Biases in Shortwave Three-Dimensional Radiative Transfer Calculations for High-Resolution Numerical Models

Abstract

This study investigated biases of diffuse radiation in a look-up table approach, which pre-computed the sequential ray tracing to avoid heavy computation in full three-dimensional radiative transfer calculation. We introduced corrections that enhanced directionality of radiative propagation in the solar angle and horizontal direction. By comparing irradiance calculations with and without the corrections for cloudy field in an idealized atmospheric simulation, it was found that the corrections helped mitigate vertically localized false signals by diffuse irradiance. The results suggested that the two types of directionalities are important to accurately represent the three-dimensional transfer of diffuse radiation in an inhomogeneous atmosphere.