Surface Radiation Budget from Satellites

Abstract

The net radiation received at the ground serves as a pseudoforcing function for the exchange of energy at the ground-air interface. Yet, information regarding this parameter is not available on a routine basis. In this study an attempt is being made to demonstrate that satellite inferred information might be useful for the estimation of radiation budget parameters at the ground surface. Observations from the NOAA 5 satellite were utilized to relate planetary radiation budget parameters to surface net radiation, over the central United States. The net radiation and the outgoing IR radiation at the top of the atmosphere were found to be correlated to the net radiation at the surface, yielding a multiple correlation coefficient of 0.76.