The Langley Parameterized Shortwave Algorithm (LPSA) for Surface Radiation Budget Studies. 1.0

An efficient algorithm was developed during the late 1980's and early 1990's by W. F. Staylor at NASA/LaRC for the purpose of deriving shortwave surface radiation budget parameters on a global scale. While the algorithm produced results in good agreement with observations, the lack of proper documentation resulted in a weak acceptance by the science community. The primary purpose of this report is to develop detailed documentation of the algorithm. In the process, the algorithm was modified whenever discrepancies were found between the algorithm and its referenced literature sources. In some instances, assumptions made in the algorithm could not be justified and were replaced with those that were justifiable. The algorithm uses satellite and operational meteorological data for inputs. Most of the original data sources have been replaced by more recent, higher quality data sources, and fluxes are now computed on a higher spatial resolution. Many more changes to the basic radiation scheme and meteorological inputs have been proposed to improve the algorithm and make the product more useful for new research projects. Because of the many changes already in place and more planned for the future, the algorithm has been renamed the Langley Parameterized Shortwave Algorithm (LPSA).

[1]  R. Payne,et al.  Albedo of the Sea Surface , 1972 .

[2]  K. T. Kriebel,et al.  Improvements in the Shortwave Cloud-free Radiation Budget Accuracy. Part I: Numerical Study Including Surface Anisotropy , 1987 .

[3]  J. Hansen,et al.  A parameterization for the absorption of solar radiation in the earth's atmosphere , 1974 .

[4]  G. Yamamoto.  Direct Absorption of Solar Radiation by Atmospheric Water Vapor, Carbon Dioxide and Molecular Oxygen. , 1962 .

[5]  R. F. Strickler,et al.  Thermal Equilibrium of the Atmosphere with a Convective Adjustment , 1964 .

[6]  Douglas V. Hoyt,et al.  A model for the calculation of solar global insolation , 1978 .

[7]  Maria Stella Chiacchio,et al.  The WCRP/GEWEX Surface Radiation Budget Project Release 2: An Assessment of Surface Fluxes at 1 Degree Resolution , 2000 .

[8]  W. Rossow,et al.  ISCCP Cloud Data Products , 1991 .

[9]  Rachel T. Pinker,et al.  Global distribution of photosynthetically active radiation as observed from satellites , 1992 .

[10]  Robert D. Cess,et al.  Surface Net Solar Radiation Estimated from Satellite Measurements: Comparisons with Tower Observations , 1993 .

[11]  J. E. McDonald,et al.  DIRECT ABSORPTION OF SOLAR RADIATION BY ATMOSPHERIC WATER VAPOR , 1960 .

[12]  J. T. Suttles,et al.  Surface radiation budget for climate applications , 1986 .

[13]  Richard B. Rood,et al.  An assimilated dataset for Earth science applications , 1993 .

[14]  K. I︠a︡. Kondratʹev.  Radiation characteristics of the atmosphere and the earth's surface , 1973 .

[15]  M. Iqbal.  An introduction to solar radiation , 1983 .

[16]  R. Pinker,et al.  Modeling Surface Solar Irradiance for Satellite Applications on a Global Scale , 1992 .

[17]  George Ohring,et al.  On the Relationship between Clear-Sky Planetary and Surfae Albedos , 1984 .

[18]  W. F. Staylor,et al.  Reflection and emission models for clouds derived from Nimbus 7 earth radiation budget scanner measurements , 1985 .

[19]  Warren J. Wiscombe,et al.  The backscattered fraction in two-stream approximations. , 1976 .

[20]  E. Raschke,et al.  Incident Solar Radiation over Europe Estimated from METEOSAT Data. , 1984 .

[21]  Gary G. Gibson,et al.  A Climatology of Surface Radiation Budget Derived from Satellite Data , 1999 .

[22]  W. F. Staylor,et al.  Global surface albedos estimated from ERBE data , 1990 .