Scalable multi-group full-spectrum correlated-k distributions for radiative transfer calculations

A new full-spectrum k-distribution method has been developed, in which spectral locations are sorted into M spectral groups, according to their absorption coefficient dependence on (partial) pressure and temperature. Calculating correlated-k full-spectrum k-distributions for each of the M groups, LBL accuracy, can be obtained with Mless than or equal to32. Database values have been assembled for CO2 mixtures at atmospheric pressure. The method is fully scalable, i.e., spectral groups from the database can be combined to obtain coarser group models (M = 1, 2,4....)for greater numerical efficiency (accompanied by slight loss in accuracy).