Aerosol and cloud SW radiative forcing in the south of Portugal

Abstract

Clouds and to a certain extent aerosols, constitute the most important factors regulating the Earth’s radiation budget because they absorb and scatter solar radiation and absorb and emit terrestrial radiation. Therefore, the characterization and understanding of their radiative effects are tremendously important. Accordingly, the study of the variability of the solar radiation at the surface is highly dependent on clouds and aerosols and their optical properties, particularly the optical thickness is essential for any radiation parameterization, which are still major priorities for regional and global climate models (Kassianov et al., 2011; Santos et al., 2011). In this work, results of the cloud and aerosol radiative forcings obtained from ground-based irradiance measurements in the shortwave (SW) spectral region are presented and analysed.