Satellite validation of GCM-simulated annual cycle of the earth radiation budget and cloud forcing

The emphasis of the work is on the development of new tests to obtain more significant elements of comparison between model simulations and satellite observations. These tests are applied to the clear-sky fluxes and the cloud radiative forcing. We compute the mean cloud perturbation of the planetary albedo as a function of the LW cloud forcing for both model results and ERBE observations. In the SW spectral domain, the consideration of total fluxes does not provide very constraining elements of validation because most of the observed variations are prescribed (incoming solar radiation, solar zenith angle). We therefore distinguish the part of the SW seasonal variations related only to the variation of external parameters (mainly the insolation). -from Authors