A New Parameterization for the Determination of Solar Flux Absorbed at the Surface from Satellite Measurements

An earlier parameterization that relates the outgoing solar flux at the top of the atmosphere to the flux absorbed at the surface is modified and extended to allow for variations in atmospheric properties that were not considered in the original parameterization. Changes to the parameterization have also been introduced as a result of better treatment of water vapor absorption in the detailed radiative transfer calculations. Corrections are introduced that account for the height of the surface (surface pressure), ozone amount, aerosol type and amount, and cloud height and cloud type, which is characterized by an effective cloud droplet radius. Finally, the results of applying the parameterization to Earth Radiation Budget Satellite measurements are compared with the measurements of the net solar flux measured from two instrumented towers.