Is there any method available for the estimation of cloud albedo using satellite observation of shortwave and long wave radiation at TOA for clear and all sky?
How can we calculate cloud albedo?
The shortwave cloud radiative forcing is inversely proportional to the cloud effective radii of both the liquid and ice phase cloud under the conditions of constant water path.
Cloud albedo= TOA SW flux during all sky conditions divided by the down welling TOA SW flux. Second one is specific to location and time can be obtained from radiative transfer model eg., SBDART. Hope this helps.
Thank you sir for your kind and valuable answer.
one more thing i would like to ask that TOA down welling SW flux product is not available in satellite data. and I have to use satellite data only so Is there any other method available to calculate cloud albedo?
The TOA SW down welling flux is well described by solar zenith angle and a correction for varying Sun - Earth distance.
Most satellite lvl1B data (e.g. MODIS 'MOD02' for Terra or 'MYD02' for Aqua) handle these information internally and allow for a direct calculation of the reflectance. You should look, if this type of data is available for the satellites you are planning to use.
Keep in mind that droplet effective radius is proportional to cloud co-albedo, which is one of the key parameters in all estimates of cloud shortwave radiative properties. To get a better sense of the effect of droplet size on shortwave flux, I would recommend to check an old Tony Slingo’s paper “A GCM parameterization for the shortwave radiative properties of water clouds” published in JAS in 1989.
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