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The balanced radiative effect of tropical anvil clouds
Author(s) -
Hartmann Dennis L.,
Berry Sara E.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2017jd026460
Subject(s) - cloud albedo , earth's energy budget , radiative transfer , cloud top , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , cloud height , ice cloud , atmosphere (unit) , radiative cooling , convection , liquid water content , albedo (alchemy) , cloud feedback , outgoing longwave radiation , longwave , cloud cover , international satellite cloud climatology project , meteorology , radiation , geology , cloud computing , climate model , physics , satellite , climate change , optics , astronomy , art , oceanography , computer science , operating system , art history , climate sensitivity , performance art
Coincident instantaneous broadband radiation budget measurements from Clouds and Earth's Radiant Energy System and cloud vertical structure information from CloudSat‐Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations radar‐lidar observations are combined to study the relationship of cloud vertical structure to top‐of‐atmosphere energy balance fluctuations. Varying optical and physical thickness of high ice clouds produces most of the covariation between albedo and outgoing longwave radiation in regions of tropical convection. Rainy cores of tropical convective clouds have a negative impact on the radiation balance, while nonprecipitating anvil clouds have a positive effect. The effect of anvil clouds on the radiative heating profile is to warm near cloud base and cool near cloud top, and to reduce the radiative cooling rate in the clear air below the cloud. The cooling rate in the clear air below the anvil is reduced to small values for moderately thick anvils, and the driving of instability in the anvil itself also saturates for relatively thin clouds. It is hypothesized that the dependence of radiative heating on cloud thickness may be important in driving the distribution of tropical cloud structures toward one that produces net neutrality of the cloud radiative effect at the top‐of‐the‐atmosphere, as is found in regions of deep convection over ocean areas with high and relatively uniform surface temperatures. This idea is tested with a single‐column model, which indicates that cloud‐radiation interactions affect anvil cloud properties, encouraging further investigation of the hypothesis.