• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.128-139
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• 2008

Intercomparison among the three radiative transfer models (RTMs) which have been used in the studies for COMS, was carried out on the condition of aerosol-laden atmospheres. Also the role of aerosols in the atmospheric radiation budget was analyzed. The results (hereafter referred to as H15) from Halthore et al.'s study (2005) were used as a benchmark to examine the models. Aerosol Radiative Forcing (ARF) values from the three RTMs, calculated under two conditions of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT=0.08, 0.24), were systematically underestimated in comparison to H15 in the following shortwave components; 1) direct and diffuse irradiance at the surface, 2) diffuse upward fluxes at the surface and the top of the atmosphere, and 3) atmospheric absorbance. The ARF values for the direct and diffuse fluxes at the surface was $-10{\sim}-40Wm^{-2}$. The diffuse upward values became larger with increasing both AOT and Solar Zenith Angle (SZA). Diffuse upward/downward fluxes at the surface were more sensitive to the SZA than to the atmospheric type. The diffuse downward values increased with increasing AOT and decreasing SZA. The larger AOT led to surface cooling by exceeding the reduction of direct irradiance over the enhancement of diffuse one at the surface. The extinction of direct solar irradiance was due mainly to water vapor in tropical atmospheres, and to both ozone and water vapor in subarctic atmospheres. The effect of water vapor in the tropics was $3{\sim}4$ times larger than that of the ozone. The absorbance values from the three RTMs agree with those from H15 within ${\pm}10%$.