Representing cloud overlap with an effective decorrelation length: An assessment using CloudSat and CALIPSO data

This study commenced testing the hypothesis that a vertically constant, effective, decorrelation length *cf can be used to represent overlap of cloud for the purpose of performing radiative transfer calculations in global climate models. It was assumed that total cloud fraction resulting from multiple layers of overlapping fractional cloud can be described as a linear combination of maximum and random overlap, with the weight defined by …