Relationship between Horizontal Variations in the Albedo
and Transmittance of a Stratified Cloud and Its Structure

L. M. Romanova

Oboukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevskii per. 3, Moscow, 109017 Russia

Received June 18, 1998

Abstract—A model of a stratified cloud is considered in the form of a plane-parallel layer with periodic one-
dimensional horizontal inhomogeneities of droplet concentration, whose characteristic sizes can differ from
one another at different levels. A cloud with a horizontal average optical thickness 20 is considered as an
example to study how the presence of such inhomogeneities affects horizontal variations in the albedo and
transmittance of sunlight. Among the parameters varied are the thickness and location of a layer with inhomo-
geneities of a given horizontal size, the sizes of the inhomogeneities, and the absorption coefficients of a uni-
formly distributed gas (a fine absorbing aerosol) and scattering particles. Some combinations of the above
parameters are found at which horizontal inhomogeneities in a cloud do not influence the albedo and transmit-
tance.

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