Cloud properties and the Earth’s radiation budget are defined as essential climate variables by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). The cloud albedo is a measure for the portion of solar radiation reflected back to space by clouds. This infor...
The increasing use of renewable energies as a source of electricity has led to a fundamental transition of the power supply system. The integration of fluctuating weather-dependent energy sources into the grid already has a major impact on its load f...
Black-sky cloud albedo (BCA) is derived from satellite UV 340 nm observations from NOAA and NASA satellites to infer long-term (1980–2018) shortwave cloud albedo variations induced by volcano eruptions, the El Niño–Southern Oscilla...
By expressing radiative forcing (RF) in a symbolic mega-unit we better communicate, to governing organizations and the public, the extent of global warming (GW) and the potency of mitigation methods while also ‘translating’ different GW m...
Moon calibrated radiometrically stable and relatively accurate Earth reflected solar measurements from the Moon and Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (MERBE) are compared here to primary channels of coaligned Terra/Aqua MODIS instruments. A space-bas...
Accurate and continuous estimation of surface albedo is vital for assessing and understanding land–surface–atmosphere interactions. We developed a method for estimating instantaneous all-sky at-surface shortwave upwelling radiance and alb...
Decreasing sea ice and snow cover are reducing the surface albedo and changing the Arctic surface energy balance. How these surface albedo changes influence the planetary albedo is a more complex question, though, that depends critically on the modul...
It is increasingly recognized that the generic climate state is a macroscopic manifestation of a nonequilibrium thermodynamic (NT) system characterized by maximum entropy production (MEP)—a generalized second law. Through a minimal tropical/pol...
High quality data of surface radiation is a prerequisite for climate monitoring (Earth radiation budget) and solar energy applications. A very common method to derive solar surface irradiance is the Heliosat method, a one channel approach for the ret...
This study developed a retrieval algorithm for reflected shortwave radiation at the top of the atmosphere (RSR). This algorithm is based on Himawari-8/AHI (Advanced Himawari Imager) whose sensor characteristics and observation area are similar to the...
A new class of the all electric airship to globally transport both passengers and freight using a ‘feeder-cruiser’ concept, and powered by renewable electric energy, is considered. Specific focus is given to photo-electric harvesting as the primary e...
This study introduces a new method for nowcasting UV Index maps developed within the framework of the Austrian Solar UV Measurement Network. While we focus on the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) in this study, the same methods are rou...
Urbanization changes the land surface environment, which alters the regional climate system. In this study, we took the Haihe River Basin in China as a case study area, as it is highly populated and experienced rapid urbanization from 2000–2015. We i...
This study investigates the performance of isotropic and anisotropic diffuse models to estimate the total solar energy received on flat-plate collectors fixed on dual-axis trackers. These estimations are applied at twelve sites selected in both hemis...
A Chicxulub-like asteroid event occurs, on average, approximately every ~27 to 200 million years. Therefore, such an event could happen presently. Here, we simulate the climatic anomalies it may cause with respect to the current conditions, assuming...
The UV-Index (UVI) is aimed at the prevention of skin cancer as well as other negative implications of ultraviolet radiation exposure. In order to support health related applications, assessments and planning that rely on long term data in high spati...
We consider the possibility of creating artificial clouds similar to Pyro clouds formed in nature over large forest and other fires. It is assumed that the creation of an artificial surface aerosol layer that absorbs solar radiation can lead to the h...
Solar surface irradiance (SIS) is an essential variable in the radiation budget of the Earth. Climate data records (CDR’s) of SIS are required for climate monitoring, for climate model evaluation and for solar energy applications. A 23 year long (198...
Surface albedo, defined as the ratio of the surface-reflected irradiance to the incident irradiance, is one of the parameters driving the Earth energy budget and it is for this reason an essential variable in climate studies. Instruments on geostatio...
The accurate recognition of the cloud phase has a great influence on the retrieval of the cloud top height. In order to improve the accuracy of obtaining the cloud top height with OCO-2, we proposed a cloud phase recognition algorithm based on the th...
The top-of-atmosphere (TOA) albedo is one of the key parameters in determining the Arctic radiation budget, with continued validation of its retrieval accuracy still required. Based on three years (2007, 2015, 2016) of summertime (May–September...
Long-term satellite climate data records (CDRs) of clouds and aerosols are used to investigate the aerosol indirect effect (AIE) of cirrus clouds over the global oceans from a climatology perspective. Our study focuses on identifying the sensitive re...
The surface albedo,
The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) sensor onboard the Terra satellite provides high accuracy albedo products. MISR deploys nine cameras each at different view angles, which allow a near-simultaneous angular sampling of the surface aniso...
Assessing the regional mass balance of European glaciers presents significant challenges due to limited measurements. While various albedo methods have been explored for individual glaciers, a comprehensive analysis of aggregated albedo methods is la...
