The interaction of clouds and radiation

This paper reviews the research conducted by the CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Physics in the field of cloud and radiation. The work reviewed begins in the late 1960s when the radiation research of the Division moved from a support program for boundary layer studies to studies of radiation in the free atmosphere and cloud-radiation research became one of the principal areas of research. Early work in this area concentrated on in situ aircraft measurements of the relevant radiative fields in order to obtain an understanding of the patterns of these fields. All the work was done on stratocumulus. More recently, work on radiation-cloud interactions has seen a greater coupling between theoretical and observational work as well as significant developments in the remote sensing of high cirrus clouds by lidar. Other research is discussed which is directly related to cloud-radiation problems such as the role of clouds and radiation in determining the earth's climate.