Catherine Gautier

University of California, Santa Barbara | UCSB

Expanding on some ideas introduced in the paper by Albe and Gombert (2012) “Students’ communication, argumentation and knowledge in a citizen’ conference on global warming”, I explore two issues relevant to their work: global warming (GW) as a socioscientific controversy and scientific literacy in regards to climate change science. For the first is...

The mineral aerosol mixture composition for the March 2006 Saharan dust storm is assessed in this paper on the basis of the analysis of visible to near-infrared (VIS-NIR) and infrared (IR) aerosol optical thickness (AOT) spectra obtained during the Portable Infrared Aerosol Transmission Experiment (PIRATE). The AOT spectra from 8 to 13 mum were det...

The infrared (IR) aerosol optical thickness (AOT) spectra of Saharan dust measured during the Portable Infrared Aerosol Transmission Experiment (PIRATE) are reported. Saharan dust optical thickness (extinction) spectra from 8 to 13 mum were obtained using column-integrated solar transmission measurements in Puerto Rico in July 2005 and Senegal in J...

The infrared extinction spectra of Saharan dust obtained by the Portable Infrared Aerosol Transmission Experiment (PIRATE) are reported in this paper. Saharan dust extinction (optical thickness) spectra from 8 to 13 mm were obtained using solar occultation measurements at Mbour, Senegal in January and March 2006 using a Fourier Transform Infrared (...

A local-scale comparison of atmospheric mineral dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals from two ground- and three satellite-based sensors will be presented. Motivated by the need for improved data integration techniques for dust-specific applications, the focus of this study is purposely narrow both spatially and temporally. All data are coinc...

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and its two companion microwave sounders, AMSU and HSB were launched into polar orbit onboard the NASA Aqua Satellite in May 2002. NASA required the sounding system to provide high-quality research data for climate studies and to meet NOAA's requirements for improving operational weather forecasting. The NOAA...

A three-dimensional (3D) atmospheric radiative transfer model that explicitly represents surface albedo heterogeneity is tested against a one-dimensional model and surface irradiance observations in a polar region where land cover heterogeneity is high. For observations located near high latitude coastlines, the contrast between the highly absorbin...

Studies have shown that both students and the general public possess many misconceptions about the processes involved in the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion. This study, conducted in a mock summit class on global climate change, explored the level of understanding and the nature of students' misconceptions about climate. Several times through...

Aerosol single scattering albedo and phase function were retrieved from Cimel Sun photometer observations of sky radiance during the May 2003 Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Aerosol Intensive Observation Period. Single scattering albedo and backscattered fraction were compared to data obtained from the ARM program In situ Aerosol Profile (I...

During the past decade, research has shown that while 3 dimensional (D) radiative effects are negligible at the horizontal resolution of GCMs, they can be significant at the scale of cloud resolving models. A common thread throughout these studies is the static framework in which they are performed- that is, computations are performed on cloud fiel...

Measurements from three spectral instruments, the Solar Spectral Flux Radiometer (SSFR), the Rotating Shadowband Spectrometer (RSS), and the Solar Ultraviolet Spectroradiometer (SUV), are compared to results from the Santa Barbara Moderate Resolution Radiative Transfer Model (SBMOD). SSFR data are from the SHEBA experiment of May-June 1998. RSS and...

The complex nature of climate change science poses special challenges for educators. Learners come to the classroom with prior knowledge on the topic, which serves as a foundation for further knowledge building, but can also pose barriers to conceptual change. Learners have existing mental models that may limit their perception and processing of co...

The cognitive apprenticeship method is used to promote conceptual learning in climate science by encouraging student inquiry, which literature shows to be conducive to learning a multi-faceted topic. A course was taught with this approach, whereby students conducted their own research using an up-to-date user-friendly climate model. Five topics add...

Within general circulation models (GCMs), domain average radiative fluxes are computed using plane-parallel radiative transfer algorithms that rely on cloud overlap schemes to account for clouds not resolved at the horizontal resolution of a grid cell. These parameterizations have a strong statistical approach and have difficulty being applied well...

As the spatial resolution of satellite sensors increase, estimates of surface solar irradiance (ISFC) from space borne observations of top of the atmosphere reflected radiance (RTOA) can actually become less accurate because of enhanced three-dimensional (3-D) radiative effects that are not generally considered in most retrieval algorithms. An elem...

