Systematic comparison of vectorial spherical radiative transfer models in limb scattering geometry
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Authors
Zawada, D.
Franssens, G.
Loughman, R.
Mikkonen, A.
Rozanov, A.
Emde, C.
Bourassa, A.
Dueck, S.
Lindqvist, H.
Ramon, D.
Rozanov, V.
Dekemper, E.
Kyrölä, E.
Burrows, J.P.
Fussen, D.
Degenstein, D.
Discipline
Physical sciences
Audience
Scientific
Date
2021Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
A comprehensive inter-comparison of seven radiative transfer models in the limb scattering geometry has been performed. Every model is capable of accounting for polarization within a spherical atmosphere. Three models (GSLS, SASKTRAN-HR, and SCIATRAN) are deterministic, and four models (MYSTIC, SASKTRAN-MC, Siro, and SMART-G) are statistical using the Monte Carlo technique. A wide variety of test cases encompassing different atmospheric conditions, solar geometries, wavelengths, tangent altitudes, and Lambertian surface reflectances have been defined and executed for every model. For the majority of conditions it was found that the models agree to better than 0.2 % in the single-scatter test cases and better than 1 % in the scalar and vectorial test cases with multiple scattering included, with some larger differences noted at high values of surface reflectance. For the first time in limb geometry, the effect of atmospheric refraction was compared among four models that support it (GSLS, SASKTRAN-HR, SCIATRAN, and SMART-G). Differences among most models with multiple scattering and refraction enabled were less than 1 %, with larger differences observed for some models. Overall the agreement among the models with and without refraction is better than has been previously reported in both scalar and vectorial modes.
Citation
Zawada, D.; Franssens, G.; Loughman, R.; Mikkonen, A.; Rozanov, A.; Emde, C.; Bourassa, A.; Dueck, S.; Lindqvist, H.; Ramon, D.; Rozanov, V.; Dekemper, E.; Kyrölä, E.; Burrows, J.P.; Fussen, D.; Degenstein, D. (2021). Systematic comparison of vectorial spherical radiative transfer models in limb scattering geometry. , Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, Vol. 14, Issue 5, 3953-3972, DOI: 10.5194/amt-14-3953-2021.Identifiers
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng