PNNL

Abstract

In this paper, we present an empirical equation that can be used to estimate shortwave cloud optical thickness from measurements and analysis of shortwave broadband irradiances. When applied to a time series of broadband observations, this method can predict cloud optical thickness distributions that are very similar to those obtained using the Min algorithm (Min and Harrison, 1996). When considering a number of geographically diverse sites, medians of equation-derived distributions and Min-derived distributions differ by less than 10%. The equation is designed for fully overcast skies, surface albedos less than 0.3, and the cosine of the solar zenith angle must be greater than 0.15.