Comparison between calculations of shortwave radiation with different aerosol datasets and measured data at the MSU MO (Russia)

The radiation block of the COSMO non-hydrostatic mesoscale model of the atmosphere and soil active layer was tested against a relatively new effective CLIRAD(FC05)-SW radiation model and radiative measurements at the Moscow State University Meteorological Observatory (MSU MO, 55.7N, 37.5E) using different aerosol datasets in cloudless conditions. We used the data of shortwave radiation components from the Kippamp;Zonen net radiometer CNR4. The model simulations were performed with the application of various aerosol climatologies including the new MACv2 climatology and the aerosol and water vapor dataset from CIMEL (AERONET) sun photometer measurements. The application of the new MACv2 climatology in the CLIRAD(FC05)-SW radiation model provides the annual average relative error of the total global radiation of -3 varying from 0.5 in May to -7.7 in December. The uncertainty of radiative calculations in the COSMO model according to preliminary estimates changes from 1.4 to 8.4. against CLIRAD(FC05)-SW radiation model with the same parameters. We showed that in clear sky conditions the sensitivity of air temperature at 2 meters to shortwave net radiation changes is about 0.7-0.9°C per100 W/m2 due to the application of aerosol climatologies over Moscow. © 2017 Author(s)