Radiative heating rate profiles at the ARM TWP Manus site using cloud properties from a combined remote sensor retrieval

 

Authors

Jennifer M. Comstock — Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Qiang Fu — University of Washington
Tyler Thorsen — NASA - Langley Research Center

Category

Radiation

Description

The vertical distribution of radiative heating plays an important role in determining dynamic atmospheric processes. In the tropics, the radiative energy budget in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) places constraints on the vertical transport of air from the troposphere to the stratosphere. In this study we quantify radiative heating rate profiles over the ARM TWP Manus site. The PNNL combined remote sensor retrieval is used for cloud inputs; it uses the MMCR, MPL, and MWR to obtain cloud and precipitation properties for all sky conditions. Radiative heating profiles are compared to several previous studies which used radar-only cloud retrievals. We explore several causes of discrepancies in heating rate profiles among previous studies and the current study. Also explored is the impact of lidar observations on radiative heating rate profiles, particularly for the TTL.