Earth's Radiation Budget and Surface Temperature
Computing the surface temperature that gives top-of-atmosphere radiative balance (or a specified imbalance)
See
here
for an explanation of the concepts involved in top-of-atmosphere radiative balance.
Control parameters:
Radiation scheme
CCM3
Chou
Insolation (150—420 W/m
2
)
TOA radiative imbalance (-70—100 W/m
2
)
(This equals the energy convergence into the column due to lateral transport by fluid motions)
Surface albedo (0—100%)
Temperature structure:
Lapse rate (degrees K/km)
Tropopause height (km)
Water vapor:
Relative humidity profile:
Boundary layer (surface—900 mb) (0—100%)
Lower troposphere (900—700 mb) (0—100%)
Upper troposphere (700 mb—tropopause) (0—100%)
Stratosphere (0—100%)
Determine specific humidity according to actual temperature, given relative humidity above.
Fix specific humidity to that given by the following temperature specification:
Near-surface air temperature (
o
C)
Lapse rate (
o
C)
Tropopause height (km)
Greenhouse gases:
CO2 mixing ratio (ppmv)
CH4 mixing ratio (ppmv)
N2O mixing ratio (ppmv)
Clouds:
Cloud droplet size (4—30 micron)
Low Cloud (800 mb):
Water content (0—100 g/m
2
)
High Cloud (200 mb):
Water content (0—100 g/m
2
)
Web application built using
CliMT
by
Rodrigo Caballero
and
Mike Steder
