Recent developments in the line-by-line modeling of outgoing longwave radiation

Abstract

High frequency resolution radiative transfer model calculations with the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS) were used to simulate the clear-sky outgoing longwave radiative flux (OLR) at the top of the atmosphere. Compared to earlier calculations by Clough and coworkers the model used a spherical atmosphere instead of a plane parallel atmosphere, updated spectroscopic parameters from HITRAN, and updated continuum parameterizations from Mlawer and coworkers. These modifications lead to a reduction in simulated OLR by approximately 4.1%, the largest part, approximately 2.5%, being due to the absence of the plane parallel approximation. As a simple application of the new model, the sensitivity of OLR to changes in humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and temperature were investigated for different cloud-free atmospheric scenarios. It was found that for the tropical scenario a 20% change in humidity has a larger impact than a doubling of the carbon dioxide concentration. The sensitive altitude region for temperature and humidity changes is the entire free troposphere, including the upper troposphere where humidity data quality is poor.