TY - JOUR
T1 - An accurate parameterization of the radiative properties of water clouds suitable for use in climate models
AU - Hu, Y. X.
AU - Stamnes, K.
PY - 1993
Y1 - 1993
N2 - Cloud optical properties for both solar and terrestrial spectra and for cloud equivalent radii in the range 2.5-60 μm are calculated from Mie theory. It is found that cloud optical properties depend mainly on equivalent radius throughout the solar and terrestrial spectrum and are insensitive to the details of the droplet size distribution, such as shape, skewness, width, and modality (single or biomodal). This suggests that in cloud models, aimed at predicting the evolution of cloud microphysics with climate change, it is sufficient to determine the third and the second moments of the size distribution (the ratio of which determines the equivalent radius). It also implies that measurements of the cloud liquid water content and the extinction coefficient are sufficient to determine cloud optical properties experimentally (i.e., measuring the complete droplet size distribution is not required). -from Authors
AB - Cloud optical properties for both solar and terrestrial spectra and for cloud equivalent radii in the range 2.5-60 μm are calculated from Mie theory. It is found that cloud optical properties depend mainly on equivalent radius throughout the solar and terrestrial spectrum and are insensitive to the details of the droplet size distribution, such as shape, skewness, width, and modality (single or biomodal). This suggests that in cloud models, aimed at predicting the evolution of cloud microphysics with climate change, it is sufficient to determine the third and the second moments of the size distribution (the ratio of which determines the equivalent radius). It also implies that measurements of the cloud liquid water content and the extinction coefficient are sufficient to determine cloud optical properties experimentally (i.e., measuring the complete droplet size distribution is not required). -from Authors
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U2 - 10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<0728:AAPOTR>2.0.CO;2
DO - 10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<0728:AAPOTR>2.0.CO;2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0027528264
SN - 0894-8755
VL - 6
SP - 728
EP - 742
JO - Journal of Climate
JF - Journal of Climate
IS - 4
ER -