This article is - freely available The Role of the Effective
Cloud Albedo for Climate Monitoring and Analysis Deutscher
Wetterdienst, Frankfurter Str. 135, D-60387 Offenbach, Germany
MeteoSwiss, Krähbühlstr. 58, CH-8044 Zürich, Switzerland *
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Received: 24
August 2011; in revised form: 13 October 2011 / Accepted: 13
October 2011 / Published: 25 October 2011 Abstract: Cloud
properties and the Earth’s radiation budget are defined as
essential climate variables by the Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS). The cloud albedo is a measure for the portion of
solar radiation reflected back to space by clouds. This
information is essential for the analysis and interpretation of
the Earth’s radiation budget and the solar surface irradiance.
We present and discuss a method for the production of the
effective cloud albedo and the solar surface irradiance based on
the visible channel (0.45–1 μm) on-board of the Meteosat
satellites. This method includes a newly developed se