We propose that a learner-centered environment (LCE) is particularly suitable for Earth System Science (ESS) learning due to the nature of the knowledge and research environment that characterizes the field. We show how the principal characteristics of LCE effectively provide learners with motivation and opportunity to understanding this complex ar...

A physically-based infrared mineral dust property retrieval algorithm has been developed and tested with daytime AIRS radiances as inputs over ocean and land in the presence of dust to determine the surface temperature, effective dust temperature, dust effective radius and dust optical thickness at 550 nm. The aerosol optical thickness results from...

The exchange of heat fluxes across the ocean-atmosphere interface plays a significant role in the climate system variability. The determination of surface latent (LE)heat fluxes over open oceanic regions is difficult to attain because of sparse in-situ measurements of meteorological parameters. In addition to in-situ observations, LE can be estimat...

At the typical spatial resolution of climate and weather forecasting models, clouds are portrayed as uniform plane-parallel entities with three-dimensional radiative effects generally considered not being important. However, as the resolution of these models increase, and with the development of "super parameterizations" (embedded cloud resolving m...

A component of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument system is the AIRS/Visible Near InfraRed (Vis/NIR) instrument. With a nadir ground resolution of 2.28 km and four channels, the Vis/NIR instrument provides diagnostic support to the infrared retrievals from the AIRS instrument and several research products, including surface solar fl...

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU), and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) form an integrated cross-track scanning temperature and humidity sounding system on the Aqua satellite of the Earth Observing System (EOS). AIRS is an infrared spectrometer/radiometer that covers the 3.7-15.4-μm spectral r...

The ARM Enhanced Shortwave Experiment (ARESE) II was conducted in spring 2000 to address unresolved issues about the absorption of solar radiation in the atmosphere in the presence of clouds. In this study, apparent atmospheric absorption derived from surface and aircraft measurements are compared to 3-D radiative transfer model computations. Three...

Cloud optical depth and surface albedo are the two primary influences on the shortwave radiation budget in Antarctica. A method has been developed for the simultaneous retrieval of cloud optical depth and surface albedo from a site at the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula using irradiance measurements from a Multi-Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiomet...

In-situ measurements of aerosol scattering properties obtained by the Aerosol Observing System (AOS) at the ARM CART site are compared to remote sensing estimates, based on irradiance observations from a Multi Filter Rotating Shadowband Radiometer (MFRSR) and radiance measurements from the Whole Sky Imager (WSI). The statistical relationship betwee...

A three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiation code is used to analyze surface observations of sky radiance at a high latitude coastal site. Observations were made at Palmer Station, Antarctica, under uniform marine stratus clouds during both ice-free and iced-in ocean conditions. The model results using actual snow/ocean area coverage show good qualita...

At a coastal high-latitude site, multiple reflection of photons between the high albedo surface and an overlying cloud can enhance the downwelling shortwave flux out over the adjacent open water to a distance of several kilometers. This coastal albedo effect has been predicted by theoretical radiative transfer studies and has also been measured und...

This document describes the required validation activities for the AIRS/AMSU/HSB instrument suite in the post-launch period. The first sections summarize the required data sets and measurements which are expected to be readily available and highlights those which the AIRS Science Team deems as essential but have no current commitment for availabili...

Scattering in the longwave domain has been neglected in the first generation of radiative codes and is still neglected in most current GCMs. Scattering in the longwave domain does not play any significant role for clear-sky conditions but recent works have shown that it is not negligible for cloudy conditions. This paper highlights the importance o...

Surface solar irradiance (ISFC) can be inferred from satellite-observed radiance with retrieval algorithms based on the independent pixel approximation (IPA). As the spatial resolution of satellite sensors increases, the effects from spatially inhomogeneous cloud fields become more important. Clouds affect the distribution of radiation in a region...

The effect of scattering is not always included in longwave models of radiative forcing due to mineral aerosols. In this presentation, we quantify and highlight the importance of scattering in the longwave domain for a wide range of conditions commonly encountered during dust events. We show that the neglect of scattering may lead to an underestima...

Properly sampling fluxes produced by the interaction of solar radiation with cloud fields is a difficult endeavor since observations can experience large deviations from the mean over short spatial and temporal scales. For understanding cloud radiative processes, it is often assumed that the relationship between spectrally resolved observations is...

