Remote sensing the susceptibility of cloud albedo to changes in drop concentration

Miscellaneous · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:7236714

Platnick, S E

The role of clouds in reflecting solar radiation to space and thereby reducing surface heating is of critical importance to climate. Combustion processes that produce greenhouse gases also increase cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentrations which in turn increase cloud drop concentrations and thereby cloud albedo. A calculation of cloud susceptibility, defined in this work as the increase in albedo resulting from the addition of one cloud drop per cubic centimeter (as cloud liquid water content remains constant), is made through satellite remote sensing of cloud drop radius and optical thickness. The remote technique uses spectral channels of the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) instrument on board the NOAA polar orbiting satellites. Radiative transfer calculations of reflectance and effective surface and cloud emissivities are made for applicable sun and satellite viewing angles, including azimuth, at various radii and optical thicknesses for each AVHRR channel. Emission in channel 3 (at 3.75 microns) is removed to give the reflected solar component. These calculations are used to infer the radius and optical thickness giving the best match to the satellite measurements. The effect of the atmosphere on the signal received by the satellite is included in the analysis.

• Research Organization: Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 7236714
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
CLOUDS
ALBEDO
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
MONITORING
GREENHOUSE GASES
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE
CONDENSATION NUCLEI
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RADIOMETERS
REFLECTION
REMOTE SENSING
SATELLITES
SOLAR RADIATION
CLIMATIC CHANGE
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS
STELLAR RADIATION
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
290301 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety- Regional & Global Environmental Aspects- (1992-)