On 28 October 1986 the NCAR Sabreliner observed a cirrus cloud layer in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin. A portion of each flight leg was conducted over western Lake Michigan and over the adjacent western shore. The cirrus layer would be qualitatively described as optically thin and tenuous, yet broadband infrared effective emittances were found between about 0.4 and 0.6 while broadband shortwave extinction values ranged from as low as 5% to 32%. This investigation examines the bulk radiative properties of the cirrus layer and the horizontal variability of these radiative properties. In addition, the microphysical characteristics and the dynamic properties of the layer are presented and analyzed. The broadband infrared volume absorption coefficients were deduced for the cirrus layer and found to be very similar in terms of a dependence on temperature to results recently presented by other authors. Infrared radiative heating rates were calculated and found to be typical of the optically thin ... Abstract On 28 October 1986 the NCAR Sabreliner observed a cirrus cloud layer in the vicinity of Green Bay, Wisconsin. A portion of each flight leg was conducted over western Lake Michigan and over the adjacent western shore. The cirrus layer would be qualitatively described as optically thin and tenuous, yet broadband infrared effective emittances were found between about 0.4 and 0.6 while broadband shortwave extinction values ranged from as low as 5% to 32%. This investigation examines the bulk radiative properties of the cirrus layer and the horizontal variability of these radiative properties. In addition, the microphysical characteristics and the dynamic properties of the layer are presented and analyzed. The broadband infrared volume absorption coefficients were deduced for the cirrus layer and found to be very similar in terms of a dependence on temperature to results recently presented by other authors. Infrared radiative heating rates were calculated and found to be typical of the optically thin ...