Spectral and broadband shortwave radiative flux data obtained from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Enhanced Shortwave Experiment (ARESE) are compared with 3-D radiative transfer computations for the cloud field of October 30, 1995. Because the absorption of broadband solar radiation in the cloudy atmosphere deduced from observations differs f...

In this paper we discuss the application of correlated k-distribution methods for the computation of radiative transfer through the atmosphere in the visible, near IR, and IR spectral regions. Whereas the correlated k-distribution is a good approximation overall to line-by-line calculations, it is inaccurate in regions of strong absorber overlap. S...

The sky radiance at a high-latitude, coastal site was measured under clear and cloudy conditions with an all-sky camera and a narrow field-of-view spectroradiometer. The observations were compared to computational results from a three-dimensional (3-D) Monte-Carlo radiation model that explicitly includes the interaction of radiation with heterogene...

We describe a radiative transfer model (SBDART-MOD) that can be used to analyze observations from new moderate resolution sensors such as MODIS. The gaseous absorption and thermal emission produced by this model rely on a pre-calculated correlated k-distribution database. Predictions from a line- by-line radiative transfer model is used to compare...

Algorithms developed to estimate cloud optical properties from satellite observations are based on radiative transfer models that assume clouds to be plane-parallel homogeneous entities. In this study, the effect of the plane-parallel assumption on the retrieval of cloud optical thickness and effective particle radius is examined through the use of...

A new methodology for deriving monthly averages of surface specific humidity (Q(a)) and air temperature (T-a) is described. Two main aspects characterize the new approach. First, remotely sensed parameters, total precipitable water (W), and sea surface temperature (SST) are used to derive Q(a) and T-a. Second, artificial neural networks (ANN) are e...

This paper presents a new method to derive monthly averaged surface air temperature, T-a, from multiple data sets. Sea Surface Temperature (SST) from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and total precipitable water (W) from the SSM/I sensor are used as inputs to Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). Surface air temperature (T-a) me...

SBDART is a software tool that computes plane-parallel radiative transfer in clear and cloudy conditions within the earth's atmosphere and at the surface. All important processes that affect the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared radiation fields are included. The code is a marriage of a sophisticated discrete ordinate radiative transfer module, lo...

In this second part of a two-part paper, the spectral response of the interaction between gases, cloud droplets, and solar radiation is investigated using a Monte Carlo-based three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer model with a spectral resolution of 0.005 {micro}m. Spectrally resolved albedo at the top of the atmosphere, transmission to the surf...

Novel ways of monitoring the large-scale variability of the southwest monsoon in the Indian Ocean are presented using multispectral satellite datasets. The fields of sea surface temperature (SST), surface latent heat flux (LHF), net surface solar radiation (SW), precipitation (P), and SW - LHF over the Indian Ocean are analyzed to characterize the...

A new Monte Carlo-based three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer model of high spectral and spatial resolution is presented. It is used to investigate the difference in broadband solar radiation absorption, top-of-the-atmosphere upwelling, and surface downwelling solar radiation in a cloudy atmosphere between 3D and 1D calculations. Spatial variat...

The Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) involves pronounced variations in convection and large-scale circulation throughout the tropical troposphere. In addition, the MJO is also related to dynamic and thermodynamic variability near the surface and the upper ocean. This study uses observational data to characterize the changes in surface heat fluxes an...

We have developed and used a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to investigate how surface topography and heterogeneous snow/ice distributions affect the downwelling irradiance at Palmer Station, Antarctica (64.76°S, 64.07°W). The Monte Carlo calculations treat a three-dimensional (3-D) atmospheric volume which extends from the surface to 100 km a...

The clear-sky greenhouse effect (GE) is determined primarily by the amount and vertical distribution of water vapor in the atmospheric column. GE hampers surface radiative cooling and is maintained through surface evaporative cooling. This paper examines the intimate space-time relationships between the patterns of radiative heating of the atmosphe...

This study presents surface solar radiation flux and cloud radiative forcing results obtained by using a combination of satellite and surface observations interpreted by means of a simple plane-parallel radiative transfer model called 2001. This model, a revised version of a model initially introduced by Gautier et al., relates calibrated radiance...

