Radiative Transfer in Troposphere-Stratosphere Global Climate Models

Abstract

The recognition that radiative processes play a major role in determining the thermal structure of the stratosphere occurred at a very early stage in science of the middle atmosphere. At the turn of the century, balloon soundings of the thermal structure of the atmosphere (see Figure 1) indicated that the decrease of atmospheric temperature with altitude did not extend to unlimited altitudes. At some level (the tropopause) atmospheric temperatures were nearly constant and then increased with altitude. This observation initiated a series of theoretical papers to explain the existence of the near isothermal layer in the atmosphere. These studies quite early on identified radiative transfer as an important process in the determination of this layer. The earliest study that is closest to the presently accepted theory was published by Humphreys (1909). Other studies continued to clarify the role of radiative transfer in the stratosphere.