Course announcement for Autumn Quarter 2007

 

ATMS 533:  Atmospheric Radiation II

 

This course is offered in alternate years.  It is particularly recommended for students whose research involves effects of clouds or aerosols on radiation.

 

The first class meeting will be Thursday, 27 September, at 10:30 in ATG 406.  [If you want to take this class but have a schedule conflict, let me know.  If the class is small enough it can be rescheduled to accommodate everyone.]

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION
(a)  Radiative transfer:  methods for solving the radiative transfer equation including scattering.

(b)  Scattering and absorption of light by small atmospheric particles.

 

A particular application emphasized in the course is the interaction of clouds with solar radiation.

COURSE OUTLINE

 

A.  Radiative Transfer

  1. Definitions and radiation quantities
  2. Radiative transfer equation (r.t.e.); formal solution of r.t.e.
  3. Plane-parallel form of r.t.e, azimuthally-averaged r.t.e.
  4. Integral equation for source function
  5. Monte-Carlo method
  6. Representation of anisotropic phase functions in r.t.e.
  7. r.t.e. for plane-parallel atmosphere illuminated by direct solar beam.
  8. Two-stream method
  9. Eddington method for multi-layer atmosphere
  10. Phase-function truncation
  11. Doubling method
  12. Discrete ordinates method

 

B.  Single Scattering

  1. Review of electromagnetic theory
  2. Polarized light
  3. Reflection at an interface
  4. Theory of optical constants
  5. Mie theory
  6. Results of Mie theory
  7. Scattering by nonspherical particles

 

Applications:

reflection, transmission and absorption of light by clouds and snow
solar albedo of clouds and surfaces
microwave and infrared emissivity of surfaces
radar reflectivity of raindrops and hailstones
remote sensing of Earth's atmosphere and surface by reflected solar radiation
Earth radiation budget
climatic effects of aerosols
parameterization of solar radiation in the atmosphere