Blended satellite-ship evaporation and SSM/I retrieved precipitation fields are used to compute oceanic freshwater budget (FWB) and transport (FWT) over a 3-year period (1988-90). In order to validate the results, comparisons on monthly, seasonal, and multiyear average bases are performed with ECMWF analyzed field and climatology respectively. For...

Recent studies have shown that biological production in th e To distinguish the cloud effect from the strong modulatin g maritime Antarctic is affected by the ratio of irradiance in th e effects of the total ozone, we developed a retrieval techniqu e UVB band to that in the UVA or PAR radiation bands (Smith which simultaneously retrieves column ozo...

The radiative forcing effects of topography and clouds were examined for a mountainous region during the rainy season to further our understanding of the relative roles of each in modulating incoming solar energy at the Earth's surface. Solar radiation fields derived from hourly, 8 km GOES observations were used to drive a topographic solar radiati...

The exchange of moisture and heat fluxes across the ocean-atmosphere interface exerts a strong influence on the oceanic and atmospheric circulations, and therefore on the maintenance of the climate system equilibrium. Observational measurements of these fluxes over large areas of the ocean`s surface are limited by the lack of in-situ data. This pap...

The amount of longwave radiation reaching the surface is a necessary parameter for climate modeling. As no extensive array of surface-based stations exists for monitoring the downwelling longwave surface flux (F$ (0)), satellites are expected to provide the data necessary for its computation. Before global fields of satellite-derived values of F $...

Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) and satellite-derived parameters are input to a similarity theory-based model and treated in completely equivalent ways to compute global latent heat flux (LHF). In order to compute LHF exclusively from satellite measurements, an empirical relationship (Q-W relationship) is used to compute the air mix...

To better predict global climate change, scientists are developing climate models that require interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts in their building. We are currently involved in several such projects but will briefly discuss activities in support of two such complementary projects: the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program of the...

Changes in tropical sea surface temperature (SST) can produce changes in cloudiness that modify incoming solar shortwave (SW) radiation, which in turn affects SST. Two empirical schemes are used to model the large-scale, low-frequency response of surface SW to SST anomalies. The first scheme attempts to account for the nonlocal nature of the atmosp...

We have used solar irradiance measurements from a ground-based multi-channel radiometer system deployed at Palmer Station, Antarctica (64°46'S, 64°04'W), during spring 1991 to simultaneously estimate cloud scattering optical depth and surface albedo. Irradiance measurements at 410 and 630 nm, in conjunction with a discrete ordinate radiative transf...

Daily variations of wind and solar forcing derived from satellite data were compared with sea surface temperature and temperature tendency during the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere-Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment. The correlation between solar flux and temperature tendency is positive indicating that the solar forcing is a significan...

This paper presents fundamental climatological characteristics of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in a simple concise manner using the highly reflective cloud (HRC) dataset. This satellite-derived dataset uses both visible and infrared observations to measure the frequency of occurrence of large-scale convective systems over the global tr...

Spectrally resolved radiometric measurements of middle infrared atmospheric emission can be used in conjunction with detailed radiative transfer calculations to retrieve cloud emissivity, and to estimate cloud liquid water path (LWP), optical depth, and equivalent radius of the droplet size distribution. Using a discrete-ordinates radiative transfe...

The Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer (DISORT) model of Stamnes et al. (1988) has been used to investigate the role of cloud-surface interactions on the net surface solar flux in various atmospheric and surface conditions. To that effect, we have analyzed the sensitivity of the net (down minus up) solar flux at top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and the ne...

Two methods have been investigated to map UV surface irradiance over Antarctica and the adjacent oceans using satellite remote sensing and ground truth radiometer measurements. Both methods are based on radiance observations from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). Surface albed...

Spectrally resolved radiometric measurements of middle infrared atmospheric emission can be used in conjunction with detailed radiative transfer calculations to retrieve cloud emissivity, and to estimate cloud liquid water path (LWP), optical depth, and equivalent radius of the droplet size distribution. Using a discrete-ordinates radiative transfe...

Two currently existing long-term satellite-derived data sets (the Highly Reflective Cloud (HRC) and the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) data sets) were compared for the accuracy in estimating tropical deep convection, in terms of their climatological and frequency-dependent characteristics, their consistency in identifying deep tropical convectio...

A series of developments in turbulence, scaling and mutifractals has shown that atmospheric observations are characterized by exterme variability over a wide range of scale. Empirical evidence have been reported for precipitation, turbulent flow and radiation fields. The scaling symetry observed in geophyscial fields can be characterized with the h...

