The content of the ARM website is available to any browser, but for the best experience we highly recommend you upgrade to a standards-compliant browser such as Firefox, Opera or Safari.
VIEW CART
primary link menu HOME SITE INDEX PEOPLE
skip to main content ABOUT ARMABOUT ACRFSCIENCESITESINSTRUMENTSMEASUREMENTSDATAPUBLICATIONSEDUCATIONFORMS
Cover image

Inferring Cloud Optical Depth in Realistic Cumulus Fields: Error Analysis for Simulated and Observed Clouds

Pavloski, C.F.(a), Clothiaux, E.E.(a), Barker, H.W.(b), Marshak, A.(c), Hinkelman, L.M.(a), and Ackerman, T.P.(d), The Pennsylvania State University (a), Environment Canada (b), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (c), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (d)
Thirteenth Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Science Team Meeting

The cloud optical depth retrieval proposed by Barker and Marshak (2001), which takes advantage of the abrupt change in shortwave surface albedo around a wavelength of 700 nm because of the presence of surface vegetation, is applied to three-dimensional cumulus cloud fields generated by large eddy simulation. Error analyses on the retrieved optical depths show the limits of the method for clouds with significant vertical structure. An analysis of the retrieval error for cloud fields measured during the Narrow Field-of-View Campaign at the Southern Great Plains Central Facility in the summer and fall of 2001 is also presented.

Note: This is the poster abstract presented at the meeting; an extended version was not provided by the author(s).