Reproducing cloud microphysical and irradiance measurements using three 3D cloud generators

Using three cloud generators, three‐dimensional (3D) cloud fields are reproduced from microphysical cloud data measured in situ by aircraft. The generated cloud fields are used as input to a 3D radiative transfer model to calculate the corresponding fields of downward and upward irradiance, which are then compared with airborne and ground‐based radiation measurements. One overcast stratocumulus scene and one broken cumulus scene were selected from the European INSPECTRO field experiment, which was held in Norwich, UK, in September 2002. With these data, the characteristics of the three different cloud reproduction techniques are assessed. Besides vertical profiles and histograms of measured and modelled liquid water content and irradiance, the horizontal structure of these quantities is examined in terms of power spectra and autocorrelation lengths. 3D radiative transfer calculations are compared with the independent pixel approximation, and their differences with respect to domain‐averaged quantities and 3D fields are interpreted. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society