285 research outputs found
Radiative properties of visible and subvisible Cirrus: Scattering on hexagonal ice crystals
One of the main objectives of the First International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) Regional Experiment (FIRE) is to provide a better understanding of the physics of upper level clouds. The focus is on just one specific aspect of cirrus physics, namely on characterizing the radiative properties of single, nonspherical ice particles. The basis for further more extensive studies of the radiative transfer through upper level clouds is provided. Radiation provides a potential mechanism for strong feedback between the divergence of in-cloud radiative flux and the cloud microphysics and ultimately on the dynamics of the cloud. Some aspects of ice cloud microphysics that are relevant to the radiation calculations are described. Next, the Discrete Dipole Approximation (DDA) is introduced and some new results of scattering by irregular crystals are presented. The Anomalous Diffraction Theory (ADT) was adopted to investigate the scattering properties of even larger crystals. In this way the scattering properties of nonspherical particles were determined over a range of particle sizes
The discrete dipole approximation for periodic targets I. theory and tests
The discrete-dipole approximation (DDA) is a powerful method for calculating
absorption and scattering by targets that have sizes smaller than or comparable
to the wavelength of the incident radiation. The DDA can be extended to targets
that are singly- or doubly-periodic. We generalize the scattering amplitude
matrix and the 4 x 4 Mueller matrix to describe scattering by singly- and
doubly-periodic targets, and show how these matrices can be calculated using
the DDA. The accuracy of DDA calculations using the open-source code DDSCAT is
demonstrated by comparison to exact results for infinite cylinders and infinite
slabs. A method for using the DDA solution to obtain fields within and near the
target is presented, with results shown for infinite slabs.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, submitted to J. Opt. Soc. Am.
Ocean temperature and salinity components of the Madden-Julian oscillation observed by Argo floats
New diagnostics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) cycle in ocean temperature and, for the first time, salinity are presented. The MJO composites are based on 4 years of gridded Argo float data from 2003 to 2006, and extend from the surface to 1,400 m depth in the tropical Indian and Pacific Oceans. The MJO surface salinity anomalies are consistent with precipitation minus evaporation fluxes in the Indian Ocean, and with anomalous zonal advection in the Pacific. The Argo sea surface temperature and thermocline depth anomalies are consistent with previous studies using other data sets. The near-surface density changes due to salinity are comparable to, and partially offset, those due to temperature, emphasising the importance of including salinity as well as temperature changes in mixed-layer modelling of tropical intraseasonal processes. The MJO-forced equatorial Kelvin wave that propagates along the thermocline in the Pacific extends down into the deep ocean, to at least 1,400 m. Coherent, statistically significant, MJO temperature and salinity anomalies are also present in the deep Indian Ocean
- …