The ability to accurately estimate cloud coverage is a crucial step for many global climate study applications. The determination of this important parameter has proven difficult in practice. A new method of estimating cloud coverage at the original data resolution from a single IR parameter is presented here. Using a set of twelve AVHRR images of...

During the past few years many methods have been proposed for estimating surface radiative fluxes (shortwave radiation, photosynthetically active radiation -- PAR) from satellite observations. We have developed algorithms for computing the shortwave radiative flux (shortwave irradiance) at the ocean surface from visible radiance observations and th...

The generation and validation of the first satellite-based long-term record of surface solar irradiance over the global oceans are addressed. The record is generated using Nimbus-7 earth radiation budget (ERB) wide-field-of-view plentary-albedo data as input to a numerical algorithm designed and implemented based on radiative transfer theory. The m...

Our group has been very active over the last year, analyzing a number of data sets to characterize multifractal cloud properties and assess the effects of clouds on surface radiation properties (spectral and broadband). The data sets analyzed include: AVHRR observations of clouds over the ocean, SPOT observations of clouds over the ocean, SSM/I obs...

This project was aimed at developing an operational "expert" system to perform the classification of satellite images into cloud types. The approach we have used is based on a number of number of assumptions. The first one is that such a classification is possible with satellite images of 1 km (or more) resolution. A second assumption, which lays t...

The paper describes an experiment designed to produce maps of biologically active ultraviolet radiation (UV-B), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 300-700 nm), and short-wave radiation falling on Antarctica and the surrounding areas of the Southern Ocean. The satellite data obtained by the TOMS instrument aboard Nimbus 7, the AVHRR instrumen...

This paper examines the evolution of the net surface solar irradiance from March 1982 to October 1985 in an important region of the equatorial Pacific where the TROPIC HEAT Experiment took place (4.6°N to 7.4°S, 142.6° to 117.17°W). The investigation, which focuses on the dramatic modification of radiative processes as a consequence of the 1982-83...

The transfer of solar irradiance in plane parallel and broken cloud fields is modeled using a Monte Carlo method. The angular distribution pattern of radiances exiting the cloud layer is studied with varying cloud geometries, optical thicknesses, cloudiness and solar zenith angles. A rather large anisotropy of the reflected flux is found, usually i...

Two sets of ocean surface longwave irradiance measurements collected during the FASINEX and MILDEX experiments are analyzed for quality and variability studies. Using concomitant radiosonde data, the clear-sky contribution to the downward flux at the surface is computed and, subsequently, the effect of clouds from the surface measurements is deduce...

Monthly fields of latent heat flux and surface solar irradiance derived from spaceborne sensors were combined to estimate the surface thermal forcing on the tropical Pacific from 1980 to 1983. The annual cycle and the anomalies associated with 1982-1983 ENSO episode were examined. Along the equator and during the early phase of the episode the redu...

The Indian summer monsoon, one of the earth's most vigorous and energetic seasonally occurring weather events, influences the global atmospheric circulation. Its onset, duration, and intensity are governed by large- and meso-scale geophysical processes, such as surface solar heating and air-sea interactions. In this paper, using innovative combinat...

Surface radiation instruments were operated at various locations during the Wisconsin First ISSCP (International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project) Regional Experiment (FIRE) and Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) experiment in October 1986. Satellite data were distributed to scientists who had previously developed satellite algorithms to estimate do...

Two methods of estimating the downward longwave flux at the earth's surface from satellite measurements are evaluated by comparing estimate calculations to in situ measurements. Attention is given to the low degree of accuracy inherent in longwave irradiance measurements and the subsequent difficulty in validating radiative transfer models. The flu...

The satellite method of Gautier et al. (1980) is applied to GOES-6 radiometer data to determine the availability of quantitative data on the temporal variability of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) and insolation. Comparisons with in situ measurements indicate that the modified satellite method yields insolation and PAR data with small...

Two simple radiative transfer models, the 5S model based on Tanre et al. (1985, 1986) and the wide-band model of Morcrette (1984) are validated by comparing their outputs with results obtained during the First ISLSCP Field Experiment on concomitant radiosonde, aerosol turbidity, and radiation measurements and sky photographs. Results showed that th...

