How Much Solar Radiation Do Clouds Absorb?

This technical comment responds to an article on absorption of radiation by clouds. Measurement of atmospheric absorption is difficult, requiring measurement of all radiation flowing into and from a volumn. In measurement from aircraft the volume is ill defined and measurement of fluxes on its boundaries is limited to a few locations. In the sited study the cloud flux data derive from satellite observations where as the surface measurement are obtained from either a single radiometer or a network of 11 radiometers. This analysis is supposed to account for large space and time scale variability and accomodate undersampled boundary fluxes. However, the commentor contends that the report contains neither an error analysis or evidence to support the assumption. 24 refs., 2 figs.