Final Report (Grant No. DOE DE-FG02-97ER62366) [Retrieval of Cloud Fraction and Type Using Broadband Diffuse and Total Shortwave Irradiance Measurements].

Final Report (Grant No. DOE DE-FG02-97ER62366) [Retrieval of Cloud Fraction and Type Using Broadband Diffuse and Total Shortwave Irradiance Measurements].
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Release: 2001
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The primary research effort supported by Grant No. DOE DEFG02-97ER62366 titled ''Retrieval of Cloud Fraction and Type Using Broadband Diffuse and Total Shortwave Irradiance Measurements'' was application of clear-sky identification and cloud fraction estimation algorithms developed by Charles N. Long and Thomas P. Ackerman to the downwelling total, direct and diffuse shortwave irradiance measurements made at all of the central, boundary, and extended facilities of the DOE Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program Southern Great Plains (SOP) site. Goals of the research were finalization and publication of the two algorithms in the peer-reviewed literature and operational application of them to all of aforementioned data streams from the ARM SGP site. The clear-sky identification algorithm was published as Long and Ackerman (2000) in the Journal of Geophysical Research, while a description of the cloud fraction estimation algorithm made it to the scientific literature as Long et al. (1999) in the Proceedings of the 10th American Meteorological Association Conference on Atmospheric Radiation held in Madison, Wisconsin. The cloud fraction estimation algorithm relies on empirical relationships between the outputs of the clear-sky identification algorithm and cloud fraction; as such, the cloud fraction estimation algorithm requires significant amounts of data both to properly develop the empirical relationships and to thoroughly test them. With this perspective in mind the major focus of our research efforts in the later half of the project became the operational implementation of the clear-sky identification algorithm on DOE ARM SGP data so that we could develop the data set necessary for final tuning of the cloud fraction estimation algorithm in research extending beyond the lifetime of the project.

Final Technical Report ARM DOE Grant #DE-FG02-03ER63520 Parameterizations of Shortwave Radiactive Properties of Broken Clouds from Satellite and Ground-Based Measurements

Final Technical Report ARM DOE Grant #DE-FG02-03ER63520 Parameterizations of Shortwave Radiactive Properties of Broken Clouds from Satellite and Ground-Based Measurements
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Release: 2006
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This study used DOE ARM data and facilities to: 1) study macroscopic properties of continental stratus clouds at SGP and the factors controlling these properties, 2) develop a scientific basis for understanding the pocesses responsible for the formation of boundary layer clouds using ARM observations in conjunction with simple parametric models and LES, and 3) evaluate cumulus cloud characteristics retrieved retrieved from the MMCR operating at TWP-Nauru. In addition we have used high resolution 94 GHz observations of boundary layer clouds and precipitation to: 1)develop techniques for using high temporal resolution Doppler velocities to study large-eddy circulations and turbulence in boundary layer clouds and estimate the limitations of using current and past MMCR data for boundary layer cloud studies, 2) evaluate the capability and limitation of the current MMCR data for estimating reflectivity, vertical velocities, and spectral under low-signal-to-noise conditions associated with weak non-precipitating clouds, 3) develop possible sampling modes for the new MMCR processors to allow for adequate sampling of boundary layer clouds, and 4) retrieve updraft and downdraft structures under precipitating conditions.

Final Report for DOE Grant DE-FG02-06ER64160 Retrieval of Cloud Properties and Direct Testing of Cloud and Radiation Parameterizations Using ARM Observations

Final Report for DOE Grant DE-FG02-06ER64160 Retrieval of Cloud Properties and Direct Testing of Cloud and Radiation Parameterizations Using ARM Observations
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Release: 2013
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This report briefly summaries the work performed at KNMI under DOE Grant DE-FG02-06ER64160 which, in turn was conducted in support of DOE Grant DE-FG02-90ER61071 lead by E. Clothieux of Penn. State U. The specific work at KNMI revolved around the development and application of the EarthCARE simulator to ground-based multi-sensor simulations.

Final Technical Report on Scaling Models of the Internal Variability of Clouds DoE Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER63773

Final Technical Report on Scaling Models of the Internal Variability of Clouds DoE Grant No. DE-FG02-04ER63773
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Total Pages: 48
Release: 2008
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The purpose of this proposal is to gain a better understanding of the space-time correlations of atmospheric fluctuations in clouds through application of methods from statistical physics to high resolution, continuous data sets of cloud observations available at the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program archive. In this report we present the accomplishments achieved during the four year period. Starting with the most recent one, we report on two break-throughs in our research that make the fourth year of the project exceptionally successful and markedly outperforming the objectives. The first break-through is on characterization of the structure of cirrus radiative properties at large, intermediate and small, generating cells scales by applying the Fokker-Planck equation method and other methods to ARM millimeter wavelength radar observations collected at the Southern Great Plains site. The second break-through is that we show that different characterizations of the cirrus radiative properties are obtained for different synoptic scale environments. We outline a stochastic approach to investigate the internal structure of radiative properties of cirrus clouds based on empirical modeling and draw conclusions about cirrus dynamical properties in the context of the synoptic environment. Results on the structure of cirrus dynamical properties are consistent with the structure of cirrus based on aircraft in situ measurements, with results from ground-based Raman lidar, and with results from model studies. These achievements would not have been possible without the accomplishments from the previous years on a number of problems that involve application of methods of analysis such as the Fokker-Planck equation approach, Tsallis nonextensive statistical mechanics, detrended fluctuation analysis, and others. These include stochastic analysis of neutrally stratified cirrus layers, internal variability and turbulence in cirrus, dynamical model and nonextensive statistical mechanics of liquid water path fluctuations, etc.