Radiation

Longwave radiation implementations

Currently implemented is

using SpeedyWeather
subtypes(SpeedyWeather.AbstractLongwave)

4-element Vector{Any}:
 JeevanjeeRadiation
 SpeedyWeather.AbstractLongwaveRadiativeTransfer
 SpeedyWeather.AbstractLongwaveTransmittance
 UniformCooling

Uniform cooling

Following Paulius and Garner^[PG06], the uniform cooling of the atmosphere is defined as

\[\frac{\partial T}{\partial t} = \begin{cases} - \tau^{-1}\quad&\text{for}\quad T > T_{min} \\ \frac{T_{strat} - T}{\tau_{strat}} \quad &\text{else.} \end{cases}\]

with $\tau = 16~h$ resulting in a cooling of -1.5K/day for most of the atmosphere, except below temperatures of $T_{min} = 207.5~K$ in the stratosphere where a relaxation towards $T_{strat} = 200~K$ with a time scale of $\tau_{strat} = 5~days$ is present.

Jeevanjee radiation

Jeevanjee and Zhou ^[JZ22] (eq. 2) define a longwave radiative flux $F$ for atmospheric cooling as (following Seeley and Wordsworth ^[SW23], eq. 1)

\[\frac{dF}{dT} = α*(T_t - T)\]

The flux $F$ (in $W/m^2/K$) is a vertical upward flux between two layers (vertically adjacent) of temperature difference $dT$. The change of this flux across layers depends on the temperature $T$ and is a relaxation term towards a prescribed stratospheric temperature $T_t = 200~K$ with a radiative forcing constant $\alpha = 0.025 W/m^2/K^2$. Two layers of identical temperatures $T_1 = T_2$ would have no net flux between them, but a layer below at higher temperature would flux into colder layers above as long as its temperature $T > T_t$. This flux is applied above the lowermost layer and above, leaving the surface fluxes unchanged. The uppermost layer is tied to $T_t$ through a relaxation at time scale $\tau = 6~h$

\[\frac{\partial T}{\partial t} = \frac{T_t - T}{\tau}\]

The flux $F$ is converted to temperature tendencies at layer $k$ via

\[\frac{\partial T_k}{\partial t} = (F_{k+1/2} - F_{k-1/2})\frac{g}{\Delta p c_p}\]

The term in parentheses is the absorbed flux in layer $k$ of the upward flux from below at interface $k+1/2$ ($k$ increases downwards, see Vertical coordinates and resolution and Sigma coordinates). $\Delta p = p_{k+1/2} - p_{k-1/2}$ is the pressure thickness of layer $k$, gravity $g$ and heat capacity $c_p$.

Shortwave radiation

Currently implemented schemes:

using SpeedyWeather
subtypes(SpeedyWeather.AbstractShortwave)

5-element Vector{Any}:
 OneBandShortwave
 SpeedyWeather.AbstractShortwaveClouds
 SpeedyWeather.AbstractShortwaveRadiativeTransfer
 SpeedyWeather.AbstractShortwaveTransmittance
 TransparentShortwave

OneBandShortwave: Single-band shortwave radiation with diagnostic clouds

The OneBandShortwave scheme provides a single-band (broadband) shortwave radiation parameterization, including diagnostic cloud effects following ^[KMB06]. For dry models without water vapor, use OneBandGreyShortwave instead, which automatically disables cloud effects and uses transparent transmittance.

Key differences:

• OneBandShortwave: Includes diagnostic clouds, water vapor absorption, and atmospheric transmittance effects (for wet models)
• OneBandGreyShortwave: No clouds, transparent atmosphere (for dry models)

Cloud diagnosis: Cloud properties are diagnosed from the relative humidity and total precipitation in the atmospheric column. The cloud base is set at the interface between the lowest two model layers, and the cloud top is the highest layer where both

\[\mathrm{RH}_k > \mathrm{RH}_{cl} \quad \text{and} \quad Q_k > Q_{cl}\]

are satisfied. The cloud cover (CLC) in a layer is then given by

\[\mathrm{CLC} = \min\left[1,\ w_{pcl} \sqrt{\min(p_{mcl}, P_{lsc} + P_{cnv})}+ \min\left(1, \left(\frac{\mathrm{RH}_k - \mathrm{RH}_{cl}}{\mathrm{RH}'_{cl} - \mathrm{RH}_{cl}}\right)^2\right)\right]\]

where $w_{pcl}$ and $p_{mcl}$ are parameters, $P_{lsc}$ and $P_{cnv}$ are large-scale and convective precipitation, and $\mathrm{RH}_{cl}$ is a threshold.

