A NUMERICAL PROCEDURE FOR COMPUTATION OF OUTGOING TERRESTRIAL FLUX BASED UPON THE ELSASSER-CULBERTSON MODEL WITH TESTS APPLIED TO MODEL-ATMOSPHERE SOUNDINGS

Abstract

A numerical procedure for the computation of emergent terrestrial flux has been developed after the model described by Elsasser and Culbertson. By application of this procedure, a set of emergent fluxes has been computed for each of 63 soundings drawn from the model atmospheres developed by Wark et al. The latter authors have also made available for this study the results of their radiative model for outgoing intensities. Both radiative models included contributions from atmospheric water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone, as well as transmitted interface (cloud or ground) effects. Both sets of fluxes computed for the 63 model atmospheres were subjected to a stepwise-screening multiple linear regression analysis, using empirically tested parameters grossly representative of the radiosondes. In terms of these parameters as independent variables, the fluxes computed by the radiative model of Wark et al. were specified in accordance with a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.98, while the fluxes computed here gave rise to a multiple correlation of 0.625. The chief reason advanced for the smaller statistical specification by the present model, as contrasted with that of Wark et al. is considered to be due to the differing number of sounding levels used in carrying out the two sets of computation.