Ground-based high spectral resolution observations of the entire terrestrial spectrum under extremely dry conditions

Year: 2012

Authors: Turner D. D., Mlawer E. J., Bianchini G., Cadeddu M. P., Crewell S., Delamere J. S., Knuteson R. O., Maschwitz G., Mlynzcak M., Paine S., Palchetti L., Tobin D. C.

Autors Affiliation: National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA, 120 David L. Boren Blvd., Norman, OK 73072, United States; Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc., Lexington, MA, United States; Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara, Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, United States; Institut Fr Geophysik und Meteorologie, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, United States; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA, United States

Abstract: A field experiment was conducted in northern Chile at an altitude of 5.3 km to evaluate the accuracy of line-by-line radiative transfer models in regions of the spectrum that are typically opaque at sea level due to strong water vapor absorption. A suite of spectrally resolved radiance instruments collected simultaneous observations that, for the first time ever, spanned the entire terrestrial thermal spectrum (i.e., from 10 to 3000 cm(-1), or 1000 to 3.3 mu m). These radiance observations, together with collocated water vapor and temperature profiles, are used to provide an initial evaluation of the accuracy of water vapor absorption in the far-infrared of two line-by-line radiative transfer models. These initial results suggest that the more recent of the two models is more accurate in the strongly absorbing water vapor pure rotation band. This result supports the validity of the Turner et al. (2012) study that demonstrated that the use of the more recent water vapor absorption model in climate simulations resulted in significant radiative and dynamical changes in the simulation relative to the older water vapor model. Citation: Turner, D. D., et al. (2012), Ground-based high spectral resolution observations of the entire terrestrial spectrum under extremely dry conditions, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L10801, doi:10.1029/2012GL051542.

Journal/Review: GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

Volume: 39      Pages from: 10801  to: 10801

More Information: The RHUBC-II campaign was organized as part of the U. S. Department of Energy\’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program, which is sponsored by the Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Climate and Environmental Sciences Division. RHUBC-II was also supported in part by NASA, the Italian National Research Council, the Smithsonian Institution, and the German Science Foundation (DFG). We would like to thank the many scientists and engineers who helped make the collection of this dataset possible, including Alex Carrizo and operations staff at AstroNorte, Kim Nitschke, Jim Mather, Charles Brinkmann, Troy Culgan, Mike Ryzcek, Rich Cageao, Glenn Farnsworth, Mike Wojcik, Jason Swasey, Joe Lee, Erik Syrstad, Dave Johnson, Julio Marin, Arlette Chacon, Toufic Hawat, Huabai Li, Marcos Diaz, Francesco Castagnoli, Denny Hackel, Ray Garcia, Hank Revercomb, Rich Coulter, and Tim Wagner. Additional information on the RHUBC-II experiment can be found at http://acrf-campaign.arm.gov/rhubc/. RHUBC-II data are available from the ARM data archive as an IOP dataset at http://www.archive.arm.gov.
KeyWords: Climate models; Computer simulation; Radiative transfer; Sea level, Climate simulation; Dry condition; Far-infrared; Field experiment; Ground based; High spectral resolution; Line-by-line radiative transfer models; Northern Chile; Pure-rotation; Simultaneous observation; Temperature profiles; Thermal spectra; Water-vapor absorption, Water vapor, accuracy assessment; hydrological modeling; numerical model; observational method; radiative transfer; sea level change; spectral resolution; spectrum; temperature profile; water vapor; climate modeling; simulation, Chile
DOI: 10.1029/2012GL051542

Citations: 29
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