Add radiation variables to SCM output

Submitted by Wayne.M.Angevine on Mon, 12/07/2020 - 11:42

I would like to request that a set of radiation variables be added to the routine SCM output.  In particular, I would like to have the variables that are defined on all timesteps (not the similar set that are only defined on the radiation timestep).  The list is below, in physical terms rather than variable names:

Shortwave down at surface (whole sky, i.e. including cloud influence)

Shortwave down at TOA

Longwave down at surface (whole sky)

Longwave up at surface (whole sky)

Other variables may be useful, this is the minimum set that I find important.  It should be noted that some of the available variables do not make physical sense.  In particular, longwave up at the surface in clear sky cannot be calculated correctly without a full parallel run of the model, since it depends directly on the surface temperature.

Wayne Angevine, CIRES / NOAA CSL

Hi Wayne,

I'm looking at this now. I can definitely output the surface values that you requested (that are adjusted every physics timestep, not merely every radiation timestep), but it looks like the TOA values are not adjusted by the dcyc scheme, i.e. they are only available on radiation timesteps.

There will be a PR soon with a bunch of output changes, and this will be included.

 

-Grant

Excellent, thanks.  Let me know if there's a better way to raise issues of this sort.

The existence of radation variables between radiation timesteps raises the question, how are they calculated?  Is it simple interpolation in time?  By making these variables available, are we potentially misleading ourselves and others?