Effects of the Vertical Profiles of Cloud Droplets and Ice Particles on the Visible and Near-Infrared Radiative Properties of Mixed-Phase Stratocumulus Clouds

Abstract

Such cloud radiative propenies as reflectance, transmittance, and absorptance of mixed-phase clouds have been simulated for the stratocumulus cloud observed on 30 January 1999 within the Japanese Cloud and Climate Study (JACCS) program, in which simultaneous observations of the cloud microphysical and radiative properties were conducted. The stratocumulus cloud was in mixed-phased condition, and highly heterogeneous vertically and horizontally with different mixing ratios of liquid water droplets and ice particles. A vertically-homogeneous, plane-parallel mixed-phase cloud model could reproduce the observed visible (VIS; wavelength < 0.7 μm) band radiative properties, but it could not reproduce the near-infrared (NIR; > 0.7 μm) band radiative properties. A multi-layered, plane-parallel mixed-phase cloud model could consistently reproduce the observed VIS-band and NIR-band radiative properties within the measurement accuracy. It is found that the venical profiles of water droplets and ice particles are an important factor to determine the radiative properties of mixed-phase clouds. The simulated results suggested that the NIR-band reflectance and absorptance could vary by more than 0.1 due to different vertical distributions of the cloud microphysical properties even the model clouds had constant liquid-water-path and ice-water-path. The visible and near-infrared solar reflection can be also affected by the vertical profiles of cloud microphysical properties; it is suggested that the conventional passive remote sensing under the assumption of vertical-homogeneity, may bring large errors in estimation of the microphysical propenies of mixed-phase clouds.