I3RC 3D Simulator

About I3RC

The I3RC project was initiated by Robert Cahalan in the mid-1990s, with funding from the Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program and the NASA Radiation Sciences Program, and with endorsements from International Radiation Commission and GEWEX Radiation Panel. Its goals include:

  • comparing methods available for 3D atmospheric radiative transfer calculations
  • providing benchmark results for testing and debugging 3D radiative transfer codes
  • publishing an open-source toolkit (community 3D Monte Carlo code)
  • helping atmospheric science education by creating an archive of illustrative images and other resources on 3D radiative transfer

Participation is open to anyone interested in 3D radiative transfer. (Please sign up here.)

Latest NEWS

  • A special issue entitled Remote Sensing of Cloud and Aerosol Properties in a Three-Dimensional Atmosphere is prepared by the journal Remote Sensing. Manuscript submissions are welcome until December 31, 2020.
  • The I3RC online simulator of 3D radiative transfer has been released.
  • Several presentations on 3D radiative transfer were given at the 15th Conference on Atmospheric Radiation of the American Meteorological Society, which took place in Vancouver, Canada, on July 9-13, 2018.
  • The 3D radiative transfer model MCBRaT3D has been released to the public in 2018. MCBRaT3D is an extended version of the I3RC Monte Carlo model that can perform 3D broadband solar radiative transfer simulations.
  • A session entitled Frontiers and Challenges in the Applications of Radiative Transfer (with interests including 3D radiative transfer) was held at the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) 2018 meeting that took place in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 3-8, 2018.
  • A session entitled 3D Cloud Modeling as a Tool for 3D Radiative Transfer, and Conversely was held at the 2017 AGU-JpGU Joint Assembly in Chiba, Japan. The session included 18 presentations.
  • The 3D radiative transfer model IMC-emission has been released to the public in 2017. IMC-emission is an extended version of the I3RC Monte Carlo model that can consider thermal emission in monochromatic 3D radiative transfer simulations.