Operational ground-based measurements of snow water equivalent (SWE) do not adequately explain spatial variability in mountainous terrain. To address this problem, we combine satellite-based retrievals of fractional snow cover for the period 20 0 0 to 2011 with spatially distributed energy balance calculations to reconstruct SWE values throughout each melt season in the Sierra Nevada of Califor...

Cloud-climate interactions are one of the greatest uncertainties in contemporary general circulation models (GCMs) (Cess et al. 1989, 1990), and the present study has focused on one aspect of this. Specifically, combined satellite and near-surface shortwave (SW) flux measurements have been used to test the impact of clouds on the SW radiation budget of two GCMs. Concentration is initially on SW...

The atmospheric dynamical processes associated with intraseasonal length-of-day (LOD) variability during the austral winter are examined with National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data. The method adopted is to regress the relevant fields against the LOD tendency. All quantities in this study are b...

to upper troposphere. The compensating effects in LW and SW radiation are largely linked to variations in cloud fraction and water content (vapor, liquid and ice). These radiative balances in reanalyses are in agreement with idealized calculations using a column radiative transfer model. The overall relationships between OLR and diabatic heating are robust among the different reanalyses, althou...

Narrow channels located in the longwave IR CO2 absorption region between approximately 13.2 and 14.5 μm, the well known CO2 slicing channels, have been proven to be quite effective for the estimates of cloud heights and effective cloud amounts as well as atmospheric temperature profiles. The designs of some of the near-future multi-channel earth observing satellite sensors cannot accommodate th...