Climatology of Cloud-Top Radiative Cooling in Marine Shallow Clouds

Youtong Zheng*, Yannian Zhu, Daniel Rosenfeld, Zhanqing Li

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

A one-year’s worth of near-global marine shallow single-layer cloud top radiative cooling (CTRC) is derived from a radiative transfer model with inputs from the satellite cloud retrievals and reanalysis sounding. The mean cloud top radiative flux divergence is 61 Wm−2, decomposed into the longwave and shortwave components of 73 and −11 W m−2, respectively. Equatorward of 30°N/S, the CTRC is largely a reflection of free-atmospheric specific humidity distribution: a dry atmosphere enhances CTRC by reducing downward thermal radiation. Consequently, the cooling minimizes in the “wet” tropics and maximizes in the “dry” eastern subtropics. Poleward of 30°N/S, the CTRC decreases slightly due to the colder clouds that emit less effectively. The CTRC exhibits distinctive seasonal cycles with stronger cooling in the winter and has amplitudes of order 10–20 Wm−2 in stratocumulus-rich regions. The datasets were used to train a machine-learning model that substantially speeds up the retrieval.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2021GL094676
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume48
Issue number19
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Climatology of Cloud-Top Radiative Cooling in Marine Shallow Clouds'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this