Abstract
This paper introduces the aerosol, clouds, convection and precipitation (ACCP) program that is currently in the process of defining a number of measurement objectives for NASA that are to be implemented toward the end of the current decade. Since a (solar) visible-shortwave infrared (VSWIR) spectrometer is being considered as part of the ACCP architecture, illustrations of the different ways these measurements will contribute to this program and how these measurements can be expected to advance the science objectives of ACCP are highlighted. These contributions range from 1) constraining cloud radiative process and related estimates of radiative fluxes, 2) scene discrimination, 3) providing aerosol and cloud optical properties, and 4) providing other enhanced information such as the phase of water in clouds, and total column water vapor. The spectral measurements also offer new capabilities that will further enhance the ACCP science such as the discrimination of dust aerosol and the potential for the vertical profiling cloud droplet size in shallow clouds. The areas where the maturity of approaches is lacking is also highlighted as a way of emphasizing research topics to be a focus in the coming years.
Highlights
The reflection of sunlight by Earth to space is a process that exerts a basic control on Earth’s climate through the way Earth differentially scatters and absorbs solar energy from place to place which is a basic forcing of the transport of heat poleward
This paper discusses the different ways spectrally resolved measurements of reflected sunlight can be expected to serve a number of emerging Earth science objectives in the coming decade
The paper briefly introduced the aerosol, clouds, convection and precipitation (ACCP) program currently in the process of defining a number of measurement objectives for NASA to be implemented toward the end of the current decade
Summary
The reflection of sunlight by Earth to space is a process that exerts a basic control on Earth’s climate through the way Earth differentially scatters and absorbs solar energy from place to place which is a basic forcing of the transport of heat poleward. The scattered sunlight influences Earth’s climate through the processes it shapes in the form of feedbacks that principally control the responses to external forcings of the climate system. Insights about these processes are encoded in the spectral nature of the reflected solar radiation to space. On a very gross Earth-system level, the relevance of spectrally resolved measurements of reflected sunlight is underscored in the example of Figure 1fig from Stephens et al (2015) It offers a commentary on an observational quirk about the broadband albedo of planet Earth in that each hemisphere reflects exactly the same amount of sunlight (von der Haar and Suomi, 1969; Stephens et al, 2015). While the total energy reflected back to space from each hemisphere of Earth is the same, the details are quite different between hemispheres as revealed in the spectral nature of this reflected energy observed by
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