Stratocumulus clouds: Stratocumulus cloud cover over oceans is parameterized based on boundary layer static stability (GSEN):

\[\mathrm{CLS} = F_{ST} \max(\mathrm{CLS}_{\max} - \mathrm{CLC}, 0)\]

with

\[F_{ST} = \max\left(0, \min\left(1, \frac{\mathrm{GSE}_N - \mathrm{GSES}_0}{\mathrm{GSES}_1 - \mathrm{GSES}_0}\right)\right)\]

Over land, the stratocumulus cover $\mathrm{CLS}$ is further modified to be proportional to the surface relative humidity:

\[\mathrm{CLS}_L = \mathrm{CLS} \cdot \mathrm{RH}_N\]

where $\mathrm{RH}_N$ is the surface (lowest model layer) relative humidity.

Radiative transfer: The incoming solar flux at the top of the atmosphere is computed from astronomical formulae. Ozone absorption in the lower and upper stratosphere is subtracted, yielding the downward flux into the first model layer:

\[F_{h}^{\downarrow, SR} = F_{0}^{\downarrow, sol} - \Delta F_{ust}^{ozone} - \Delta F_{lst}^{ozone}\]

Shortwave radiation is then propagated downward through each layer using a transmissivity $\tau_{k}^{SR}$, which depends on zenith angle, layer depth, humidity, and cloud properties:

\[F_{k+h}^{\downarrow, SR} = F_{k-h}^{\downarrow, SR} \, \tau_k^{SR}\]

In the cloud-top layer, cloud reflection is included:

\[F_{k+h}^{\downarrow, SR} = F_{k-h}^{\downarrow, SR} (1 - A_{cl} \, \mathrm{CLC}) \, \tau_{k}^{SR}\]

At the surface, stratocumulus reflection and surface albedo are applied:

\[F_{N+h}^{\downarrow, SR} = F_{N-h}^{\downarrow, SR} (1 - A_{cls} \, \mathrm{CLS}) \, \tau_{N}^{SR}\]

The upward flux at the surface is

\[F_{s}^{\uparrow, SR} = F_{s}^{\downarrow, SR} \, A_s\]

and is propagated upward as

\[F_{k-h}^{\uparrow, SR} = F_{k+h}^{\uparrow, SR} \, \tau_{k}^{SR}\]

with cloud reflection added at the cloud-top layer. The upward part is only modeled for the visible band, as near-infrared is mostly absorbed downward.

Key features:

• Single-band (broadband) shortwave radiative transfer
• Cloud reflection and absorption parameterized using diagnosed cloud cover
• Surface albedo can vary between land and ocean
• Top-of-atmosphere insolation set by the solar constant and zenith angle
• Designed for use in idealized and moist atmospheric simulations

Usage

To use the OneBandShortwave scheme, construct your model as follows and run as usual.

For wet models (with water vapor and clouds):

using SpeedyWeather
using CairoMakie
spectral_grid = SpectralGrid(trunc=31, nlayers=8)
model = PrimitiveWetModel(spectral_grid; shortwave_radiation=OneBandShortwave(spectral_grid))
simulation = initialize!(model)
run!(simulation, period=Week(1))

# get surface shortwave radiation down
ssrd = simulation.diagnostic_variables.physics.surface_shortwave_down
heatmap(ssrd,title="Surface shortwave radiation down [W/m^2]")

osr = simulation.diagnostic_variables.physics.outgoing_shortwave_radiation
heatmap(osr,title="Outgoing shortwave radiation [W/m^2]")

