A Study of the Short‐Wave Radiative Properties of Marine Stratus: Aircraft Measurements and Model Comparisons

Abstract

Abstract Aircraft measurements of the short‐wave albedo of a marine stratus cloud are described and compared with results from radiative transfer models of plane‐parallel clouds. the albedos are measured in the visible and near‐infrared parts of the solar spectrum using clear dome and red dome pyranometers. Using all the available liquid water content data and the measured microphysical properties, two model clouds are constructed to represent the maximum and minimum liquid water paths encountered during the experiment. Model albedo calculations based on these clouds are compared with the range of albedos measured just above cloud top. the natural variation of liquid water path at the cloud edge is exploited as a further qualitative assessment of the models' behaviour.