Vol. 12, issue 03, article # 3

Abstract:

Solar radiative transfer in 3D broken stratocumulus clouds is considered. 3D cloud model with explicit microphysics (Oklahoma, USA) and Monte Carlo method are used to study the influence of vertical variability of extinction coefficient σ on the radiative characteristics of stratocumulus clouds. It is shown that vertical cloud inhomogeneity can decrease area – mean albedo by as much as 10%. Irregular cloud geometry has stronger influence on the mean albedo and transmittance than inhomogeneous internal cloud structure. Mean fluxes are more sensitive to variations of the vertical profile of variation coefficient VC(σ) than to those of the vertical profile of <σ>. 2D fields of albedo, transmittance, and horizontal transport depend strongly on the vertical stratification of clouds.