Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous atmospheres: RRTM, a validated correlated‐k model for the longwave

作者：E. J. Mlawer, Steven J. Taubman, P. Brown, Michael Iacono, S. A. Clough · 发表于：Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · 年份：1997 · DOI：10.1029/97jd00237 · 被引用次数：8818 · 研究领域：Atmospheric Ozone and Climate、Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols、Atmospheric aerosols and clouds

A rapid and accurate radiative transfer model (RRTM) for climate applications has been developed and the results extensively evaluated. The current version of RRTM calculates fluxes and cooling rates for the longwave spectral region (10–3000 cm −1 ) for an arbitrary clear atmosphere. The molecular species treated in the model are water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, nitrous oxide, and the common halocarbons. The radiative transfer in RRTM is performed using the correlated‐ k method: the k distributions are attained directly from the LBLRTM line‐by‐line model, which connects the absorption coefficients used by RRTM to high‐resolution radiance validations done with observations. Refined methods have been developed for treating bands containing gases with overlapping absorption, for the determination of values of the Planck function appropriate for use in the correlated‐ k approach, and for the inclusion of minor absorbing species in a band. The flux and cooling rate results of RRTM are linked to measurement through the use of LBLRTM, which has been substantially validated with observations. Validations of RRTM using LBLRTM have been performed for the midlatitude summer, tropical, midlatitude winter, subarctic winter, and four atmospheres from the Spectral Radiance Experiment campaign. On the basis of these validations the longwave accuracy of RRTM for any atmosphere is as follows: 0.6 W m −2 (relative to LBLRTM) for net flux in each band at all altitudes, with a total (...