Showing papers by "David F. Young published in 1991"

Examination of the Relationship between Outgoing Infrared Window and Total Longwave Fluxes Using Satellite Data

Abstract: The relationship between narrowband and broadband thermal radiances is explored to determine the accuracy of outgoing longwave radiation derived from narrowband data Infrared window (102-122 microns) data from the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellite are correlated with longwave (50-500 microns) data from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment A simple quadratic fit between the narrowband and longwave fluxes results in standard errors of 44-53 percent for data that are matched closely in time and space The use of matched regional flux data with temporal differences up to 59 minutes yields standard errors of 41-54 percent About 30 percent of the error may be attributed to limb darkening and spatial and temporal differences in the matched fluxes The relationship shows a statistically significant dependence on the relative humidity of the atmosphere above the radiating surface Although this dependency accounts for only about 1 percent of the standard error, it reduces the monthly mean regional errors by more than 10 percent Data taken over land produced a relationship slightly different from data taken over water The differences appear to be primarily due to daytime heating of the land surface