Cloud decoupling of the surface and planetary radiative budgets.

Abstract

Employs a one-dimensional radiative-convective equilibrium model with multiple cloud layers to demonstrate that the surface equilibrium temperature is highly sensitive to the vertical distribution of effective cloud base heights. It is also demonstrated that the reflected solar flux from an ensemble of cloud layers is independent of the vertical distribution of these cloud layers and is a function only of the total water path integrated in the vertical, a property which also determines the solar radiation reaching the surface. -from Author