In this study we examine the performance of 31 global model radiative transfer schemes in cloudfree conditions with prescribed gaseous absorbers and no aerosols (Rayleigh atmosphere), with prescribed scatteringonly aerosols, and with more absorbing aerosols. Results are compared to benchmark results from high-resolution, multiangular line-by-line radiation models. For purely scattering
aerosols, model bias relative to the line-by-line models in the top-of-the atmosphere aerosol radiative forcing ranges from roughly −10 to 20 %, with over- and underestimates of radiative cooling at lower and higher solar zenith angle, respectively. Inter-model diversity (relative standard deviation) increases from ~ 10 to 15% as solar zenith angle decreases. Inter-model diversity in atmospheric and surface forcing decreases with increased aerosol absorption, indicating that the treatment of multiple-scattering is more variable
than aerosol absorption in the models considered. Aerosol
radiative forcing results from multi-stream models are generally
in better agreement with the line-by-line results than the
simpler two-stream schemes. Considering radiative fluxes,
model performance is generally the same or slightly better
than results from previous radiation scheme intercomparisons.
However, the inter-model diversity in aerosol radiative
forcing remains large, primarily as a result of the treatment of
multiple-scattering. Results indicate that global models that
estimate aerosol radiative forcing with two-stream radiation
schemes may be subject to persistent biases introduced by
these schemes, particularly for regional aerosol forcing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:13461 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Randles, Cynthia A., Kinne, Stefan, Myhre, Gunnar, Schulz, Michael, Stier, Philip, Fischer, Jürgen, Doppler, Lionel, Highwood, Eleanor, Ryder, Claire, Harris, Bethan, Huttunen, Jani, Ma, Y., Pinker, Rachel T., Mayer, Bernhard, Neubauer, David, Hitzenberger, Regina, Oreopoulos, Lazaros, Lee, Dongmin, Pitari, Giovanni, Di Genova, Glauco, Quaas, Johannes, Rose, Fred G., Kato, Seiji, Rumbold, Steve T., Vardavas, Ilias, Hatzianastassiou, Nikos, Matsoukas, Christos, Yu, Hongbin, Zhang, F., Zhang, Hua, Lu, P. |
| Contributors | Morgan State University, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Max-Planck-Institut für Meteorologie, Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO), Meteorologisk Institutt, University of Oxford, Freie Universität Berlin, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), University of Reading, Finnish Meteorological Institute, University of Maryland, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, University of Vienna, NASA GSFC Climate and Radiation Laboratory, Seoul National University, University of L’Aquila, Space Academy Foundation, Universität Leipzig, Science Systems and Applications, Inc. (SSAI), NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC), UK Met Office (UKMO), University of Crete, University of Ioannina, University of the Aegean, National Climate Center |
| Publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Source | Atmospheric chemistry and physics (2013) 13, S. 2347-2379 |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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