C203C. Atmospheric Radiation. (4) Lecture, three hours.
Lecture, three hours. Principles of radiative transfer. Absorption, emission, and scattering processes. Transfer of solar and thermal infrared radiation in the atmosphere. Radiation and climate. Radiation and ozone formation. Applications of radiation principles to remote sensing.
Letter grading.
OUTLINE (Selected Topics):
CHAPTER 1 FUNDAMENTALS OF RADIATION FOR ATMOSPHERIC APPLICATIONS
1.1 CONCEPTS, DEFINITIONS, AND UNITS
1.1.1 Electromagnetic Spectrum
1.1.2 Solid Angle
1.1.3 Basic Radiometric Quantities
1.1.4 Concepts of Scattering and Absorption
1.2 BLACKBODY RADIATION
1.2.1 Planck’s Law
1.2.2 Stefan-Boltzmann Law
1.2.3 Wien’s Displacement Law
1.2.4 Kirchhoff’s Law
1.3 ABSORPTION LINE FORMATION AND LINE SHAPE
1.3.1 Line Formation
1.3.2 Line Broadening
1.3.3 Breakdown of Thermodynamic Equilibrium
1.4 SIMPLE ASPECTS OF RADIATIVE TRANSFER
1.4.1 The Radiative Transfer Equation
1.4.2 Beer-Bouguer-Lambert Law
1.4.3 Schwarzschild’s Equation and Its Solution
1.4.4 The Radiative Transfer Equation for Plane-Parallel Atmospheres
1.4.5 Radiative Transfer Equations for Three-Dimensional Inhomogeneous Media
EXERCISES
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
CHAPTER 2 SOLAR RADIATION AT THE TOP OF THE ATMOSPHERE
2.1 THE SUN AS AN ENERGY SOURCE
2.1.1 The Structure of the Sun
2.1.2 Solar Surface Activities: Sunspots
2.2 THE EARTH’S ORBIT ABOUT THE SUN AND SOLAR INSOLATION
2.2.1 Orbital Geometry
2.2.2 Definition of the Solar Constant
2.2.3 Distribution of Solar Insolation
2.3 SOLAR SPECTRUM AND SOLAR CONSTANT DETERMINATION
2.3.1 Solar Spectrum
2.3.2 Determination of the Solar Constant: Ground-Based Method
2.3.3 Satellite Measurements of the Solar Constant
EXERCISES
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
CHAPTER 3 ABSORPTION AND SCATTERING OF SOLAR RADIATION IN THE ATMOSPHERE
3.1 COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE
3.1.1 Thermal Structure
3.1.2 Chemical Composition
3.2 ATMOSPHERIC ABSORPTION
3.2.1 Absorption in the Ultraviolet
3.2.2 Photochemical Processes and Formation of Ozone Layers
3.2.3 Absorption in the Visible and Near Infrared
3.3 ATMOSPHERIC SCATTERING
3.3.1 Rayleigh Scattering
3.3.2 Light Scattering by Particulates: Approximations
3.4 MULTIPLE SCATTERING AND ABSORPTION IN PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES
3.4.1 Fundamentals of Radiative Transfer
3.4.2 Approximations of Radiative Transfer
3.5 ATMOSPHERIC SOLAR HEATING RATES
EXERCISES
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
CHAPTER 4 THERMAL INFRARED RADIATIVE TRANSFER IN THE ATMOSPHERE
4.1 THERMAL INFRARED SPECTRUM AND GREENHOUSE EFFECT
4.2 ABSORPTION AND EMISSION IN THE ATMOSPHERE
4.2.1 Absorption in the Thermal Infrared
4.2.2 Fundamentals of Thermal Infrared Radiative Transfer
4.2.3 Line-by-Line Integration
4.3 CORRELATED K-DISTRIBUTION METHOD
4.3.1 Fundamentals
4.3.2 Application to Nonhomogeneous Atmospheres
4.3.3 Numerical Procedures
4.3.4 Overlap Consideration
4.4 BAND MODELS
4.4.1 A Single Line
4.4.2 Regular Band Model
4.4.3 Statistical Band Model
4.4.4 Application to Nonhomogeneous Atmospheres
4.5 BROADBAND APPROACHES TO FLUX COMPUTATIONS
4.5.1 Broadband Emissivity
4.5.2 Newtonian Cooling Approximation
4.6 INFRARED RADIATIVE TRANSFER IN CLOUDY ATMOSPHERES
4.6.1 Fundamentals
4.6.2 Exchange of Infrared Radiation Between Cloud and Surface
4.6.3 Two/Four-Stream Approximations
4.7 ATMOSPHERIC INFRARED COOLING RATES
EXERCISES
SUGGESTED REFERENCES
Appendix A DERIVATION OF THE PLANCK FUNCTION
Appendix B THE SCHROEDINGER WAVE EQUATION
Appendix C THE SPHERICAL GEOMETRY
Appendix D COMPLEX INDEX OF REFRACTION, DISPERSION OF LIGHT, AND LORENTZ–LORENZ FORMULA
