Actinic Radiation and Photolysis Processes in the Lower Troposphere: Effect of Clouds and Aerosols

Within the German Tropospheric Research Program (TFS) a series of projects were performed focussing on aspects of radiation transfer and the effects of UV-radiation on air chemistry. The individual projects covered laboratory investigations, instrument development for photolysis processes as well as field studies of actinic radiation and comparison to model calculations. One and three-dimensional models were tested against field campaign data. The results confirm the improvement of measurement technology achieved through deployment of new techniques like spectroradiometry that offer a wider range of investigations than was previously attainable using chemical actinometry or fixed wavelength filter radiometry. Reasonable agreement was also found between measurements and models for a few selected and well defined cloudy conditions. On the other hand, using simple stratiform geometry models yielded significant deviations between measurement and model in both directions particularly in the case of high zenith angles and with high aerosol load. Further tools both for experimental investigations and for model calculations were developed within the framework of the Troposphere Research Program (TFS) and deficiencies were identified demanding further investigations when broken clouds and more complex cloud layers prevail.