Narrowband-to-Broadband Conversion: Do Clouds Have Anomalous Absorption in the Visible Band?

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) is a major source of space-borne observations for the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program. The GOES-based radiation data processed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Langley Research Center (NASA/LaRC) group (Minnis et al. 1995) are essential to many ARM studies, including investigations into the problem of cloud absorption anomaly (Smith et al. 1997; Cess et al. 1996; Imre et al. 1996; Cess et al. 1995). Since the GOES measurements are non-calibrated and cover narrow spectral bands, the quality of the inferred broadband fluxes needs assessment.