The present study evaluates a set of radiative flux surface measurements, concomitant with other meteorological observations, so as to derive the cloud radiative forcing at the surface. The forcing is analyzed in terms of variability and relation to other meteorological parameters. Both SW and LW cloud forcings show a very large temporal variabilit...

A simple but accurate analytical formula was developed for computing the total and the photosynthetically available solar irradiances at the ocean surface under clear skies, which takes into account the processes of scattering by molecules and aerosols within the atmosphere and of absorption by the water vapor, ozone, and aerosols. These processes...

Monthly fields of shortwave radiation (SR) and latent heat flux (LE) over the central and eastern tropical Pacific between 1980 and 1983 have been computed using satellite data. They are the dominant variable components of surface thermal forcing on the ocean in this time scale. During the 1982-1983 ENSO episode, surface-wind convergence and cloudi...

Ocean surface shortwave irradiance estimates, From GOES satellite data computed using the model of Gautier and Frouin (1985), are compared to in situ measurements from research vessels and buoys during the frontal air-sea interaction experiment (FASINEX). They reveal that the satellite method overestimates percentage cloudiness during fractional cl...

Satellite data are used to estimate the net surface heat flux (Q) over the Indian Ocean during June 1979. Ten-day and monthly average fields of Q and its components are produced and analyzed in relation to monsoon dynamics. When compared to ship-based estimates, the satellite-derived fluxes exhibit correct orders of magnitude and their temporal evo...

Topics in this brief reports include: Kalman filtering of oceanographic data; Remote sensing of sea surface temperature; Altimetry and Surface heat fluxes; Ocean models of the marine mixed layer; Radar altimetry; Mathematical model of California current eddies.

Surface insulation data collected during the Mixed Layer Dynamiccs Experiment are used to intercompare the satellite technique of Gautier et al. (1980) and five commonly referenced empirical formulas for estimating daily insulation over the oceans. The results demonstrate the superiority of the satellite technique, which exhibits a 0.97 correlation...

We present the first results concerning solar radiation at the ocean surface during the Tropic Heat experiment. Using calibrated GOES visible brightness measurements, a simple radiative transfer model calculates hourly and daily surface solar irradiance values. To validate the satellite-estimated solar irradiance, surface solar irradiance measureme...

The effect of radiometric calibration uncertainties on satellite-derived net shortwave irradiance at the Earth's surface was examined. Net shortwave irradiance sensitivity to calibration is expressed as a function of two basic components that depend on surface and cloud albedo sensitivities, respectively. The analysis of these sensitivities for a w...

The OASIS (Oceanic and Atmospheric Satellite Imaging System) is a satellite data processing and analysis software system being developed by the California Space Institute (Cal Space) for support of interdisciplinary and integrated earth sciences research programs. The system's software applications are integrated under a common executive, NASA's Tr...

A methodology is presented for estimating downward longwave irradiance at the ocean surface from satellite radiance data. The downward longwave irradiance is computed with a fast and accurate radiative transfer model as a function of temperature, water vapor, ozone and carbon dioxide mixing ratios, fractional cloud coverage, emissivity of clouds, a...

Copyrighted by American Geophysical Union. A new method is presented for estimating the vertical turbulent heat flux at the bottom of the daily mixed layer from the temperature data in the mixed layer and net solar irradiance data at the sea surface. We assume that fluctuations in the divergence of advective heat flux have longer than daily time sc...

The NOAA-7, GOES-5, and GOES-6 VISSR/VAS solar channels have been calibrated for the periods from October 1983 through January 1985 (NOAA-7, GOES-6) and from October 1983 through July 1984 (GOES-5). Space and the White Sands National Monument area in Mexico, whose reflectance properties are well known, are used as calibration targets. The shortwave...

The evolution of the net shortwave (NSW) radiation fields during the monsoon of 1979 was analyzed, using geostationary satellite data, collected before, during, and after the monsoon onset. It is seen, from the time sequence of NSW fields, that during the preonset phase the characteristics of the NSW field are dominated by a strong maximum in the e...

The GOES-5 and GOES-6 VISSR/VAS short wavelength channels are calibrated for the periods from October 1983 through July 1984 (GOES-5) and from October 1983 through January 1985 (GOES-6). The White Sands Monument area in New Mexico and space are used as calibration targets. The radiance directed to the satellite from the surface target is computed u...