Analysis of the Influence of Clear-Sky Fluxes on the Cloud-Type Mean Cloud Radiative Effects in the Tropical Convectively Active Regions With CERES Satellite Data.

Cloud radiative effects (CREs) and cloud-type mean CREs depend upon how clear-sky fluxes are computed over a large area: those of the immediate environment of clouds or the regional mean clear-sky fluxes. Five convectively active regions in the Tropics, two over land (Africa and Amazon) and three over ocean (eastern and western Pacific and Atlantic), are selected to understand the influence of immediate environment of clouds on CREs. Fluxes derived from 19 years of high-resolution CERES satellite data, categorized by cloud type, are utilized.

Evaluation of a general circulation model by the CERES Flux-by-cloud type simulator.

In this work, we use the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) FluxByCloudTyp data product, which calculates TOA shortwave and longwave fluxes for cloud categories defined by cloud optical depth () and cloud top pressure ( ), to evaluate the HadGEM2-A model with a simulator. The CERES Flux-by-cloud type simulator is comprised of a cloud generator that produces subcolumns with profiles of binary cloud fraction, a cloud property simulator that determines the (, ) cloud type for each subcolumn, and a radiative transfer model that calculates TOA fluxes. The identification of duplicate atmospheric profiles reduces the number of radiative transfer calculations required by approximately 97.