Solar Absorption by Cirrus Clouds and the Maintenance of the Tropical Upper Troposphere Thermal Structure

Radiative transfer calculations employing observed values of the ice crystal size distribution demonstrate that the absorption of solar radiation by cirrus clouds can make a significant contribution to the diabatic heating of the upper troposphere. The effects due to this absorption on the upper tropospheric (100–300 mb) thermal profile are investigated in a general circulation model (GCM) with interactive clouds; guided by observations, two experiments are performed assuming vastly different vertical profiles of the ice water density. Solar heating rates within the extensive cirrus decks associated with monsoon and other convective clouds reach values of 1.5 K day−1. Thus, cirrus solar heating can be an important source for east-west asymmetries in the tropical diabatic heating. Furthermore, because of the latitudinal gradients in the solar insolation, cirrus solar absorption can also influence the meridional beating gradients within the upper troposphere. In spite of the significant east-west asymmetries in the imposed cirrus solar heating, the change in the GCM tropical temperatures is nearly zonally uniform. The magnitude of the zonal mean tropical temperature changes in the GCM (up to 5°K at P ≈ 165 mb) indicate that lack of cirrus solar heating may be one reason for the cold bias of the GCMS. Furthermore, the shortwave beating can also account for the observed lapse rate stabilization in the upper troposphere. In addition to the solar effect, the longwave radiative effects of cirrus can also be important but their sign and magnitude are very sensitive to the vertical distribution of clouds. Cirrus longwave heating rates can range from large negative values (cooling) when overlying optically thick clouds (for example, in “deep” extended systems with base below the upper troposphere) to large positive values (heating) for “anvil” type cirrus located in the upper troposphere and with no other clouds below. For the overcast portions of the tropics, if “anvil” type cirri are the only clouds of significance in the upper troposphere, the longwave heating would be the dominant radiative component and this effect becomes more pronounced with increasing altitude of cloud location. Hence, for the tropical zone as a whole, the sign and magnitude of the longwave effect depends on the relative composition of the “deep” and “anvil” clouds. Radiation model calculations that employ climatological values of the vertical distribution of clouds yield a longwave heating effect for the cirrus with the magnitude being comparable to the solar effect. Thus, our results suggest a significant role for the cirrus radiative effects in maintaining the zonal mean thermal structure of the upper troposphere. This inference should be contrasted with the notion that the steep positive gradient in the tropical upper-troposphere potential temperatures is maintained by the latent heat released in penetrating cumulus towers.