Contribution of the Water Vapor Continuum Absorption to Shortwave Solar Fluxes in the Earth’s Atmosphere with Cirrus Cloudiness

Abstract

The solar radiative fluxes in cloudy and cloudless atmospheres are calculated taking into account multiple scattering and absorption. The cloudy conditions observed in Tomsk and Volgograd regions are considered. A comparison between the fluxes calculated using different models of water vapor continuum absorption, such as the MT_CKD empirical model, commonly used in the atmospheric simulation, and the continuum model based on the CAVIAR experimental data, is carried out. The impact of the water vapor continuum on the shortwave radiative fluxes in the presence of different cloud types is estimated.