Environmental Science and Engineering Seminar

Radiative transfer processes are intrinsically spectral dependent, yet this spectral dimension is not broadly utilized in climate studies. I will present three examples to illustrate the merit of spectral dimension in such studies, with a close tie to relevant observations. First, I will show how the longwave spectral flux derived from observations can be used in model diagnostics to reveal compensating biases that broadband diagnostics alone cannot tell for both the mean-state and radiative feedback analysis. Second, I will describe why two longwave processes, e.g., surface spectral emission and reflection and ice-cloud scattering, are missing in current climate models but should be included for the simulation of polar climate. Third, I will describe the implication of the most recent NASA solar spectral irradiance measurements, chiefly the partition between visible and near-infrared, for high-latitude climate simulation.