VAP : Comparison of Statistics or Clouds data from AERI vs. LBLRTM Model runs (QMEAERILBL)
Instrument Categories
Radiometric, Derived Quantities and Models
The observed radiances are measured by the Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (AERI) and the calculated radiances are from the Line-by-line radiative transfer model (LBLRTM), a product of Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc (AER).
Three principle components of this study are 1) ground-based measurements of spectral radiances, 2) characterization of the atmospheric state associated with the radiating column, and 3) evaluation of the line-by-line radiative transfer model. The initial focus of this longwave study is on clear sky, which is currently being extended to clouds and aerosols. There are also plans to extend this approach to the shortwave regime.
In addition to providing statistics over the entire spectral band from 3.3 - 18 cm-1 (the range of the AERI), and statistics for each channel, the entire spectrum is divided into 17 spectral regions called "bins." These bins are disjoint intervals such that the union of them covers the entire spectrum. The criteria used for selecting these spectral regions are similar to those used in selecting the spectral bands for rapid radiation models in general circulation models (GCMs).
To further facilitate analysis, each spectral element was associated with a specific physical process. To this end, a "spectral mapping" was done, where for each wavenumber the sensitivity of the element to changes in the column and the dominant physical process was determined (please see the references below for more information on how this was done). The processes are h2o, co2, o3, o2, n2o, ch4, co, the self and foreign water vapor continuum, the carbon dioxide continuum, and the nitrogen continuum.
For more details, see http://science.arm.gov/vaps/qmealbl.stm.
Output Products
- aerilblclouds : AERI: Line-by-Line comparison model, clouds
- aerilbldiff : AERI: LBLRTM spectral residuals
- aerilbldiffls : AERI: LBLRTM spectral residuals, w/ scaled (lssonde) sonde input
- aerilbldiffss : AERI: LBLRTM spectral residuals, w/ scaled (lbsonde) sonde input
- qmeaerilbl : QME: derived AERI vs. LBRTM-resid. stats as f of bin, process, channel
- qmeaerilblls : QME: derived AERI vs. LBLRTM-resid. stats w/scaled (lssonde) sonde input
- qmeaerilblss : QME: derived AERI vs. LBLRTM-resid. stats w/scaled (lblsonde) sonde input
Primary Measurements
The following measurements are those considered scientifically relevant.