For dry models (no water vapor or clouds): Use OneBandGreyShortwave instead, which automatically uses NoClouds and TransparentShortwaveTransmittance:

using SpeedyWeather
spectral_grid = SpectralGrid(trunc=31, nlayers=8)
model = PrimitiveDryModel(spectral_grid; shortwave_radiation=OneBandGreyShortwave(spectral_grid))
simulation = initialize!(model)
run!(simulation, period=Week(1))

# The shortwave fluxes can be visualised
ssrd = simulation.diagnostic_variables.physics.surface_shortwave_down
heatmap(ssrd, title="Surface shortwave radiation (dry model) [W/m^2]")

Parameterization options

The OneBandShortwave scheme includes several configurable components:

Cloud schemes

The cloud scheme can be specified when constructing the radiation scheme:

• DiagnosticClouds(spectral_grid) (default): Diagnoses clouds from humidity and precipitation
• NoClouds(spectral_grid): No clouds (used in OneBandGreyShortwave)

Transmittance schemes

The atmospheric transmittance can be calculated using:

• BackgroundShortwaveTransmittance(spectral_grid) (default): SPEEDY-style transmittance with zenith correction and absorption by aerosols, water vapor, and clouds
• TransparentShortwaveTransmittance(spectral_grid): Transparent atmosphere (used in OneBandGreyShortwave)

BackgroundShortwaveTransmittance

For each layer $k$, the transmissivity is

\[\tau_k^{SR} = \exp\left(-\mu \, \Delta\sigma_k \, \frac{p_s}{10^5} \, \left[a_{dry} + a_{aer}\,\sigma_k^2 + a_{wv}\,q_k + a_{cl}(q_\mathrm{base})\,\mathrm{CLC}\right]\right)\]

with

• $\mu = 1 + a_{zen}(1-\cos\theta)^{n_{zen}}$ (zenith-path correction; $\theta$ is the zenith angle)
• $\Delta\sigma_k = \sigma_{k+1} - \sigma_k$ from the half-levels in the grid geometry
• $p_s$ the column surface pressure
• $a_{dry}$ dry-air absorptivity (absorptivity_dry_air)
• $a_{aer}$ aerosol absorptivity (absorptivity_aerosol), scaled by $\sigma_k^2$ when aerosols = true
• $a_{wv}$ water-vapor absorptivity (absorptivity_water_vapor) times specific humidity $q_k$
• $a_{cl}(q_\mathrm{base}) = \min(a_{cl,base} q_\mathrm{base}, a_{cl,limit})$ cloud absorptivity added below the diagnosed cloud top, scaled by cloud cover $\mathrm{CLC}$

All absorptivity coefficients are per $10^5$ Pa. The resulting $\tau_k^{SR}$ values are stored in column.transmittance_shortwave[:, band] and reused for both the downward and upward sweeps in OneBandShortwaveRadiativeTransfer.

TransparentShortwaveTransmittance details

Sets $\tau_k^{SR} = 1$ for all layers and bands, effectively skipping atmospheric attenuation while still computing surface and cloud reflections in the radiative transfer step.

Stratocumulus clouds

The DiagnosticClouds scheme includes a use_stratocumulus flag (default: true) that enables the diagnostic stratocumulus cloud parameterization over oceans:

using SpeedyWeather, CairoMakie

spectral_grid = SpectralGrid()
clouds_no_sc = SpeedyWeather.DiagnosticClouds(spectral_grid; use_stratocumulus=false)
transmittance_no_sc = SpeedyWeather.BackgroundShortwaveTransmittance(spectral_grid)
radiative_transfer_no_sc = SpeedyWeather.OneBandShortwaveRadiativeTransfer(spectral_grid)
sw_no_sc = OneBandShortwave(clouds_no_sc, transmittance_no_sc, radiative_transfer_no_sc)

model = PrimitiveWetModel(spectral_grid; shortwave_radiation=sw_no_sc)
sim = initialize!(model)
run!(sim, period=Day(5))
ssrd = sim.diagnostic_variables.physics.surface_shortwave_down
heatmap(ssrd, title="No stratocumulus clouds [W/m^2]")

References