Cloud scattering optical depth and local surface albedo in the Antarctic: Simultaneous retrieval using ground‐based radiometry

Abstract

We have used solar irradiance measurements from a ground‐based multichannel radiometer system deployed at Palmer Station, Antarctica (64°46′S, 64°04′W), during spring 1991 to simultaneously estimate cloud scattering optical depth and surface albedo. Irradiance measurements at 410 and 630 nm, in conjunction with a discrete ordinate radiative transfer (RT) model, enable this simultaneous retrieval by exploiting the wavelength dependence in Rayleigh scattering strength. The RT model is used in an inverse mode to find the values of surface albedo and cloud optical depth that match calculated and measured irradiances at both wavelengths. Under the homogeneous stratiform cloud cover for which the technique applies, surface albedo at 630 nm was consistently retrieved at above 0.9. For most homogeneous, overcast conditions, cloud optical depth (at 630 nm) is found to be in the range 20–50, with a most probable value of 25. This measurement and retrieval technique should be useful for compiling high‐latitude cloud opacity and surface albedo climatologies of interest for global change and photobiology research.