Radiative Heating Profiles in Simple Cirrus Cloud Systems

Abstract

Results from one-dimensional cirrus cloud model simulations in the absence of upward velocities are used to show that the growth/sublimation of the ice particles in the cloud, and the fact that they are falling, can be important factors in determining the net heating rate in the air through which these clouds settle. The vertical profiles of the heating rate inside the cloud are stretched as a result of the settling of the cloud. Results for clouds at various altitudes in both midlatitude and tropical atmospheres are compared.