Monte Carlo and discrete-ordinate simulations of irradiances in the coupled atmosphere–ocean system

Karl Idar Gjerstad, Jakob J. Stamnes, Børge Hamre, Jon K. Lotsberg, Banghua Yan, Knut Stamnes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

88 Scopus citations

Abstract

We compare Monte Carlo (MC) and discrete-ordinate radiative-transfer (DISORT) simulations of irradiances in a one-dimensional coupled atmosphere–ocean (CAO) system consisting of horizontal planeparallel layers. The two models have precisely the same physical basis, including coupling between the atmosphere and the ocean, and we use precisely the same atmospheric and oceanic input parameters for both codes. For a plane atmosphere–ocean interface we find agreement between irradiances obtained with the two codes to within 1%, both in the atmosphere and the ocean. Our tests cover case 1 water, scattering by density fluctuations both in the atmosphere and in the ocean, and scattering by particulate matter represented by a one-parameter Henyey–Greenstein (HG) scattering phase function. The CAO-MC code has an advantage over the CAO-DISORT code in that it can handle surface waves on the atmosphere–ocean interface, but the CAO-DISORT code is computationally much faster. Therefore we use CAO-MC simulations to study the influence of ocean surface waves and propose a way to correct the results of the CAO-DISORT code so as to obtain fast and accurate underwater irradiances in the presence of surface waves.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2609-2622
Number of pages14
JournalApplied Optics
Volume42
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 May 2003

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