Abstract
The 3-D complex topography effect on the surface solar radiative budget over the Tibetan Plateau is investigated by means of a parameterization approach on the basis of “exact” 3-D Monte Carlo photon tracing simulations, which use 90 m topography data as building blocks. Using a demonstrative grid size of 10 × 10 km2, we show that differences in downward surface solar fluxes for a clear sky without aerosols between the 3-D model and the conventional plane-parallel radiative transfer scheme are substantial, on the order of 200 W/m2 at shaded or sunward slopes. Deviations in the reflected fluxes of the direct solar beam amount to about +100 W/m2 over snow-covered areas, which would lead to an enhanced snowmelt if the 3-D topography effects had been accounted for in current climate models. We further demonstrate that the entire Tibetan Plateau would receive more solar flux by about 14 W/m2, if its 3-D mountain structure was included in the calculations, which would result in larger sensible and latent heat transfer from the surface to the atmosphere.
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Acknowledgments
The research work presented in this paper was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan under contracts NSC101-2111-M-001-001, NSC100-2119-M-001-029-MY5, and NSC98-2111-M-034-004-MY3, Academia Sinica, DOE Grant DE-SC0006742, and NSF Grant AGS-0946315.
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Lee, WL., Liou, K.N. & Wang, Cc. Impact of 3-D topography on surface radiation budget over the Tibetan Plateau. Theor Appl Climatol 113, 95–103 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0767-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0767-y