Radiative transfer is a nonlinear process. Despite this, most current methods to evaluate radiative feedback, such as the kernel method, rely on linear assumptions. Neural network (NN) models can emulate nonlinear radiative transfer due to their stru...
Firstly identified in images from JAXA’s orbiter Akatsuki, the cloud discontinuity of Venus is a planetary-scale phenomenon known to be recurrent since, at least, the 1980s. Interpreted as a new type of Kelvin wave, this disruption is associate...
We constructed the A-Train co-located aerosol and marine warm cloud data from 2006 to 2010 winter and spring over East Asia and investigated the sensitivities of single-layer warm cloud properties to aerosols under different precipitation statuses an...
This paper presents an approach using the GEneralized Nonlinear Retrieval Analysis (GENRA) tool and general inverse theory diagnostics including the maximum likelihood solution and the Shannon information content to investigate the performance of a n...
Land surface albedo inversion based on satellite data requires multiple consecutive (generally greater than or equal to 7) observations. Due to weather reasons such as cloud occlusion, it is difficult to obtain sufficient observation data, which lead...
Albedo is a key variable in the response of glaciers to climate. In Iceland, large albedo variations of the ice caps may be caused by the deposition of volcanic ash (tephra). Sparse in situ measurements are insufficient to characterize the spatial va...
Continuous, long-term sequence, land surface albedo data have crucial significance for climate simulations and land surface process research. Sensors such as the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radio...
The aim of this work is to investigate whether snow albedo seasonality and trend under all sky conditions at Johnsons Glacier (Livingston Island, Antarctica) can be tracked using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) snow albedo d...
The effects of increased dimethyl-sulfide (DMS) emissions due to increased marine phytoplankton activity are examined using an atmosphere-ocean coupled climate model. As the DMS emission flux from the ocean increases globally, large-scale cooling occ...
Surface albedo is a crucial parameter in accurately and quantitatively estimating energy and water budget on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and is also one of the largest radiative uncertainties in land surface modelling attempts. Based on an 8-year ground...
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In the absence of ground reflected radiation measured data, an average albedo value of 0.2, which describes the reflective properties of the bare ground is generally used. The variation of albedo based on different foreground surfaces and under diffe...
We investigated the effect of artificial marine cloud brightening on extreme temperatures over East Asia. We used simulation data from five global climate models which have conducted the GeoMIP G4cdnc experiment. G4cdnc was designed to simulate an in...
Artificial skyglow, the fraction of artificial light at night that is emitted upwards from Earth and subsequently scattered back within the atmosphere, depends on atmospheric conditions but also on the ground albedo. One effect that has not gained mu...
Deriving aerosol optical depth (AOD) from space-borne observations is still challenging due to uncertainties associated with sensor calibration drift, cloud screening, aerosol type classification, and surface reflectance characterization. As an initi...
This study develops an equilibrium radiative model based on a quasi-adiabatic atmosphere that quantifies the average surface flux of a planetary body as a function of absorbed solar radiation P and the bulk emissivity of the atmosphere with respect t...
We evaluate changes in the daily doses of surface ultraviolet radiation (UV) necessary for vitamin D production (UVpD) during the 21st century caused by the evolution of the Earth’s climate and the atmospheric ozone layer. Experiments with the...
Urbanization reflects how human-activities affect natural climate system. Accurately assessing the urban system by comparing it with the nearby rural regions helps to identify the impacts of urbanization. This work uses the recent satellite observed...
Atmospheric effects, especially aerosols, are a significant source of uncertainty for optical remote sensing of surface parameters, such as albedo. Also to achieve a homogeneous surface albedo time series, the atmospheric correction has to be homogen...
The surface texture of urbanized regions is altered by the replacement of natural vegetated surfaces with hardened pavement surfaces, which have been described as a heat source for the formation of urban heat islands. Grasslands may store rainfall in...
Daily gridded Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) satellite data are used in conjunction with CERES, TRMM, and ERA-Interim reanalysis data to investigate horizontal and vertical high cloud structure, top-of-atmosphere (TOA) net cloud forcing...
Past studies have reported a decreasing planetary albedo and an increasing absorption of solar radiation by Earth since the early 1980s, and especially since 2000. This should have contributed to the observed surface warming. However, the magnitude o...
Monitoring agricultural crops is of paramount importance for preserving water resources and increasing water efficiency over semi-arid areas. This can be achieved by modelling the water resources all along the growing season through the coupled water...
In-cloud ice mass accretion on wind turbines is a common challenge that is faced by energy companies operating in cold climates. On-shore wind farms in Scandinavia are often located in regions near patches of forest, the heterogeneity length scales o...
The Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) architecture facilitates Earth Observation data processing. In this work, we present results from a new Snow Processor for SNAP. We also describe physical principles behind the developed snow property retrieva...
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