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An impact analysis of the surface-cloud damping effect on TOA reflectivity using A 3D radiative transfer model

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Abstract

The I3RC Community Monte Carlo model of three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer (I3RC-CM) was improved by specifying surfaces with a widely used bidirectional reflectance model known as the RPV (Rahman-Pinty-Verstraete). The surface-cloud damping effect on top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectivity (hereafter, the damping effect) is evaluated as the atmospheric attenuation of incoming shortwave radiation on its way down to the surface and shortwave radiation reflected at the surface that is transmitted back to the TOA. A series of simulations were performed using the improved I3RC-CM to investigate this effect over different land covers, in which the land covers are characterized by the 3 RPV parameters: the intensity of surface reflectance, the anisotropy of the surface, and the asymmetry parameter. The damping effect is greatly affected by the land cover, especially the intensity of surface reflectance. The intensity of surface reflectance can lead to an approximate deviation of 0.40 in the damping effect, while the influence of the asymmetry parameter and the surface anisotropy on the damping effect is less than 0.10. The damping effect strengthens as the surface reflectance intensity and asymmetry parameter increase, but slightly weakens as the surface anisotropy increases. The land cover change has a stronger impact on the damping effect at the absorbing wavelengths than at the non-absorbing wavelengths due to the cloud absorption, particularly at 2.13 µm, but the cloud absorption offers only a partial explanation for the differences in damping effect changes with values less 0.10.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge I3RC who provided the code of the I3RC-CM model. This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41575023) and China Scholarship Council (201708440525).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Leidi Wang

  2. LAGEO, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Leidi Wang, Daren Lü & Wenxing Zhang

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  1. Leidi Wang
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  2. Daren Lü
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  3. Wenxing Zhang
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Correspondence to Leidi Wang.

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Wang, L., Lü, D. & Zhang, W. An impact analysis of the surface-cloud damping effect on TOA reflectivity using A 3D radiative transfer model. Meteorol Atmos Phys 132, 809–818 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-019-00719-z

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