Aircraft measurements of the solar and infrared radiative properties of cirrus and their dependence on ice crystal shape

We present aircraft measurements of the radiative transfer properties of th in cirrus cloud sampled off the east coast of Scotland on November 9, 1995. Downwelling radiances were measured from below the cirrus at 0.87, 1.61, 3 .7, 8.55, and 11.0 mu m, thereby covering a large range of size parameter a nd ice refractive index and enabling information on cirrus optical thicknes s, effective crystal size, and scattering phase function to be deduced. The sensitivity of these quantities to the ice crystal shape assumed in the ca lculations is examined, and the results are compared with in situ data. We find that a randomized polycrystal shape produces effective sizes that are consistent with the in situ data across all wavelengths considered and perf orms better in this respect than the other crystal shapes analyzed. However , the optical thicknesses retrieved from the 0.87 mu m radiances for this s hape are considerably less than those derived from the 11.0 mu m data, impl ying that the phase function at solar wavelengths is in error for this shap e over a significant portion of the full scattering angle range. An empiric al phase function derived from laboratory measurements produces optical thi cknesses which are more consistent with the 11.0 mu m and in situ data and matches the angular distribution of scattered radiance more accurately than that calculated using any of the model crystal shapes. The anomalous diffr action approximation is found to produce good agreement with the measuremen ts at 8.55 and 11.0 mu m for the crystal sizes relevant to the present case study.