Satellite data for diagnostics and for validation of model simulations

Two issues in the treatment of tropical convection in general circulation models are examined. First, several studies have found significant gradients in clear sky longwave fluxes near large convective systems. Increased upper tropospheric moisture associated with deep convection may explain the reduction in the longwave emission. Similar local gradients are not apparent in measurements from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), an important data set for model validation. Thus the average cloud forcing and greenhouse effect derived from models and observations may differ systematically over warm tropical oceans. A comparison of ERBE fluxes with radiative calculations using coincident balloon-sonde atmospheric profiles indicates negligible systematic bias in the observations. The effect of convection on the clear sky fluxes may be localized to the edges of individual cloud systems. Second, the balance between shortwave and cloud forcing and longwave forcing is a persistent feature of tropical cloud systems in ERBE data. This cancellation effect has been used to diagnose problems in GCM (General Circulation Model) cloud fields on seasonal time scales. The daily record of net cloud radiative forcing is analyzed to determine the smallest spatial and temporal scales for the balance. The results show cancellation on periods as short as three days for regions smaller than 2.5 by 2.5 deg. The analysis indicates that the balance is primarily a local phenomenon characteristic of tropical convection. This is consistent with findings that the small cloud radiative forcing is due primarily to thick tropical cirrus. These results represent a particularly stringent test of convective parameterizations in GCM's with interactive ocean surfaces.