total fractional-area cloud coverage. The regression equations can be used to estimate the net effect of clouds on the radiation balance and the contributions from particular types of clouds to albedo, OLR, and net radiation. 25 refs.

• OSTI ID: 7184764
• Journal Information: Journal of Climate; (United States), Journal Name: Journal of Climate; (United States) Vol. 5:10; ISSN JLCLEL; ISSN 0894-8755
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540110*
CLOUD COVER
CLOUDS
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
EARTH CRUST
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY BALANCE
LONG WAVE RADIATION
MATHEMATICS
RADIATIONS
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
STATISTICS
THERMAL RADIATION