EFFECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC EMISSIVITY ON CLEAR-SKY TEMPERATURES

The accurate determination of atmospheric temperatures from outgoing l ongwave radiation depends upon the effective atmospheric emissivity us ed in Stefan-Boltzmann's law. We reviewed the literature dealing with the atmospheric emissivity equations for clear sky and studied their e ffects on the clear sky atmospheric temperatures. The clear sky outgoi ng longwave radiation data were taken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) scanning radiometers. The five years (1985-1989) of global annual-mean of clear sky atmospheric temperatures with different emissivity value s are presented and discussed in this paper. The effect of emissivity on the retrieval of clear sky atmospheric temperatures are found to va ry by 7-8 K (Kelvin).