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General Purpose Fortran Program for Discrete-Ordinate-Method Radiative Transfer in Scattering and Emitting Layered Media: An Update of DISORTThis update reports a state-of-the-art discrete ordinate algorithm for monochromatic unpolarized radiative transfer in non-isothermal, vertically inhomogeneous, but horizontally homogeneous media. The physical processes included are Planckian thermal emission, scattering with arbitrary phase function, absorption, and surface bidirectional reflection. The system may be driven by parallel or isotropic diffuse radiation incident at the top boundary, as well as by internal thermal sources and thermal emission from the boundaries. Radiances, fluxes, and mean intensities are returned at user-specified angles and levels. DISORT has enjoyed considerable popularity in the atmospheric science and other communities since its introduction in 1988. Several new DISORT features are described in this update: intensity correction algorithms designed to compensate for the 8-M forward-peak scaling and obtain accurate intensities even in low orders of approximation; a more general surface bidirectional reflection option; and an exponential-linear approximation of the Planck function allowing more accurate solutions in the presence of large temperature gradients. DISORT has been designed to be an exemplar of good scientific software as well as a program of intrinsic utility. An extraordinary effort has been made to make it numerically well-conditioned, error-resistant, and user-friendly, and to take advantage of robust existing software tools. A thorough test suite is provided to verify the program both against published results, and for consistency where there are no published results. This careful attention to software design has been just as important in DISORT's popularity as its powerful algorithmic content.
Document ID
20000109709
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Tsay, Si-Chee
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Stamnes, Knut
(Alaska Univ. United States)
Wiscombe, Warren
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Laszlo, Istvan
(Maryland Univ. United States)
Einaudi, Franco
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2000
Subject Category
Computer Programming And Software
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Radiation Symposium
Location: Saint Petersburg
Country: Russia
Start Date: July 24, 2000
End Date: July 29, 2000
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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